cwn

Hi Everyone,

Here is a report on our three week trip to Argentina and Antarctica. I hope it will help some one else plan their trip. I didn't find too much on the areas we visited outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina and even less on Antarctica.

January 25 to February 17, 2008
ARGENTINA AND ANTARCTICA

Buenos Aires
Fri Jan 25 -We fly overnight Houston to Buenos Aires. Continental was on time, we were lucky enough to get FFBC tickets, so the seats were comfortable and we sleep some.
Sat Jan 26 - We arrive in Buenos Aires at11:20am. I had arranged for a private transfer to the hotel, Hotel Alvear Palace, premier room, king bed, breakfast, 2 nights. The room was very nice, as was the hotel. It is well worth the money if you want a really nice place to stay. It is in a nice area for walking and walking distance to the La Recoteta. I have difficulty walking sometimes so I also arranged for a car and guide for three hours that first afternoon to see the main sights. We walked over the La Recoteta and saw Eva’s tomb then drove to La Boca, strolled around a little, saw a couple doing the Tango in the street, an impromptu parade and shopped for a painting at the many stalls. Next we went to Cathedral and the “Pink House.” We finished up with a drive through San Telmo and on Avenida 9 de Julio with a view of the Obelisk and Opera House. It was a pleasant way to see sites and gave us a feel for what we wanted to do the next day. Jet lag was catching up with us so we walked around the block and found a side walk café that was serving, it was only 6:30pm. We had a hot sandwich and a drink, went back to the cool comfortable room and died!
Sun Jan 27 -We went back to La Recoleta for a photo session and then took a taxi back to San Telmo Quarter Antique market. We walked around the market and checked out some of the shops, beautiful things. Then walked through the area just enjoying the sites and sounds, great fun. At some point we got some ice cream and realized how hungry we were. We took another cab back to the Hotel. We got back in time for the last seating for the Sunday Brunch - it was great, one the best meals we had in Argentina and the restaurant was beautiful. We then wondered over to a Mall near the hotel, can’t remember the name, but it was pretty up scale. DH was looking for something for his computer, but this wasn’t the place for that. We went back to the room as I was tired of walking and relaxed and worked on our pictures for a while. Later we ordered something from room service and went to bed. We have a very early morning for our flight to Mendoza.

