December 13 Saturday Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia, is a town of 60,000 on the island of Tierra del Fuego and looks out over the Beagle Channel, named after the HMS Beagle, the ship Charles Darwin sailed on in the 1800's.
Here we took the second and last ship run tour. (We can often get much, much cheaper tours by just stepping on shore. There are usually lots of independent guides waiting to pick up cruisers.)
We took a 4-wheel drive (jeep) tour on a very very primitive old logging trail, up a hillside. We dropped down to a ski resort, one of seven on the island....six, including this one, were for cross country skiing. At the resort, we walked among the pens and pens of sled dogs that are being trained to haul sleds in the wintertime. Because there is no snow in the summer, the dogs are trained by pulling 4-wheelers. The owners like the dogs to be around people to they can learn to socialize. We hopped back in the jeeps and headed into a wooded area where we hiked to an old logging hut. The snack we were promised looked like a small slice of sausage on a cracker plus a little Pepsi or wine. Then the real food came out....stewed beef, oranges, deserts, etc. The best snack I have ever had. We hiked through some really beautiful territory, woods, swampy areas, etc. at the southern end of the Andes. It was well worth the money.
December 14 Cape Horn, Chile
We are at the end of the world. The landscape is wild and beautiful. There are glaciers on the rugged mountains here and although it is the middle of the summer in the southern hemisphere, there is still snow on the mountain tops. These mountains are the souther end of the Andes range. From here, the mountain range goes down into the sea and re-emerges in Antarctica, not so very far from here. We are lucky to be able to sail around Cape Horn at the southern end of the world. The wind blows hard here 200 days of the year. Waves can be up to 100 meters high and the seas too rough to navigate. Two weeks ago this ship traversed the Cape in very bad weather...everyone was sea sick. Another large cruise ship, the Norwegian Sun following the same route at the same time was unable to make the passage. We were very blessed, though, because the weather was perfect and we had smooth sailing all the way. We don’t have a good horror story to tell, but that’s OK.
December 15, 16 Monday, Tuesday At Sea
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
SA Cruise: Punta Arenas, Chile Sailing with Magellan
December 12 Punta Arenas, Chile
Punta Arenas claims to be the southern most city of its size in the world. It is on the shores of the Straits of Magellan. This area has a very harsh and unforgiving climate. Before the Panama Canal was built, the Straits of Magellan were somewhat of a shortcut from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The other route was down around Cape Horn, a very dangerous route. At one time, the Dutch East Indies company claimed the area and forbade anyone else to use the route, forcing everyone else to go around Cape Horn.
(Below is one of the few entries written on the voyage)
Today is December 12, 2008. I don’t actually know what day of the week it is, but I can find out by getting on an elevator and looking at the floor. Everyday, the current day of the week is placed on the elevator floor in front of the door. I’m not the only one who loses track of time.
Last night, just after midnight, Greg and I went out on the deck and looked outside. We were just beginning to go through the Straits of Magellan, off the coast of Chile. We could see land off both sides of the ship. Several hundred years ago, when Magellan was looking for the Spice Islands, he found these straits which cut through the tip of South America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a very valuable “short cut” for ships. It was pretty awesome to image ourselves in the same area as Magellan had been in hundreds of years ago.
(Magellan was asked by Spain’s king to find a westward passage to the Spice Island of Indonesia. They left Spain on September 20, 1519.)
We rose early this morning, ate breakfast, then went back to sleep. You can do that on vacation. After we rose again, we caught a tender (one of the lifeboats used to ferry passengers back and forth to the ship when cannot dock at the pier because the water is not deep enough, etc.) then headed out for the town of Punta Arenas on foot. Tour from the ship are very expensive on this cruise, so we don’t take them at each stop. We walked several blocks into the town square where the ever present market place was set up. I think they set up special when they know that cruise ships are coming in because the ships bring so much business. I bought a few trinkets then we walked about a block to a museum. It was the old home of a local somewhat wealthy family. We spent a pleasant hour there then tried to a get a taxi to take up to the nature reserve that was supposed to have a great view of the city. We ended up walking back to the ship and finding a driver who asked for $50 to take us but settled on $30 instead. He didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Spanish, but we visited the whole 10 kilometers out and 10 kilometers back. His few words of English and my few words of Spanish along with a lot of hand gestures were enough to tell each other about our families, what they did, about the farm, about the nature reserve etc. It was pretty amazing.
