Argentina

Before I start into Argentina, a few catch up items.  We spent Christmas at home cooling our jet lagged heals.  In a few posts I'll provide the details of the trip home, which was very long.  

Women's Bridge

Sidney attended one day of school in December.  She brought a lot on the cruise to do and worked hard over the holiday break on math.  She still has a lot of catching up to do though. 

I worked most of the the days around Christmas, taking a half day of vacation a couple of times.  We went to the food bank right after Christmas and helped sort bread, two semi loads.  Sidney sorted and I wrapped 30 box pallets with plastic wrap.  I wrapped 60 pallets and was super dizzy when I was done.

We spent the New Years weekend at the beach with friends.  Stormy had a problem that required me to take her to the emergency vet.  That was a five hour round trip with the driving and two ferry rides.  She over used her tail on Saturday basically and had something called limber tail.  It was very painful for the poor baby.  

That was New Year's Eve.  After that already long day I found myself between two fighting dogs and got a pretty good bite in my right elbow and tricep.  Since they are bites, they can't be stiched and will have to heal on their own.  I am on antibiotics and will have more impressive scars on that already abused arm.  It has slowed me down some this week as it was very painful but I am slowly able to use my arm more and more.  

With all this craziness I was delayed on this post and haven't even conceived of the Christmas letter.  I have never been late before but I guess there is a first time for everything.  

This first section has also been the hardest to write because there was so much.  We saw so much, did so much and learned so much.  Add in that there is so much history and it gets quite long.  

So on to the good part.  This is part 1 of our trip to Argentina and Antarctica.  I will break the posts into two or three parts so I can put in good pictures.  And make you come back for more.  I have been working on this for what seems like ages but I have run out of steam.  Please forgive all grammatical errors.....

December 3 

We departed SA at about 4 pm. The TSA person who was checking our passports in SA has a daughter is named Kimber.  Flew from SA to Atlanta.  Left Atlanta after meeting Karen, Theresa's friend, and Connie, Karen's friend.   Connie thought Sidney and I were sisters traveling together at first versus mom and daughter.  That was funny.  Theresa flew United from Houston.   Sidney slept OK. I didn't sleep much at all.  Food was ok.  I had tortellini for dinner and Sidney had chicken.

December 4

Mate

Sidney had a small problem on the flight with feeling more than the usual wobbly.  It was concerning for a few minutes but we got some juice in her and got her cooled off and she was better.  We made it off the plane and through passport control in a reasonable amount of time.  Both of our bags were already on the belt.  We went through customs and found our host.  We had to wait quite a while for Connie and Karen. They were at the wrong baggage belt. 

We headed to the hotel, Hilton Puerto Madero, which was a 45 minute van ride. The hotel had two giant nutcrackers which Sidney just loved. Our host told us some about Buenos Aires and we saw these lovely trees with purple flowers called Jacarandas.  The  other lovely tree was the Tipa which has a yellow flower.  Our host also told us about our program for the rest of the time in Argentina.  After a quick small lunch we all took much needed naps.

Puente do la Mujer

Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero

After our naps we walked around and across the Puente de la Mujer, or Women's Bridge. The bridge has an unusual design that cantilevers and rotates to let water traffic to pass.  It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2001.  It is called the Women's Bridge because many of the streets in the area we are in, the old river port, are named after important Argentinian women.  At 6:30 we were picked up to go to a Tango with dinner.  It took well over an hour with the traffic.  The WTO ministerial conference is coming to the hotel we are in and there is a huge conference already occurring at the hotel.  So there is a lot of police presence and many large black barricades going up. All of this plus normal work activity make traffic bad.  Traffic is still not as bad as Lima!

Trash Collecting Machine on Port

Rio de la plata is considered by Argentina and Uruguay to be the widest river in the world.  The maximum width at the bottom of the funnel shaped outlet to the ocean is 220 km wide. It was and is still important for commerce.  We can just see it from the upper floors of our hotel.

Engineering Controls

We went to a Tango and Folklore Show with dinner at La Ventana Barrio de Tango.  The tango show had both traditional Tango but also folklore dances using ropes, drums, tapping, scarves, ponchos, and involved many clothing changes.  The two main dancers danced many dances without a break. The main musical instrument was the accordion played by a very talented instrumentalist. There was also a guitarist, pianist, and cellist.  Dinner was empanadas (method to eat anything in the kitchen sink but starts with hard boiled egg and olives usually), beef with chimichuri, and ice cream.  Theresa didn't like the chimichuri so I ate hers too.  It was wonderful. After dinner we went back to hotel and crashed.