Mendoza
Mon Jan 28 - The hotel sent us an early room service breakfast and we checked out. The Lady that picked us up on Sat met us a 5am and took us back to the airport. We flew Lan’s 6:15am flight to Mendoza out of AEP. The flight was on time and we arrived in Mendoza at 8am. I had arranged a package with Grapevine Wine Tours Ltd. So we were meet by our driver for the day, who actually was our driver for all the things we did. We first went to Finca Adalgisa. I love this place. We stayed here for three wonderful nights. Our room was not ready, but they took our luggage and fixed a nice breakfast for us. Refreshed and now awake we headed out for the day’s adventure, tour of Aconcagua National Park andthe high Andes. We followed the old trans-Andean railway, very scenic, though the Uspallata valley to the Park. This route is known as the Seven Tunnels. We visited the Incan Bridge, Las Bovedas monument and Cerro de los Siete Colores, seven colors mountain. We had lunch at an out door bar-b-que place in Uspallata. Argentina’s idea of bar-b-que is very different than Texas’ but it was good. We then returned to the Hotel and took a much needed nap. The hotel has a wonderful wine tasting room. The hotel is really part of an wine estate. They bottle a wonderful Malbec, in fact, it was our favorite, but it is only available at the estate. At about 7pm we head to our first wine tasting at the hotel and have a grand hour or so. We should have just made this dinner, but now, after a bottle of great wine we take a taxi to a small local Italian restaurant where we have more wine and a very nice pasta. It started to rain while we were eating and we couldn’t get a taxi to get back to the hotel, so someone at the restaurant took us back to the hotel.
Tues Jan 29 - We loved this day! We did a Private Wine tasting tour with Grapevine Vine. We visit 4 wineries in the La primera zone sub regions of Agrelo and Perdriel home of Malbec. First to Bodega Alta Vista(French) tasting Single Vineyard Malbec. This is an old winery and the tour was very interesting. Then to Bodega Lagarde (Traditional) for 1942 semillon and boutique champagne. We went out to the vineyard and learned a bit about the different vines. We also had a barrel tasting here. It is a very small winery with good wines and the wines are shipped to Texas. Next we headed for a tasting and a gourmet lunch at Bodega Ruca Malen. The lunch was outstanding! I would say it is a must do if you are in the area. Well, now it is sometime after 2 and we have had at least a bottle of wine a piece since we started this morning( the tastings are very, very generous!) We go on to our last winery at Bodega Tapiz for tastings from vintage barrels, tanks and bottles. I am having knee problems at this point and the tour has lots of stairs, so they set us up in the lobby and conduct the tasting there. Since we don’t go the “cellar” we just taste some of the various wines, but that is OK, as we don’t really need to Taste anything else at the point! Back to the hotel for another much needed nap! That night we head over to Club Tapiz for a very nice dinner and some more good wine! Actually this was one of the places I had tried to stay. It is very nice, but I really liked the atmosphere of Finca Adalgisa.
Wed Jan 30 - This day is a lazy one. We go into Mendoza with our driver, he has found a store that has what my husband is looking for for his computer. He leaves us and we wonder around the plaza a bit then take a hair raising taxi ride back to the hotel. We have another great meal at Le Bongle, where we do their wine tasting lunch. This is another must do. We send the afternoon swimming and enjoying the Finca. It is truly a great place to stay. I was a bit worried at first since it was my third choice. The other two couldn’t give us all three days. That night we had the next to last of the great meals we enjoyed in Argentina. We went to Malmans 1884. Their food is really good, much of it is cooked in an open air over in the courtyard. The restaurant is located in an old winery in Mendoza that dates to the 1880's hence the name. We loved our time in Mendoza. I wish it was not such a long trip from the US! But tomorrow we move on.


Thurs Jan 31 - We flew on the Lan 8:45 flight from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. We had about a four hour layover in Buenos Aires AEP. Then we flew to Iguazu Falls on Lans 2:40 flight. After another uneventful and on time set of flights we arrived at 4:25pm. We stayed at Iguazu Falls Sheraton, in a falls view room with breakfast. There is a lot mentioned on this board about the view not being worth it. Well for us it was. The park closes at 6 and the sun doesn’t set till 9 so we sat in our room by the big picture window and had our evening drinks and enjoyed the view and watched as the sunset and changed the colors of the mist and the clouds. It is really a nice view too. We got to the hotel by 5, so we had time to do the upper circuit. Most of the people were gone by now, so we had the walks and view sites to our selves, another advantage to staying in the park.
The restaurant menu didn’t appeal to us and we didn’t really want to sit in the bar restaurant, so we ordered room service and enjoyed the view while we ate. A great way to end a long travel day.
Fri, Feb 1 - We arranged for a Half day morning tour of Brazilian side. Yes, we did get visas before we left and were glad we did. They were stopping all traffic at the border and making everyone show their paper work/passport. We had to have our passports stamped, so I am also glad we got our yellow fervor shots before we went too. In my opinion, it is well worth the money to see the Falls from Brazil. There is no comparison of the two views and you really don’t get the true feel for the water force and volume unless you get out into the Devil’s Throat on the catwalk on the Brazilian side and look up and into the horse shoe shappedarea the is the Throat. It is truly awesome! That afternoon we took the train to the catwalk and walked to the over look of Devil’s Throat on the Argentina side. It is a great view, but you are looking over the falls and down so you don’t really see the whole picture of the height and depth of the falls. By the time we got back off the train it was almost 5pm, so we do the lower falls circuit. Both the Upper and the Lower Circuits are beautiful, but I think the Lower Circuit is more fun. We again had it all to our selves and had a great time getting drenched at the bottom of one of the falls. We exited the trails with the ranger as he was checking to see that everyone was off the walks. Again we chilled out watching the falls as the sun went down, then we had a good pizza and drink in the bar for dinner. Our one day and 2 nights was enough for us. The only thing we didn’t do was the boat ride. I couldn’t do the steps-they are very step and narrow.