The nature reserve was located at the top of a high hill and had a beautiful view of the harbor and the town of about 40,000 people. From the top we could also see the island of Tierra del Fuego and the end of the world. Tomorrow we will be almost there.
Punta Arenas claims to be the southern most city of its size in the world. It is on the shores of the Straits of Magellan. This area has a very harsh and unforgiving climate. Before the Panama Canal was built, the Straits of Magellan were somewhat of a shortcut from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The other route was down around Cape Horn, a very dangerous route. At one time, the Dutch East Indies company claimed the area and forbade anyone else to use the route, forcing everyone else to go around Cape Horn.
(Below is one of the few entries written on the voyage)
Today is December 12, 2008. I don’t actually know what day of the week it is, but I can find out by getting on an elevator and looking at the floor. Everyday, the current day of the week is placed on the elevator floor in front of the door. I’m not the only one who loses track of time.
Last night, just after midnight, Greg and I went out on the deck and looked outside. We were just beginning to go through the Straits of Magellan, off the coast of Chile. We could see land off both sides of the ship. Several hundred years ago, when Magellan was looking for the Spice Islands, he found these straits which cut through the tip of South America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a very valuable “short cut” for ships. It was pretty awesome to image ourselves in the same area as Magellan had been in hundreds of years ago.
(Magellan was asked by Spain’s king to find a westward passage to the Spice Island of Indonesia. They left Spain on September 20, 1519.)
We rose early this morning, ate breakfast, then went back to sleep. You can do that on vacation. After we rose again, we caught a tender (one of the lifeboats used to ferry passengers back and forth to the ship when cannot dock at the pier because the water is not deep enough, etc.) then headed out for the town of Punta Arenas on foot. Tour from the ship are very expensive on this cruise, so we don’t take them at each stop. We walked several blocks into the town square where the ever present market place was set up. I think they set up special when they know that cruise ships are coming in because the ships bring so much business. I bought a few trinkets then we walked about a block to a museum. It was the old home of a local somewhat wealthy family. We spent a pleasant hour there then tried to a get a taxi to take up to the nature reserve that was supposed to have a great view of the city. We ended up walking back to the ship and finding a driver who asked for $50 to take us but settled on $30 instead. He didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Spanish, but we visited the whole 10 kilometers out and 10 kilometers back. His few words of English and my few words of Spanish along with a lot of hand gestures were enough to tell each other about our families, what they did, about the farm, about the nature reserve etc. It was pretty amazing.
The nature reserve was located at the top of a high hill and had a beautiful view of the harbor and the town of about 40,000 people. From the top we could also see the island of Tierra del Fuego and the end of the world. Tomorrow we will be almost there.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
SA Cruise: Puerto Madryn, Argentina and penguins
December 11 Puerto Madryn, Argentina
We had never heard of any of the ports we visited except the very, very large ones so we didn’t know what to expect.
Puerto Madryn (population 60,000) is on the Atlantic coast of Argentina’s famous region of Patagonia. This part of Patagonia looks almost exactly like the Lynndyl area. It is desolate and has a lot of sagebrush. It reminded me a lot of home.
I took a ship tour which visited a Welsh town of Trelew, I shouldn’t be mean, but Trelew was the ugliest town I have ever seen. The buildings were colorless and there was very little vegetation. We went on a tour of their Paleontology Museum which houses ancient dinosaur fossils that have been discovered throughout the region. No real skeletons were displayed here because they weigh too much. Instead they have cast lighter weight replicas.
Next we visited a Welsh town called Gaiman on the Chubut River. The town is a pretty spot of green down in a valley. None of the trees and vegetation are native to the area, but have all been planted and irrigated by man.....just like at home. We went to a Welsh tea house where we had tea and pastries, (I skipped the tea.) Then wandered about town for a bit.....it was actually not as interesting as the brochure promised.
We ended the tour by traveling by bus to The Punta Loma reserve, home to a large colony of sea lions and sea birds. We traveled along dirt roads and I think our driver was so afraid of stirring up dust that he only drove about 10 miles an hour. We took so long getting there that we only stayed a short time and had to get back to the ship. The sea lions were fun to watch with their little ones. A few of the mothers took their youngsters out into the water to let them play.
Most of the rest just sunned themselves on the beach or enjoyed the shade of an overhanging cliff.