December 5

Gaucho tour

Jose was our driver and Lauda our guide.

Horse taming demonstration

We drove down the widest avenue in the world, 9 de Julio Avenue.  The street name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.  The street is an entire city block wide for it's entire length.  It is a multi step process to cross it.  There are bus lanes in the very center and other traffic on the outer lanes. 

Horse taming demonstration

Pato Ball

We passed the one of largest basilicas in Argentina. It houses a statue of the Virgin Mary that was ordered because someone wanted the largest virgin statue in Argentina. The statue made it from BA to the river and it rained for days and so they decided this is where she wanted to be.  A small church was erected around her which over time was expanded. 

Hornero bird nest

The area in and around BA is called the humid pampas. It covers 600,000 square km. It has regular rain and good soil, making the land very valuable for agriculture.  Wheat and soy beans are the main crops which are alternated because of how hard soy beans are on the land.  Over 90% of the soybeans are exported out of country as Argentinians don't eat them or drink soy milk.  The land is so fertile that a hector costs 20,000 US dollars so generally there is not much cattle as they destroy the land. 

Silversmith

Smallest Tango Dancer

In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza from Spain founded BA for the first time. He brought with him horses and cows.  With the very good grass they multiplied quickly.  The first BA lasted 4 years being abandoned in 1541. Daily attacks by natives wore the city down and it was finally burned.  44 years later was the second founding because the Spaniards wanted a city here. 

Juan de Garay found BA for a second time in 1580.  The native people would capture horses and cows to sell. The leather from the cattle was exported.  Locals ate all the beef because there was no refrigeration on the ships.  Beef was a very low price so Argentinians became large consumers of beef. They have the largest consumption of red meat in the world.  

Gaucho Sadle

There were almost no trees in Argentina, only a bush called the Ombu.  It is very weak wood and useful only for shade.  Other trees were imported for rail wood and then used to delineate property before fences. 

We saw the nests of the hornero bird.  The nest is made of mud and are domed and protect birds well.  It has internal chamber protecting the birds even more.  The nest resembles an old wood fired oven. 

We also saw the tero bird, a larger bird with a nest on ground. That bird shouts a lot and will attack if you get to close. The Uruguay rugby team is called Teros.

There are many horses tied on the side of the road in the country.  If the horse is on the side of road, the owner doesn't have enough space.  It is legal and the horses are well tied. The side of road is also federal land.  Here people want a horse as a pet to dress it up for local festival in November versus a dog or cat.  The holiday is a Gaucho celebration called Día de la Tradicíon, or Tradition Day.  San Antonio de Areco is a sister city to Laredo since 2001. 

Umbo Tree

Trash in the town, as well as other small towns we have seen, is put in high baskets to keep dogs away.

Indian taming started as how to steal horse. We had a demonstration after our lunch at the Estancia.  It is a method to used tame horses without breaking them.

El Gaucho Goofy was a cartoon that inspired Karen to want a Gaucho tour.  It was released in 1943.  Goofy goes to Argentina to learn from Gauchos how to be a cowboy in Argentina. The artist with at least the concept of the cartoon was Molinas Campo who lived in the town we visited and did calendars and other things with his cartoons on them.

Silver working area

Gaucho pants were originally ponchos worn as pants and they needed a belt.  Women wove nice belts as a status symbol but those woven belts were replaced eventually with leather.  Over time a fancier belt with more silver and coins became important.  The coins on the belts could be removed to buy things like horses or for betting. 

We went to two or three silver museums and smiths. It was very interesting to learn about working with silver.  Argentina is AR for silver so Spanish came to get silver because of that.  But the only silver was in the north, not this area.  It took 30 years to build the church in San Antonio de Areco, the San Antonio de Padua church, because everything had to be imported. It had to come from Europe and then be brought from BA by bull. 

The area had a large Irish population and the first two generations could not speak Spanish.  The church had an Irish priest for confessions.  Now Irish speak Spanish but with a thick accent and the influence is still strong.