Sat Feb 2 -This day began the part of the trip that brought us to Argentina in the first place! We headed to Ushuaia to meet up with the Polar Star, an ice breaker that would take us to Antarctica. We had another all day travel day, but this one was not as smooth as the first one. We left the hotel about 8:30 for our 9:50 Lan flight to Buenos Aires AEP. This flight was as flawless as the last three. We arrived on time at 11:40. Our Aerolineas flight to Ushuaia was to leave at 3pm. So we found some lunch and other wise killed time waiting for boarding time. The Ushuaia flight was scheduled to depart at 3....at 4 they finally took us to the plane. They boarded from the front and the back so for a while there was a nice cross breeze. They got everyone boarded and then closed the doors! At this point there was no A/C. We sat there for nearly 40mins absolutely melting! Finally we left! Needless to say we were almost 2 hours late getting to Ushuaia. As we were deplaning they told us our luggage would be on the 10pm flight. The head winds were to strong to bring the extra weight of the luggage because Ushuaia was at the max range of the plane...... comforting! Ok so now it was 7:30pm, we headed to the Hotel Los Yamanas, about 2km from town on Channel. We checked in and had some dinner. The hotel was very nice, I was pleasantly surprised. We had a “suite” on the fourth floor with a to die for view of the Beagle Channel and the snow capped Mountains beyond. About 10 we got a taxi back to the airport and waited till nearly mid-night for the 10 pm plane to finally arrive, but at least our luggage was on the plane. We headed back to the hotel and bed!
Sun, Feb 3 - We made arrangements for an afternoon navigation(2.5hrs) in Catamaran of Beagle Channel at the hotel. Spent some time exploring the beach in front of the hotel and kinda getting things organized for the cruise departure the next day. Then we headed into town to explore and do some shopping. It was cool and the wind had been steadily increasing since the night before. We went over the check in for the boat ride and learned the harbor had just been closed due to the wind conditions. So we went to the taxi stop and arranged with a driver to take us to Tierra del Fuego National park for about $50US. The park has some nice easy walking trail and pretty view points. All in all a pleasant afternoon. We had a nice dinner at the Hotel. By now the wind was howling! We later learned that it reached 80m/hr that night.
Mon, Feb 4 - This morning the sun was out and it was cold because the wind was still blowing a gale. We walked on the beach and got the bags packed again. Had lunch at the hotel-they have a nice restaurant. About 2pm took a taxi to the dock. The Polar Star was there and ready for us. We were the first to arrive so we got settled in, explored a little and watched as the rest of the passengers board. We weren’t supposed to sail till 8pm, but the wind was still blowing hard and the ship had permission to sail at 6pm for Antarctica.

I will post the next section on the Antarctica trip in a day or so. I hope it will help some one planning to do this wonderful trip-as there is very little about the cruises posted.

owlwoman

CWN,

Enjoying your report, we also enjoyed staying at the Finca Adalgisa and the wine tours were great, I'm impressed you could eat dinner after lunch at the winery. Ours at Altus was over 3 hours and by the time we got back to the Finca is was after 6:00, so we just enjoyed the little restaurant at the Finca where we drank more wine and had light snacks.

Anyway, reading your report makes me want to go back even more!

AndrewDavid

thank u for posting ur detailed report
AndrewDavid

Jed

Enjoying your report. We took the bus boat on the Tigre River near BA, which we enjoyed.

Will you post further parts as replies on this thread?

cwn

Thanks for the replies. Yes I will continue to post on this thread.

We never eat as much as we did in Mendoza, but the wines and food were so good we just continued to stuff our faces.

Sorry I missed spelled La Bourgogne...it was a wonderful meal also.

We truly love Mendoza amd hated to leave. But we can for the Antarctic adventure ....

cwn

On the way to Antarctica.