Greg took a 2 ½ hour bus trip to see a penguin colony. (I would have gone there except the ship brochure made the buses sound like they were going to be full of dust and hard to breath in. They were really nice and clean instead.) Punta Tombo, south of Puerto Madryn was home to one of the largest Magellan Penguin colonies in South America. Estimates of the number of penguins are upward of 2 million. (I am plagerising some of the ship’s descriptions.)
The penguins were quite small and hidden among the sage brush. They had little burrows under the bushes. Greg thought it was quite strange to see penguins out in an area that looked like the desert around Lynndyl, except by the sea.
December 11 At sea
We had never heard of any of the ports we visited except the very, very large ones so we didn’t know what to expect.
Puerto Madryn (population 60,000) is on the Atlantic coast of Argentina’s famous region of Patagonia. This part of Patagonia looks almost exactly like the Lynndyl area. It is desolate and has a lot of sagebrush. It reminded me a lot of home.
I took a ship tour which visited a Welsh town of Trelew, I shouldn’t be mean, but Trelew was the ugliest town I have ever seen. The buildings were colorless and there was very little vegetation. We went on a tour of their Paleontology Museum which houses ancient dinosaur fossils that have been discovered throughout the region. No real skeletons were displayed here because they weigh too much. Instead they have cast lighter weight replicas.
Next we visited a Welsh town called Gaiman on the Chubut River. The town is a pretty spot of green down in a valley. None of the trees and vegetation are native to the area, but have all been planted and irrigated by man.....just like at home. We went to a Welsh tea house where we had tea and pastries, (I skipped the tea.) Then wandered about town for a bit.....it was actually not as interesting as the brochure promised.
We ended the tour by traveling by bus to The Punta Loma reserve, home to a large colony of sea lions and sea birds. We traveled along dirt roads and I think our driver was so afraid of stirring up dust that he only drove about 10 miles an hour. We took so long getting there that we only stayed a short time and had to get back to the ship. The sea lions were fun to watch with their little ones. A few of the mothers took their youngsters out into the water to let them play.
Most of the rest just sunned themselves on the beach or enjoyed the shade of an overhanging cliff.
Greg took a 2 ½ hour bus trip to see a penguin colony. (I would have gone there except the ship brochure made the buses sound like they were going to be full of dust and hard to breath in. They were really nice and clean instead.) Punta Tombo, south of Puerto Madryn was home to one of the largest Magellan Penguin colonies in South America. Estimates of the number of penguins are upward of 2 million. (I am plagerising some of the ship’s descriptions.)
The penguins were quite small and hidden among the sage brush. They had little burrows under the bushes. Greg thought it was quite strange to see penguins out in an area that looked like the desert around Lynndyl, except by the sea.
December 11 At sea
Saturday, February 21, 2009
SA Cruise: Montevideo and at sea
December 8 Monday. (I am keeping much better track of the days here on paper looking back than I ever did on the ship. I was usually clueless about what day it was.)
We were allowed to leave the ship in Montevideo, Uruguay about 10 a.m. We hadn’t seen any ship tours that looked interesting so we decided to just go into town. One of the leather shops had shuttle buses at the dock to take people to their shop so we hopped on one and spent a few minutes browsing through their leather goods when we got to town. We spent a pleasant morning walking down the streets and browsing through their open market in the town square. One of the popular items being sold was a container and special spoon for a drink called “mate” (mah-tay), a local tea. The tradition was to fix the tea then pass the mug around for everyone to share. We didn’t try it but we bought a few of the spoon-straws which were shaped like hollow paddles with holes in the top of the bowl for straining out the leaves.
Gaucho dancers were performing in the town square so we found a bench and watched for a while then wandered down the street a ways. Montevideo (population 1.3 million ) reminded me a bit of Provo, not a very metropolitan big city. We found the McDonald’s across from the town square and got a hamburger and drink. (For those of you who think we wimped out by going to McDonalds, you must remember how hard it is to find a bathroom–bano-- in a foreign country, especially a bathroom you can trust.) We walked back to the ship. (We do a lot of walking on our trips and even with all the food we eat, I always end up losing weight. Of course, I gain it all back when I get back home.)