Pato is a traditional game played on horseback that combines elements of polo and basketball.  The Pato ball ball replaced duck for the national horse game.  It has been a national game since 1953.  It started as a game without rules but was frequently deadly to the duck, riders and horses.  A soccer ball goes inside and it gets thrown from person to person. There are more rules now but it can still be a dangerous sport. 

The ropes with the balls on the end that we saw first in the dancing are boludoras and were used by natives to catch prey, hobble horses and cows, and for defense.  They are generally made of leather but the dancers had plastic balls. 

In addition to the Indian taming demonstration we saw the Gato dance and other traditional dances.  We also went horseback riding for about an hour when we first arrived.  The saddles are very soft, covered in fleece.  I have never been not sore from riding before.  Granted all we did was walk slowly.  In general though saddles appear to be much more comfortable than even western saddles.

We also tried mate which is traditional tea. The cup is full of leaves and then just a bit of very hot water is added.  It is very bitter.  It is a shared drink where everyone drinks from one cup and one straw. The cup is almost always made from a gourd which can then be decorated with carving or silver.  Each person pours in water and then drinks until there is no more water in the cup before passing the cup along.  The next person then adds their hot water until all the water is gone. If anyone comes over, even strangers, you have Mate.

Lunch at the Estancia was blood sausage, fried entrails, grilled chicken and beef, and chimichuri of course. There was a misbehaving cat got taken away 5 times and always came back.

After lunch we headed back to BA tired, full, and content.  I also discovered I now get carsick in the back of the van. So I took naps both ways.  I haven't had a double nap day in a long time. 

December 6

Sidney eating her pizza before we left BA

Slept late and ate breakfast.  We went for a walk through Reserva Ecological Costanerea Sur, a park near where we were staying that led to the edge of Rio de la Plata.  Sidney had a pack of 6 or 7 stray dogs that stayed with her until we turned around.  We didn't have food and she didn't touch them but they must have known she enjoyed their presence.  We also saw a pair of Flickers in a tree.  We saw carpenter ants too and they appear to like the yellow flowers as much as leaves.  They have highways too.  It was getting warm by the time we finished so we headed back to the hotel for a break before the afternoon. 

We met our guides, Bill, Dale, and Rob right before lunch.  We took a bus tour in the afternoon which was the official start of the cruise.  We toured the north part of BA.  We saw many large estates that became embassies because others couldn't afford to buy them.  We also saw estates that were still estates. 

We learned that 3.5 million live in the in capital city and 1.5 million come in to work each day. There are 14 million in area and 44 million total in country.  

Floralis Generica

The Prefectura is the coast guard so they and the police have control of the area of town we were in, around the river port, Porto Madero.  

We stopped at a square for Jose de San Martin who won independence for Peru, Argentina and Chile on July 9, 1816.  He crossed Andes 8 times and is a national hero of Argentina and Peru. 

We learned about the ongoing Falklands war over the islands of the same name.  Argentina and the U.K. Are still fighting over the islands.  

We stopped to see the Plaza Naciones Unidas with the beautiful metal flower.  The flower is called Floralis Genérica and was installed in 2002.  It is aluminum and steel.  It blooms at 8 am and closes at dusk. It has different colored lights on it at night and a fountain around it. 

Cat in cemetery

I observed a solid engineering control for all my work friends who understand barrier controls.  There are large bullet shaped concrete structures lining many roads between the road and sidewalks to keep cars off the sidewalk.  They are solid engineering controls.

Polo is a recognized Olympic sport but hasn't been played in the Olympics since 1936.  Part of the problem is agreement to rules between Argentina, the US and other Polo associations.  The countries have changed rules over time and not informed other countries. Additionally a single rider requires several well trained and bred horses in a match which makes it a very expensive sport.

We visited one of the most important cemeteries in world, the Recoleta Cemetery.  The tombs have shelves for each member of the family to be interred there and a basement.  Some of the tombs have no more family to care for tombs and so they may be auctioned to new families and previous occupants will be moved to a common grave.  This is the cemetery where after many moves through a few countries and many years, Eva Petron was finally placed by her family. She is in her family crypt, the Duarte's.  It's probably the last place she would have chosen as it is among the rich of BA.