Just a little history on this adventure. This is something that DH has always wanted to do. We had a trip planned for Jan 2002 with our oldest son and his wife, then 9/11 happened and she didn’t want to be that remote. We tried again to book a trip for Jan 2007 in Jan of 2006, but the one we wanted (crossing the Antarctic Circle) was sold out, so we booked the same trip for 2008 at that time. We traveled alone, since now, son has a small child. So for the last 2years I have been dreaming and planning for our time in Argentina and the cruise! We are in our 60's and I have very bad knees. I was worried about being able to actually do the landings...it wasn’t pretty to watch, but I did fine. I am glad we did the trip, but I wish we had done it sooner as I was limited at times and the whole thing is very physical

Well for the ship.....

We have a Mini suite, which has a queen bed in a alcove and a sofa(bed) and desk in the main part of the room. There are three large windows, one of which opens. Thank goodness. The bath is very small with just a shower. This cabin is on the fifth deck aft. We cruise often, and do not mind the extra motion of the forward location. More on this later!

The ship was built as a Swedish ice breaker and there have been few changes other than the observation lounge and the two cabins that were added on the 5th deck aft. It was definitely built only with men in mind and as a service vessel. It is comfortable, but not modern or well turned out.

The dinning room was the mess hall with tables for 6 to 10 still lining a long walkway. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet style and dinner is seated. Dinner was always a 4 course affair with a nice soup(more on that later too), a salad type dish, a choice of 3 main dishes, one meat, one fish and a vegetarian one plus a dessert. We could order wine by the bottle and soft drinks for a extra charge. There are passenger cabins on decks 3, 4, 5 and 6. Most have private baths and 2 singles or 4 bunks. A few have a queen and maybe a sofa bed.

The bridge is open day and night and the officers were very nice about explaining things, plus there was always at least one expedition member on the bridge looking for wilde life and answering our questions. This was a great place to watch and take pictures from. There is also a very nice comfortable library with a good selections of books on the area and ones just for pleasure. There is also a true bar like room that apparently got some use late night, but not by us! Toward the end of the trip the below decks was opened up and everyone got a detailed trip through the engine rooms. There was a small open deck aft of the lounge that some of the people sat and sunned. On deck 6 above the lounge is where the 10 zodiacs were stored.

There were 98 passengers and 48 crew including the expedition staff. Probably 60% were North American-US and Canadian. Most of the rest were from Europe. There was a group of 18 with a guide from Germany. The expedition staff (6 men and a women) were form the British Is, Australia and France, they all had or were working on their Doctorates in a field related to Antarctica- wild life, land or oceans. They were a fun group and gave very good programs during the trip. There was a program in the morning, two in the afternoon and one at night if we weren’t doing something in the Zodiacs. Most of the time the programs were very good lectures with nice slide shows related to Antarctica, but there were a few movies also related to Antarctica that were very interesting too.

So we are off....
We set sail around 6, have the lifeboat drill and a briefing which will be a regular occurrence every evening at 6pm. The expedition leader Damon tells us we should have a nice sail that evening through the Channel, but to expect the conditions to go down hill “a little” once we are clear of land. Oh well silly us, the landscape is beautiful and we see some rockhopper penguins and many birds. The sunset is lovely. We have a nice welcome dinner. It is light most all the time, so about 10 we close the shades and turn in and are gently rocked to sleep. The fact that there are dead lights on all deck three potholes doesn’t really connect with any of the passengers, yet.

About 2, I wake up sliding off the bed! I go the window and look out only to see the spray just below our deck! Well the ship is small so it is beginning to have a figure 8 type of motion. The bed is turned into the center of the ship, which I soon learn is most peolpe’s preference, but not mine! I decide to sleep on the sofa bed at this point and lay down and fall back asleep.....for a while. I am rudely awakened about an hour or so later as the soda and I go sailing across the room and colide into the bathroom door and the cabinets all fly open and dump everything on the floor! My husband wakes up looks around and calmly suggest that I will be safer if I will get back in BED! At this point the tilt of the ship changes and I go for another ride while I explain if the sofa would stop moving I would! He gets up and holds the sofa while I get back to bed where he joins me. This missile that is the sofa, now begins to fly around the room in earnst, crashing into everything. DH realizes the computer and camera are not safe, so he gets the sofa wedged in a corner and spends the next two hours sitting on the sofa with his feet against the wall to hold the thing in one place! At 6 he heads down to the main desk to find the maintenance man. They return together a few minutes later and rebolt the sofa to the wall and to the floor for good measure. Welcome to the Drake Passage!!!!