December 10 Tuesday At Sea
The ship has many activities to keep the passengers entertained at sea. We had three formal nights on this trip because of all the days at sea. Greg and I usually play at least one game of trivia each sea day. I also took a Spanish class (which I dropped after the first day) and a Portuguese class, which I attended all five days. That gave me the skills of a high schooler who has taken one week of Portuguese. Quite enough to get around Brazil on our own when we got there.....NOT REALLY!!
Portuguese looks a lot like Spanish. If you can read Spanish you can figure out a lot of Portuguese words (I know some French and can figure out some of the words.) But my phrase book describes Portuguese as Spanish spoken by a drunk Frenchman and I believe it. It sounds totally different than Spanish.
The entertainment on board is top rate. Our first big production show was an excellent tango show. Two professional tango dancers were brought on board from Argentina. They were totally amazing.
Most of the passengers were Spanish-speaking South Americans and Brazilians. They really knew how to have a good time on board. Mamba and other Spanish and Brazilian music was playing into the wee hours of the morning and people danced and danced. And we stayed up and watched them.
We were allowed to leave the ship in Montevideo, Uruguay about 10 a.m. We hadn’t seen any ship tours that looked interesting so we decided to just go into town. One of the leather shops had shuttle buses at the dock to take people to their shop so we hopped on one and spent a few minutes browsing through their leather goods when we got to town. We spent a pleasant morning walking down the streets and browsing through their open market in the town square. One of the popular items being sold was a container and special spoon for a drink called “mate” (mah-tay), a local tea. The tradition was to fix the tea then pass the mug around for everyone to share. We didn’t try it but we bought a few of the spoon-straws which were shaped like hollow paddles with holes in the top of the bowl for straining out the leaves.
Gaucho dancers were performing in the town square so we found a bench and watched for a while then wandered down the street a ways. Montevideo (population 1.3 million ) reminded me a bit of Provo, not a very metropolitan big city. We found the McDonald’s across from the town square and got a hamburger and drink. (For those of you who think we wimped out by going to McDonalds, you must remember how hard it is to find a bathroom–bano-- in a foreign country, especially a bathroom you can trust.) We walked back to the ship. (We do a lot of walking on our trips and even with all the food we eat, I always end up losing weight. Of course, I gain it all back when I get back home.)
December 10 Tuesday At Sea
The ship has many activities to keep the passengers entertained at sea. We had three formal nights on this trip because of all the days at sea. Greg and I usually play at least one game of trivia each sea day. I also took a Spanish class (which I dropped after the first day) and a Portuguese class, which I attended all five days. That gave me the skills of a high schooler who has taken one week of Portuguese. Quite enough to get around Brazil on our own when we got there.....NOT REALLY!!
Portuguese looks a lot like Spanish. If you can read Spanish you can figure out a lot of Portuguese words (I know some French and can figure out some of the words.) But my phrase book describes Portuguese as Spanish spoken by a drunk Frenchman and I believe it. It sounds totally different than Spanish.
The entertainment on board is top rate. Our first big production show was an excellent tango show. Two professional tango dancers were brought on board from Argentina. They were totally amazing.
Most of the passengers were Spanish-speaking South Americans and Brazilians. They really knew how to have a good time on board. Mamba and other Spanish and Brazilian music was playing into the wee hours of the morning and people danced and danced. And we stayed up and watched them.
Friday, February 20, 2009
SA Cruise: Buenos Aires
Note: I wrote all of this a month ago and am just now noticing my casual shifting between tenses. I'm too lazy to change it, so just feel more relaxed about the grammar in anything that you send to me.
December 5. Friday. We slept in then took a city tour on a bus. It gave us a nice overview of the city, at least the nice part. We drove through Recoleta, Palermo and Boca, where the futboll (soccer) stadium was located. Boca was an early harbor area of Buenos Aires and many of the building are made from left parts and paint from ships. Many are corregated metal painted bright colors. We were dropped off at a big, beautiful shopping mall in a nice part of town, then we had to find our way home. We walked a bit, found a McDonald’s to get a bit to hold us over until supper (and a bathroom) then walked some more. One of the streets , Florida Street, was a pedestrian only street paved with colorful small tiles. Street performers tangoed, did mime, drew pictures, etc. It was an interesting walk. We finally found a taxi and arrived back at the Garden for a short time, then walked to the restaurant. It was located across from a merry-go-round in a public park. Afterwards we sat in the park and enjoyed the evening.