There was a welcome reception and dinner was with everyone on the Tauck tour.  We started with ceviche, salmon bagels with cream cheese, bacon sandwiches with BBQ sauce, empanadas, chicken sticks, and caprices.  Dinner was mushroom stuffed beef, ice cream with passion fruit soup, chocolate tart, and berries. There was a short Tango show after dinner.  It wasn't nearly as good as the one we went to on the first night.  I did unfortunately get chosen to dance with one of the male dancers, darn it!

December 7

Many demonstrations in BA and police assist you to block street, etc. You can demonstrate anything big or small.  Wednesday is the official demonstration day but apparently that doesn't matter.  The main square will be closed at noon in Thursday for a big demonstration.  There are clothes on the rail around the pyramid from yesterday's workers demonstration.  

The presidents building is pink as it was originally painted with a mixture of lime with cow blood.  This mixture lasted a long time and protected the walls well. 

Off the Plaza de Mayo, a main square in BA, we saw the Museum of May revolution.  It looks like a church and the church on the same square looks like a government building.  The Pirámide de Mayo which was inaugurated in 1812 to the May revolution of 1811.  The Bank of Argentina, the BA City Hall, and other important buildings surround this square. 

There were painted white shawls and a sculpture of a white shawl to remember the grandmothers.  They are the mothers of the women who disappeared in last dictatorship and were pregnant.  The pregnant women were killed after giving birth and their children given to the dictators supporters.  30,000 people disappeared in the time.  Children born between 1976 to 1982 can check lineage to see if they were illegally adopted.

Mausoleum of San Martin

Guards leaving Mausoleum of San Martin

We observed the Mausoleum of San Martin which is attached to but not inside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral.  The conditions of his being placed at the church are that he could not be in the church because he was suspected of being a Freemason.  The building is connected to the church but is not part of the church.  He also had to be not horizontal so he is head down and feet up because he was a sinner and going to hell.  He was also not allowed to have a cross.  He also has guards. It took 30 years after his death of movement and protection of his remains until he could be placed at the cathedral. 

Plaza de Mayo

La Boca

La Boca Tango started in the La Boca area.  It was a dance of the poor and immigrants, and started in the brothels.  It was not received well in Argentina until it became popular over seas.  La Boca is notable for the brightly colored buildings, artisans and statues in the area.  

We also saw a typical house of the area that later became convent houses.  They were called sausage houses and similar to shot gun houses in Louisiana. Once the rich left the homes they rented the rooms one by one to immigrants.  As such they became convents with the rooms being bedrooms only with shared kitchens and bathrooms.

We saw a lot of Mafalda comic drawings.  The comics feature a 6 year old girl named Mafalda who reflects the Argentinian middle class. She is concerned about humanity and world peace.  The strips ran from 1964 to 1973.  

All soccer teams in Argentina are named after animals. i.e. Chickens, pigs, etc

Lunch was at an Italian restaurant and was very tasty. After lunch we walked back to the hotel.  On our way Sidney and I walked through an antique triple masted sailing vessel, the Uruguay.  We could walk all through the vessel and it was very cool.

We rested and packed in the afternoon as we had to get up at 2 am the next day.

Before leaving BA we tried 8 of the top 10 culinary highlights of BA.  These were Provoleta, Parrillada, Dulce de Leche, Ice Cream, Empanadas, Mate, Fugazzetta, and Alfajores.  Provoleta is a slab of fried provolone cheese.  Parrillada is a selection of entrails, sausages including blood sausage, beef and chicken brought to the table on a grill.  We did not much care for the blood sausage but we did try it.  Dulce de Leche is the caramel that is in everything in large quantities.  Ice cream in Argentina is similar to gelato.  We had a variety of empanadas and I already discussed Mate.  The Fugazzetta is the local pizza that is double crusted and filled with ham and cheese (no sauce) and topped with more cheese and sliced onion.  To be honest it's cheese overload.

December 8

Kimber, Sidney, Theresa, Connie and Karen

The morning started at 2:10 am when we got up to go eat breakfast at 2:30 before leaving for the airport at 3:30.  We got a lot of information on the bus ride about going through the airport as well as what to expect for the day.  I ink we were on the flight at about 6:30 after the usual airport chaos of having to check our own bags after standing in a crazy line.  Sidney and I did fine but some of our group were in a slower line or had trouble in security.

The flight to Ushuaia was a little over 3 hours and we napped a good bit.  Ushuaia is a town of about 70,000 and is the jumping off point for going to Antarctica.  It also has the first national park in Argentina and is the end of the Andes.  Today is also a holiday for Antarctica as it is the day Argentinians prepare for Christmas, the holiday of the Virgin Mary.

