Buenos Aires, Argentina

Montevideo, Argentina

"I see the mountain!" exclaimed the explorer Juan Diaz de Solis,  who first sailed into this large bay, and so named this capital city of Argentina. Of our group, I am perhaps the only one who really likes Montevideo - a little run down, a little decrepit, very alive, just............funky! I guess my aesthetic was set long ago in dear old New Haven, as my taste in cities definitely runs towards the shabby.

On this last day of Carnaval, that is Mardi Gras, many of the shops were closed, but all of the market stalls and eateries were open, with people chowing down on as much barbecue as they could handle on this Fat Tuesday. Tomorrow, the cathedrals will be full I'm sure.

The Old City is set on a peninsula between the waters of the bay and the river, Rio de la Plata. Lots of "Vende" signs, and boarded up buildings which, apparently, are slated to be 'Humanitarian Communes' or 'Artists' Cooperatives'. Security police are everywhere...well, I certainly felt safe. Children play soccer in the street, and in the numerous playgrounds.

Along the sea promenade, families, couples, and groups of young kids try their hand at fishing.

A bright, windy day... and lots of friendly people.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Sea lions, penguins, southern right whales, orcas, cormorants, guanacos, rheas, sheep....Puerto Madryn is known as the 'Little Galapagos' of the Atlantic. The windswept plains leading down to the sea are a very different landscape on this eastern side of the Andes, much older than the hilly landscapes of Chile on the western slopes. The southern right whales mate here and give birth between June and mid-November.

A very tiny port town with some brand new apartments and hotels, Puerto Madryn is focused on preserving its environment for the safety and proliferation of the native fauna. The newest building in town is the Ecocenter, dedicated to Jules Verne, and displaying artists' responses to the native wildlife. My favorite was the red whale 'skeleton', made out of the trash thrown into the ocean that gets deposited on the beaches - tires, plastic bottles, shoes. Now, that sends a message!

For those of you who hang out in Monterey, the sea lion colonies here would be very familiar, but they are a novelty for me, and delightful to watch. So playful! The cormorants and sea lions coexist quite peacefully, and ignore each other.

One of the big industries is the wool from the sheep, very much in competition with Australia's wool export. We had the opportunity to spend some time at a local sheep station, Estancia San Guillermo. Their shearer is the second-fastest shearer in Argentina - having won that award last year. Shearing a sheep with today's modern clippers is a far cry from yesteryear's manual shears - the shearer dances a tango with the sheep, holding her close and lovingly, turning her body in a smooth circle to release the fleece in one piece.

The gaucho (cowboy) still herds the sheep by horse, and guanacos (relatives of llamas and alpacas) nose curiously around the station. The ranch is complete with several horses, a large tabby cat, and a puppy.

Yesterday we saw a rainbow, today the sun is shining, and I wish you all a Happy St. Valentine's Day!

The Falkland Islands - landmines and penguins

Blessed with immense natural beauty and varied marine and avian wildlife, the Falklands were spoiled for me because of the attitude of its citizens. Very much a small village with only about 2,500 inhabitants who care deeply for one another, they are united in their vociferous hatred of Argentina. Sadly, there are two Argentinian families who still live in the Falklands - how must they feel?

Though living far far away from their country of origin, these British people manage to create a facsimile of British village life. High tea is served, however, with barbecued lamb and Upland Goose, as well as fresh fish pates.

Only 300 miles from Argentina, and definitely part of the South American landscape, this colony persists in holding onto past grudges. The fields are littered with land mines. Apparently, the wild ponies, penguins, and seals do not set them off.

I say, get over it, folks. The war ended 28 years ago. Your blessed to live in beauty.... don't focus on your war monuments.

At least there is one fervent wildlife activist in town...Mike Butcher has created a memorial to whales on his property.

Antarctica

Below the 60th parallel is a land of ice and water, fog and sea. It is a land of contrast - it is the driest continent, yet holds 90 % of the earth's water. There are no indigenous land mammals here, yet fossils prove that once marsupials lived here. It is a brutally hostile environment yet supports an amazingly fragile ecosystem. Time and space work differently down here. A 360 degree perspective means that distance cannot be comprehended. Although it is incredibly remote, even here plastic garbage has found its way into the digestive system of the krill, eaten by seabirds, fish, sea mammals, and eventually, you.