December 6 Saturday: This was a very, very big day. By now we were getting good...well at least proficient ...at hailing a taxi. We rode to the Recoleta cemetery which was amazing. We were expecting some fancy headstones, but the whole place was full of walking avenues with ornate crypts lining each side. It was like a small city with fancy tall houses just large enough to house the remains of the rich and famous, including Evita Peron.
Next we ate at a large al fresco (outside) restaurant nearby. We headed out on foot for the National Museum of Fine Arts, but we ended up at the wrong museum (modern art...OK) and the bathrooms were not working. We continued to the next large building only to find that it was the law school so we got smart and asked someone, who luckily spoke English and told us what we were looking for was just across the street.
The National Museum of Fine Arts was very, very well worth the hunt. We saw original paintings and sculptures of Rodin (about 10 including “the Kiss”), Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Tolous LaTrec, Reubens, and more I can’t even remember. A large hand made tapestry was very impressive. At it was all free.
We ended the afternoon taking a taxi to the zoo and spent several hours wandering around before hurrying back to our room to get ready for a tango show....eating at nine and the show at 10:45. The restaurant was built specially for the show with a stage in the center and three tiers of tables on three sides. We were seated to the side of the small stage with our head just above the dancers' foot level and we sometimes felt the breeze as they kicked their feet between us. The dancers and musicians....violin, piano, concertina and bass fiddle...were very good and we really enjoyed the evening.
(At this point I have been home for two weeks and am looking back, trying to recollect everything we did. We like to write down our memories of our trips and put them in our picture albums.)
December 7. Sunday. We usually try to go to church (not LDS, but Christian) on board ship when we travel, but since we are on land, we don’t really know where we are let alone where the church is. Even if we had the address, we wouldn’t be able to understand anything that was said. So that is my excuse. We check out of our Bed and Breakfast today by noon because another couple is coming. We can’t board the ship until about 1 p.m. so we take a taxi to a famous antique flea market a couple of miles away and browse through the booths. Along with the booths, there are antique shops all along both sides of the street leading to the park. We bought a few trinkets, then head back to pick up our luggage and make our way to the ship. Our hostess arranged for the same private driver who picked us up to take us back. He gave me a hug when he dropped us off.
This ship is the Radiance of the Sea, a large Royal Carribean ship capable of holding 2500+ passengers but we learn that our voyage only has 1500 on. Later, we notice that many of our fellow passengers are Jewish (probably because all the Christians, but us, are home getting ready for Christmas) and about 2/3 of the passengers are non-English speaking. It makes for a very interesting voyage. It was always a pleasant surprise to step into an elevator and hear English spoken.
The cultural mixture was quite different than we find back home on a Utah farm. We really did enjoy the variety.
We learned after a few days aboard ship that about 35 people have been left behind by the ship in Buenos Aires, Argentina because they didn’t have Brazilian visas. On the last cruise, the ship had allowed the passengers to come aboard anyway, and had later been heavily fined by the Brazilian government. Somewhere in all the literature we received were the instructions to get the Visas or risk not being able to sail. Unfortunately, it wasn’t written in bold red letters and some people missed it.
We board the ship at Buenos Aires Argentina and overnight cruise to Montevideo, Uruguay, just across the bay a very, very short distance away.
December 5. Friday. We slept in then took a city tour on a bus. It gave us a nice overview of the city, at least the nice part. We drove through Recoleta, Palermo and Boca, where the futboll (soccer) stadium was located. Boca was an early harbor area of Buenos Aires and many of the building are made from left parts and paint from ships. Many are corregated metal painted bright colors. We were dropped off at a big, beautiful shopping mall in a nice part of town, then we had to find our way home. We walked a bit, found a McDonald’s to get a bit to hold us over until supper (and a bathroom) then walked some more. One of the streets , Florida Street, was a pedestrian only street paved with colorful small tiles. Street performers tangoed, did mime, drew pictures, etc. It was an interesting walk. We finally found a taxi and arrived back at the Garden for a short time, then walked to the restaurant. It was located across from a merry-go-round in a public park. Afterwards we sat in the park and enjoyed the evening.
December 6 Saturday: This was a very, very big day. By now we were getting good...well at least proficient ...at hailing a taxi. We rode to the Recoleta cemetery which was amazing. We were expecting some fancy headstones, but the whole place was full of walking avenues with ornate crypts lining each side. It was like a small city with fancy tall houses just large enough to house the remains of the rich and famous, including Evita Peron.