cwn

The Drake Passage and Antarctica

Tues, Feb 5 - On Tues we had three different programs during the day. They posted our itinerary and encouraged us not to move around more than necessary. We were told not to go out on the decks as we were having “green water over the bow”, (deck three) and spray hitting our windows on deck 5.

We could get to the bridge from the inside so DH spent some time there. There were too many steps for me with the ship moving so much. The wind continued all day at force 8. We had seas to 35 feet and the ship was listing to as much as 33degrees. There had been a hurricane force storm through the Drake the day before, so even though the winds weren’t as bad, the seas were still reacting to the day before.

At each meal time the captain turned to ship eastward to settle things some so we could go to the dinning room to eat. There were lots of sick people this day, though we were lucky and weren’t sick. That evening we learn that along with sea sickness there is norwalk virus aboard - someone had come on board sick the day before. We were told to wash hands very often and use the disinfectant gel before entering the dinning room. This was not good!

Wed, Feb 6 - The seas had calmed down some, but it was still very rough. There are more people sick from the virus along with sea sicknesseven with many wearing the patch.

The staff announced that to try to make things easier for us they had canned the original itinerary and we would head East(the way the wind is trying to push us) and attempt a landing on Elephant Island after dinner. Everyone’s spirits improved! The wind was down to force 5 but the ship is still rocking and rolling!

There are lots of birds around today including several different types of Albatrosses and petrals. We also spotted some fin whales. We had crossed the Antarctica Convergence and were ailing in the Southern Ocean.

Later in the afternoon we saw the first of many icebergs and after dinner in an eerie, but beautiful evening light we saw Elephant Island. After the “Drake Shake’ of the last two days we all truly appreciated the feelings of the early explorers. The winds were still at about 50m/h so the landing was impossible. We did a cruise by the island as the historian gave details about what we were seeing instead.

Thurs, Feb 7 - We woke to clearing weather and Penguin Island in the distance. We headed to the wet room to suit up for our first zodiac landing.

Penguin Is. was neat. We saw a chinstrap colony and a large group of very territorial fur seals. The landing was slow as the sea was still rough and that made getting in and out of the zodiac more “interesting”. The shore had a steep embankment that was snow covered and hard for me to climb, but other than that area it was fairly easy walking though we didn’t attempt the walk up to the 170 meter peak. After lunch the sun came out in full and the wind died down. We did our second landing at Arctowski Base, more penguins, Adelie this time and huge whale bones. The afternoon was warm and sunny and it was very pleasant to explore this island and the Polish research Base in it’s pretty setting.

Fri, Feb 8 - This was a beautiful day. We sailed toward Deception Island in the company of hundreds of Chinstrap penguins. The entrance to Deception Bay is very dramatic. This was a fun day. Whalers Bay was interesting with all the old buildings to explore. The staff dug a “hot tub” for those brave enough to go for a dip and some did. That afternoon there was a hike from Telefon Bay to a view point overlooking the whole caldera. Unfortunately I came down with the virus and was out of commission that afternoon.

Sat, Feb 9 - This was the best of all the days. The weather was perfect and the landscape was spectacular! We sailed through the Neumayer Channel which was one photo op after another!

We stopped at Port Lockroy which was built by the British in 1943 and has been restored by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and Jougla Point for a visit with the Gentoo penguins and blue eyed shags. Some of the adult penguins were molting and there were lots of babies that were great fun to watch.