Our cruise directors had a sense of humor, Bill in particular.  When be boarded our bus after the flight he handed out Yak milk.  It was actually small boxes of water.  Someone sitting near us at lunch actually thought it was milk and was going to use it in their coffee. I got a giggle out of that!

Ushuaia started as a prison town were prisoners were sent if they received a life sentence or were repeat or violent offenders.  They worked here getting lumber and building a train which took them to the hills. The railway is now called the railway to the end of the world.  Two people ever escaped but were caught again.  The prison was forced labor.  The prison closed in 1947.   There are two prison museums. The temperature in Ushuaia rarely exceeds 60°F or drops below freezing.

Last color for a while

Terra del Fuego

After a tradition a BBQ lunch at Patagonia Mia we went to the Terra del Fuego National Park.  The park area was originally inhabited by the Yamanas who lived well off of the land and sea.  The name of the park is because the smoke from their fires could be observed from afar.  They became extinct in large part due to diseases brought by explorers in and after 1890.  The population dwindled from 3000 to only 100 by 1910. Today there is one remaining full Yamana person. The Yamaha existed wearing nearly no clothes. They had many small fires, rock huts, covered themselves in animal grease, slept in a deep crouch to reduce surface area, and had a significantly high metabolism. 

One of the first trees we noticed were flag trees which are trees that are more exposed and the strong western winds which comb the the branches down towards the trunk.  Another plant of interest was the dog orchid that grew on the floor of the forest with a tiny white flower. You could clearly see the tree line where taller plants no longer grow due in part to wind exposure, lack of water and bad soil. The other plant that was very obvious was an edible fungi that grows on the trees as well as a variety of lichens and mosses, including old mans beard.  The fungi is a mushroom that was eaten by the natives.  Sidney and I shared one.  It is the size of a kumquat and the same color.  It tasted very slightly sweet but otherwise didn't taste like much.  It had a grainy texture.  The other fun thing we did was skip rocks on the small lake.  

Sidney finds friends everywhere

There are only 20 species of mammals and 90 species of birds found in the park.  The most common is the endemic Fuegen Red Fox.  There are also small otters that live on the shores of the bay.  The birds we saw were the Upland Sheld goose and and the Rufus Collared Sparrow.  We also were able to see an Andean Condor.  There are no amphibians.

Upland Goose

Unfortunately other animals have been introduced to the park, all having severely altered the landscape.  These include beavers, rabbits, musk rats, and gray fox.  

The evidence of the damage from the beavers is very apparent in the many nearly completely defrosted areas in the park.  These animals have no predators.

"Toothless" From How to Tame Your Dragon

Most of the park is closed except to researchers.  There is only one road through the park, a small dirt road.  There are many trails and omit I've camping is available.  Because of the narrowness of the road, our bus and another had to do the bus tango.  I called it that in part for how close together they got as well as the fact that hey had to move backwards and forwards together some in order to pass each other.  It was impressive.  

Mushrooms

While in Ushuaia we also observed the southernmost golf course in the Americas, the glacial landscape, and the Martial glacier which is the most important to the community.  The glacier landscape exhibits sharp peaks and valleys formed by the movement of the glaciers. The Channel we sailed out throughout the Beagle Channel named after the first vessel to sail it.

Next Stop Antarctica!

We spent a few minutes shopping in Ushuaia and getting our passports stamped before boarding the beautiful vessel Le Boréal. We were greeted with champagne and other light refreshments.  After providing our passport and getting our cards and picture, our things were carried to our room and we were escorted by stewards wearing white gloves.  Sidney and I are not at all used to this treatment and were positively shocked.  We had time to organize our rooms before the introductory talk and mandatory life boat drill.  

Terra del Fuego

Dinner was a buffet that included some sushi, an organized macaroni and cheese, a variety of fish, roast beef, salad, and fruit.  Desserts, bread and cheese were of course present as well as wine and other drinks.  We pushed away during dinner an it got real.  This was really happening.  After dinner we got our parkas.  These are bright ed and seem quite warm.  Sidney and I have the smallest size available which is still quite large.  After that we crashed.  That was nearly 9:30 pm.

Southernmost Golf Course