Next we ate at a large al fresco (outside) restaurant nearby. We headed out on foot for the National Museum of Fine Arts, but we ended up at the wrong museum (modern art...OK) and the bathrooms were not working. We continued to the next large building only to find that it was the law school so we got smart and asked someone, who luckily spoke English and told us what we were looking for was just across the street.
The National Museum of Fine Arts was very, very well worth the hunt. We saw original paintings and sculptures of Rodin (about 10 including “the Kiss”), Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Tolous LaTrec, Reubens, and more I can’t even remember. A large hand made tapestry was very impressive. At it was all free.
We ended the afternoon taking a taxi to the zoo and spent several hours wandering around before hurrying back to our room to get ready for a tango show....eating at nine and the show at 10:45. The restaurant was built specially for the show with a stage in the center and three tiers of tables on three sides. We were seated to the side of the small stage with our head just above the dancers' foot level and we sometimes felt the breeze as they kicked their feet between us. The dancers and musicians....violin, piano, concertina and bass fiddle...were very good and we really enjoyed the evening.
(At this point I have been home for two weeks and am looking back, trying to recollect everything we did. We like to write down our memories of our trips and put them in our picture albums.)
December 7. Sunday. We usually try to go to church (not LDS, but Christian) on board ship when we travel, but since we are on land, we don’t really know where we are let alone where the church is. Even if we had the address, we wouldn’t be able to understand anything that was said. So that is my excuse. We check out of our Bed and Breakfast today by noon because another couple is coming. We can’t board the ship until about 1 p.m. so we take a taxi to a famous antique flea market a couple of miles away and browse through the booths. Along with the booths, there are antique shops all along both sides of the street leading to the park. We bought a few trinkets, then head back to pick up our luggage and make our way to the ship. Our hostess arranged for the same private driver who picked us up to take us back. He gave me a hug when he dropped us off.
This ship is the Radiance of the Sea, a large Royal Carribean ship capable of holding 2500+ passengers but we learn that our voyage only has 1500 on. Later, we notice that many of our fellow passengers are Jewish (probably because all the Christians, but us, are home getting ready for Christmas) and about 2/3 of the passengers are non-English speaking. It makes for a very interesting voyage. It was always a pleasant surprise to step into an elevator and hear English spoken.
The cultural mixture was quite different than we find back home on a Utah farm. We really did enjoy the variety.
We learned after a few days aboard ship that about 35 people have been left behind by the ship in Buenos Aires, Argentina because they didn’t have Brazilian visas. On the last cruise, the ship had allowed the passengers to come aboard anyway, and had later been heavily fined by the Brazilian government. Somewhere in all the literature we received were the instructions to get the Visas or risk not being able to sail. Unfortunately, it wasn’t written in bold red letters and some people missed it.
We board the ship at Buenos Aires Argentina and overnight cruise to Montevideo, Uruguay, just across the bay a very, very short distance away.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
South America Cruise pt 1 Buenos Aires
South American Cruise December 2 - 24, 2008
This was a difficult time to cruise. Because we would be gone until Christmas Eve, I had to have all of my Christmas preparation done before I left. We were able to get most of the inside and outside decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend, so we were able to enjoy them before we went. That was important to me because I would miss all of the lights, music etc. that surrounds our Christmas celebrations. I was also able to get most of my shopping done and the kids finished the rest of the preparations , so I was able to relax on the cruise, knowing everything was taken care of.
It was also more challenging because Thanksgiving weekend was just before we left and we had company that made nine people for Thanksgiving weekend. Luckily we had almost all of our packing done in advance, so we were able to work things out. It just put a lot of preparations into a few small days.
December 2, 3,4 2008
We finished packing then headed to an evening meeting out of town. After it was over, we drove as far as Mesquite Nevada, arriving in the wee hours of the morning. In the morning we headed off for Las Vegas where we boarded the plane for Toronto, Canada.
I need to explain here: Although we flew into Buenos, Argentina, (south east of us) we took the “scenic” route” (which cost $600 each less than the fast route.): first we drove 5 hours west and south to Las Vegas, then flew north east 4.5 hours to Toronto, Canada and finally south for almost 12 hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We flew Canada Air which had great leg room and 24 hour on demand movies and TV. It made a very long trip much more pleasant. Our flight time was lengthened by almost an hour during the night when our plane was diverted by Venezula, then Brazil.