Next was the sail through the spectacular Lemaire Channel. We encountered crab seals on the ice flows and humpback whales here. But the best was saved for last. We dropped anchor near Pleneau Island. Some did a zodiac cruise around the icebergs trapped by the reefs and shallows to get up close and personal with the seals and whales. We didn’t do this outing, DH now had the virus, I was OK, but still not 100% and wanted to do the outing to Petermann Is after dinner. So, I spent the afternoon on deck just enjoying the beautiful scenery and the whale sightings.

I think Petermann Is was my favorite stop. The sun was beginning to set as I rode the zodiac to the island. It is a kind of a rock mound of an island with a bright red Argentine survivor hut and three yellow researcher’s tents. The researchers were studying the penguin habits. There were lots of penguins, gentoo and adelies and magnificent scenery all around me. The snow covered Peninsula stretched out before me in a soft wash of water colors. The sun lit the sky an incandescent orange. The snow on the mountains had a hint of pale lilac and mauve. I stood there awestruck by the absolute beauty of the place. As if this wasn’t enough, as I rode back to the ship, with all this incredible color display, Damon spotted the whales we had seen earlier in the afternoon. He took us out in the channel to watch them. There were two humpbacks. They swam around and under the zodiac, I could see and smell the blows and hear their giant lungs. What a perfect day! This is Antarctica!!

Luisah

Hi Cwn,

This is a great report, very interesting. I'm glad you recovered quickly from the virus and weren't too sick from the wild seas. Did you take anything for seasickness?

I also wonder if you can give more detail about getting in and out of the zodiacs and if you felt safe while in them. I'm considering a similar trip and am not the most agile person so have been a bit worried about the landings.

Thanks.

jcasale

cwn - great report. We are thinking about a similar trip in a few years when I retire, so I was thrilled to see your report here. I will save it and pull it out again in 2011 when we start our planning process. It would be a great excuse ot go back to BA.

cwn

Well, I sort of got side tracked and never finished the trip report. It will soon be a year since our trip. So, finally here is the rest. Hope this helps some one.

What we came to do....cross the Antarctic Circle

Sun, Feb 10 Well it couldn’t last... it was grey, cold and spitting snow this morning. My husband is recovered from his bout with the virus. Today we visited Vernadsky Base, a Ukrainian research station, in the Argentine Islands. We were given a very nice tour of the station which is where the ozone hole was first discovered and visited with the people stationed there. Some passengers even enjoyed some of the homemade vodka.

Then we went to Wordie House on Winter Island another historic site. This station saw activity in the 1930's to 50's. By this point it was snowing like crazy and made an already bleak outpost look even bleaker! After everyone had their fill of Wordie the ship headed south.

The goal was to cross the Antarctic Circle this evening. There is much more ice in the water now and everything was made grey by the snow except the hug ice bergs floating by...they were a beautiful blue. About 11pm we reached and crossed 66degrees 33minutes South, the Antarctic Circle. This is something less than 10% of Antarctic cruise ships do. Most all passengers were in the Lounge to celebrate this crossing with some Linie Aaquavit. After celebrating for a while we head off the bed hoping the weather will improve some for our landings the next day.

Mon, Feb 11 Well, the weather is only getting worse today. It is snowing and sheeting plus we have force 7 winds making for rough seas. The plan was for an early morning landing at Detaille Island, but that is canceled and we sail south to the Gullet, a gap between ice clifts at the eastern tip of Adelaide Island and Hansen Island.

By Latitude 66degrees 05.7minutes South, the captain finds the channel too ice packed so we turn back toward Detaille Island and a sheltered anchorage. The weather should improve later in the day and we can still do a landing.
After several lectures and a showing of Happy Feet, three Zodiacs go to check out the landing site. We learn once again Antarctica’s disdain for weather forecasts. The staff finds three miles of cold, windy, icy and rough conditions! The expected improvement did not happen! So we stay put and have a Bar-b-que on the back of the ship instead.