We were met at the Buenos Aires airport by Martine, a private driver arranged for through “the Garden” a bed-and breakfast we stayed at. Our hostess was gone when we
arrived but her secretary/assistant was so helpful, showing us around etc. telling us where to eat and how to get there. The next day she arranged a city tour and a tango show for us.
The B & B was great and so peaceful and relaxing. It had a common room and two guest rooms located along a tiled courtyard with trees. Each morning we woke to find our breakfast laid out on a cart outside our bedroom door: Fresh fruits, pastries, freshly squeezed juice, toast, yogurt, granola.
The other couple staying at the Garden were Andy and Carol, an English couple we got along with very well. Andy gave us a great tip for getting around: write down the place and address of where we want to go and show it to the taxi driver. That along with a business card Pamela, our hostess, gave us got us every where we wanted to go and back again.
We rested the day we got in then walked about 5 blocks to 1880 P.......A small Argentinian restaurant where they spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish. I think we frustrated our waiter that first night, but we all made it through. Greg ordered steak, which came rare, but was delicious....The Argentinians are famous for their beef. The next night he learned to say “medium well in Spanish, but it didn’t matter. They still brought it rare, but delicious again. That night we had a different waiter, a few more Spanish words from our phrase book and we got along a bit better.
Tomorrow pt. 2
This was a difficult time to cruise. Because we would be gone until Christmas Eve, I had to have all of my Christmas preparation done before I left. We were able to get most of the inside and outside decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend, so we were able to enjoy them before we went. That was important to me because I would miss all of the lights, music etc. that surrounds our Christmas celebrations. I was also able to get most of my shopping done and the kids finished the rest of the preparations , so I was able to relax on the cruise, knowing everything was taken care of.
It was also more challenging because Thanksgiving weekend was just before we left and we had company that made nine people for Thanksgiving weekend. Luckily we had almost all of our packing done in advance, so we were able to work things out. It just put a lot of preparations into a few small days.
December 2, 3,4 2008
We finished packing then headed to an evening meeting out of town. After it was over, we drove as far as Mesquite Nevada, arriving in the wee hours of the morning. In the morning we headed off for Las Vegas where we boarded the plane for Toronto, Canada.
I need to explain here: Although we flew into Buenos, Argentina, (south east of us) we took the “scenic” route” (which cost $600 each less than the fast route.): first we drove 5 hours west and south to Las Vegas, then flew north east 4.5 hours to Toronto, Canada and finally south for almost 12 hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We flew Canada Air which had great leg room and 24 hour on demand movies and TV. It made a very long trip much more pleasant. Our flight time was lengthened by almost an hour during the night when our plane was diverted by Venezula, then Brazil.
We were met at the Buenos Aires airport by Martine, a private driver arranged for through “the Garden” a bed-and breakfast we stayed at. Our hostess was gone when we
arrived but her secretary/assistant was so helpful, showing us around etc. telling us where to eat and how to get there. The next day she arranged a city tour and a tango show for us.
The B & B was great and so peaceful and relaxing. It had a common room and two guest rooms located along a tiled courtyard with trees. Each morning we woke to find our breakfast laid out on a cart outside our bedroom door: Fresh fruits, pastries, freshly squeezed juice, toast, yogurt, granola.
The other couple staying at the Garden were Andy and Carol, an English couple we got along with very well. Andy gave us a great tip for getting around: write down the place and address of where we want to go and show it to the taxi driver. That along with a business card Pamela, our hostess, gave us got us every where we wanted to go and back again.
We rested the day we got in then walked about 5 blocks to 1880 P.......A small Argentinian restaurant where they spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish. I think we frustrated our waiter that first night, but we all made it through. Greg ordered steak, which came rare, but was delicious....The Argentinians are famous for their beef. The next night he learned to say “medium well in Spanish, but it didn’t matter. They still brought it rare, but delicious again. That night we had a different waiter, a few more Spanish words from our phrase book and we got along a bit better.
Tomorrow pt. 2
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
tagged
I've been tagged twice this week. One was by a friend at Authors Incognito and the other was by my daughter, Panda bear. I was supposed to tell 25 random things about myself for one and seven true things for the other. I'm going to combine them. Just assume that the random things are true, and the the true things are random.
I'm not sure I can come up with seven things, let alone twenty-five.
1. I have a hard time reading religious books. For some reason, they don't seem to have a lot of action and I need the action to keep me awake.
2. I like things like the old adding machines that make noises like Ka chink. They are oddly soothing to me for a few minutes.
3. My favorite color is purple. Not lavender or other wimpy versions, but deep purple. I own almost none of it because then I would get tired of it. Now it is a pleasant surprise when I see it.
4. I don't like playing most games. I bear it sometimes because I like doing things with my family, but most games require sitting and waiting for you turn. You may be shocked to hear this, but I have very little patience when it comes to things like that.
5. This will really surprise you, but I have a difficult time staying focused. It's like I have two halves of a brain. Both of them need to be occupied. When I am talking with my kids on the phone they will ask if I am playing Solitaire on the computer. They will request that I do it while I talk because that helps me stay focused on our conversation. Otherwise, that other half of my brain will be out wandering somewhere else.
6. I can now do the dishes all the way through at on time. It took twenty or thirty years to say that, but I no longer wander off half way through ( most of the time.)
7. I no longer watch Dr. Phill most of the time. I got tired of hearing everyone's complaints. I don't know how psychiatrists, etc. do it.
8. I am addicted to sweets.
9. I can't wait to get outside and walk. When the weather is good, I will find an excuse not to.
10. I have big feet. And I don't care. They are good at holding me up after I stumbled because of them.
11. Tags are a good way to keep people writing on their blogs who haven't written there in months, but I don't like coming up with stuff to say.
12. I am a non-verbal person. So why do I have a blog?
13. I wish I had a fairy god mother to clean my house. If she took care of all the mail, bills and paper-type stuff, and kept it up forever, I might take a stab at some of the other mess. Well, if I actually had a fairy godmother, she might as well do all the work.
14. My hair is gray at the roots sometimes. Like right now. But it is easy and quick to get young again. Just expensive.
16. I think I have said enough already.
I am planning to post my last cruise experiences in installments. Those of you have already read them have already read them and won't want to read them again. The rest of you.....well, I don't think there is anyone else who reads my blog.
I'm not sure I can come up with seven things, let alone twenty-five.
1. I have a hard time reading religious books. For some reason, they don't seem to have a lot of action and I need the action to keep me awake.
2. I like things like the old adding machines that make noises like Ka chink. They are oddly soothing to me for a few minutes.
3. My favorite color is purple. Not lavender or other wimpy versions, but deep purple. I own almost none of it because then I would get tired of it. Now it is a pleasant surprise when I see it.
4. I don't like playing most games. I bear it sometimes because I like doing things with my family, but most games require sitting and waiting for you turn. You may be shocked to hear this, but I have very little patience when it comes to things like that.
5. This will really surprise you, but I have a difficult time staying focused. It's like I have two halves of a brain. Both of them need to be occupied. When I am talking with my kids on the phone they will ask if I am playing Solitaire on the computer. They will request that I do it while I talk because that helps me stay focused on our conversation. Otherwise, that other half of my brain will be out wandering somewhere else.
6. I can now do the dishes all the way through at on time. It took twenty or thirty years to say that, but I no longer wander off half way through ( most of the time.)
7. I no longer watch Dr. Phill most of the time. I got tired of hearing everyone's complaints. I don't know how psychiatrists, etc. do it.
8. I am addicted to sweets.
9. I can't wait to get outside and walk. When the weather is good, I will find an excuse not to.
10. I have big feet. And I don't care. They are good at holding me up after I stumbled because of them.
11. Tags are a good way to keep people writing on their blogs who haven't written there in months, but I don't like coming up with stuff to say.
12. I am a non-verbal person. So why do I have a blog?
13. I wish I had a fairy god mother to clean my house. If she took care of all the mail, bills and paper-type stuff, and kept it up forever, I might take a stab at some of the other mess. Well, if I actually had a fairy godmother, she might as well do all the work.
14. My hair is gray at the roots sometimes. Like right now. But it is easy and quick to get young again. Just expensive.
16. I think I have said enough already.
I am planning to post my last cruise experiences in installments. Those of you have already read them have already read them and won't want to read them again. The rest of you.....well, I don't think there is anyone else who reads my blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