Tues, Feb 12 Today is our landing on the actual Continent of Antarctica. It is still grey and wet with many bergs from growlers to massive glacial bergs floating about. We sail into group of small islands called the Fish Islands that give a little protection from the wind so the water is calm enough to do the landing and the Zodiac cruise, much to everyone’s relief! The continent landing is at Prospect Point the site of a old British station, long abandoned. The zodiac cruise is among the islands which are home to Adelies, blue-eyed shags, Antarctic terns, kelp gulls and Wilson’s storm petrals. While cruising we are visited by a leopard seal who is very interested in us and our craft. He is almost “to up close and personal” for us, given his size and ability to jump out of the water onto the ice flows! We also see some more crabeater seals. All and all, it is a great ending to our time in Antarctica! By noon we are sailing through the Pendleton Strait heading to the Drake Channel and Ushuaia, over 730 nautical miles away.

Wed & Thurs Feb 13 &14 Sailing Drake Passage and Beagle Channel
This was a much nicer crossing. The water was so calm it was almost glassy at points. Everyone spent time in the lounge working on their pictures, listening to the recap of the expedition and just enjoying the great weather. We had flocks of various birds circling the ship most of the time and goy some great pictures. The afternoon of the 24th we pass by Cape Horn. It is very visible since we are having such good weather. I get some nice pictures from the Bridge. We have the good by dinner that evening and everyone exchanges contact information.

Fri Feb 15 We disembark the ship and spend the morning walking around town. We visit the prison museum and finish up some shopping. We have an afternoon flight on Aerolineas to Buenos Aires which again is almost 2 hours late arriving! Then we wait about 40 minutes before we can board. I will never fly this airline again, it is terrible! We get to Buenos Aires in time for dinner. This time around we are staying at the Four Seasons. We have dinner at Piegari which is right across from the Hotel. Very good food and big servings.

Sat Feb 16 Buenos Aires We sleep in and have a nice breakfast. We then get out and explore the area around the hotel and walk over to Florida Street, shopping along the way. I find some nice sandals and some other small leather items. Our main objective is Bettine Rizza at 547 Paraguay St just off Fla St. We want to order some leather items. She has lots of samples to try in the shop and we order a vest for me and a jacket and vest for my husband. She will ship them home for us. It is mid afternoon and HOT so we head back to the hotel for swim.

Our flight home is at 11:50pm and we have a late check out. After the swim, we pack up and put the luggage in storage and go to the bar for cocktails. Later we have dinner at the hotel. Our driver picks us up about 8:30 for the airport. The flight check in is the worst we have ever had! We get our boarding passes with no problem. BUT... Our driver looks upstairs and tells us to wait a minute while she goes upstairs to check on something. We look up and see a huge line wrapped around the balcony railing. You guessed it...the guide comes back down and says that is the security line...there are only two people checking boarding passes for the entry into the security check area! The guide wants to stay with us, but we see no reason for this plus it is very hot in the building so we get in the line and send her on her way. She has been really nice.

It is now about 9:15pm. We stand in line for the boarding pass check(till just two people checking), then stand in line for the security check, then stand in line for immigration and stand in line for another baggage hand search at the gate. We sit down to wait to board. It is now 11:45 and they are starting to board the plane. The temperature must have been in the high 80's with humidity to match. There is not a dry stitch of clothing on us or anyone else for that matter. Fortunately the planes A/C is going full blast so once we board we finally cool off and have an uneventful flight home.

Sun Feb 17 - Home

cwn

In answer to an earlier question. I was not sure I would be able to get in and out of the Zodiacs. I was 63, often have to walk with a cane, with bad knees and a bad back. The crew helped me in the water and climbing into and out of the craft, so it wasn't too bad. I made every landing and all but one cruise.

There are lots of neat and scenic trails you can do. These were too much for me, so I stayed closer to the landing site. My husband ventured a little farer afield. Even so there was always plenty for me to see and enjoy.

Several people stayed on the ship just about the whole trip. We anchored at such beautiful sites, I am sure they were happy just to sit on the deck and enjoy the views.

It is a very phyical cruise, but well worth the effort. There was very little down time with the good lectures and landings/cruises. We were up by 7 every day and fell into bed every night by 10! The age range of our passengers were 8 to 85.

Go and enjoy!

eenusa

Thanks for finishing the post -- always fun to read about another person's experience of the southerly latitudes. Any online photos ???