Antarctica is owned by no country, and is protected by the International Antarctic Treaty. We are all guardians of this special place.

We crossed Drake's Passage in a rolling sea of 18-25 foot waves. Many on board were seasick, yet we know that when Sir Ernest Shackleton left half his men on Elephant Island, he and a small crew of 6 sailors made their way to eventual rescue in a 22-foot craft in 45 foot waves. How his men survived 5 months on a barren ice-covered rock is pretty much beyond comprehension. They used their lifeboats as primitive shelters, and ate penguins and seals. Long before the days of thermal synthetic fabrics, these men were clothed in wool, heavy, wet, and cold.

We approached Deception Island, covered in fog, and sighted large icebergs. Hard to say how far they were from the ship, as the uniform light of sea, air, and land makes distance difficult to gauge. Nevertheless, they seemed immense.
The weather was high winds, fog, greyness, too much ice in the passages, and we were unable to follow our planned itinerary of Paradise Bay and Half Moon Island, but instead made our way directly to Elephant Island. It does not look like an elephant, but was so called because of it's size and height. It is basically a rock rising sheerly out of the water. Shackleton's men lived on a narrow sliver of rocky beach.

If you want a lesson in leadership, Ernest Shackleton is a prime example. He directed his men in such a way that each felt needed, worthy, necessary. When he left most of his crew on Elephant Island, he took with him, in a small boat, the troublemakers of his crew, so that he could keep an eye on them and they would not disrupt the harmony of the camp. He succeeded in reaching the whaling station on South Georgia Island, a distance of 729 miles. Every single one of his men survived.

As we left the Antarctic region, we could not see 10 feet in front of the boat. A heavy fog surrounded us, and our horn boomed out every minute in a lonely call to whatever might be out there. I leave with tremendous admiration for all who have actually set foot on the continent, made their way across it, survived, or not. It is magnificent.

Ushuaia, Sea Lions, and Cormorants

My take on Ushuaia is that it is NOT as interesting as Punta Arenas. It's more about making money than art. It is Argentina's fastest growing city, because of the abundance of regional work and because it is a duty-free port. Also, the Argentinians do not have as nice an opinion of their Chilean neighbors as the Chileans do of them. (This is based on meeting just a few people in each place.) The south is a staging point for Antarctic expeditions and both Chile and Argentina claim large sections of the southernmost continent.

As Jean-Michel Cousteau says, however, whales don't need passports and neither do we. We are all guardians of Antarctica, indeed all places in the world. We are all connected. He grew up in the great ocean, and has seen the garbage piling up in the last 25 years. His mission in life is to further his father's legacy and educate all people about keeping our planet clean and healthy for ALL creatures.

We had the privilege to go through the Tierra del Fuego National Park. We made the mistake of riding a little single gauge railway through it, rather than walking. The park, tucked up against the Chilean border, has peat bogs and canelo, lenga, and wild cherry forests. There are also foxes, hares, armadillos, and guanacos, and PUMA, although we saw only a hare - albeit one the size of a small kangaroo!

(Photo captions)  1. Even in Ushuaia the Argentinians are mad for soccer. 3. The train at the end of the world. 4. Cormorants 5. Sea Lions

Then we spent time on the water going to rocky outcrops in the Bay of Ushuaia where the sea lions and the cormorants hang out. There is an abundance of avian, marine, and land wildlife here. While we have not seen a condor, we have seen the upland goose (looks like a small rhea) and plenty of falcons and cormorants. John spotted a whale early on in the trip, and we've seen lots of playful seals.

Next: There is no native terrestrial wildlife in Anarctica, only insects.

Punta Arenas, Patagonian Chile

Punta Arenas is one of those outposts at the end of the world, which, because of its unique energy, attracts wanderers from all corners of the planet. There is an intense creative energy here, and passionate people with myriad talents and strong intelligence.

Our guide, Dominique, is from Lille, France. She moved here some years ago and married a local man. She speaks French, Spanish, Greek, and English. Her background is in zoology - she seems uniquely suited for guiding people through this wonderland of flora and fauna. She communicates the present conflicts facing Chile in terms of environmental protection versus exploitation of the tremendous natural resources here by the northern part of Chile. Only one percent of Chile's population lives in the Patagonian region - 150,000 people.

It is vast and silent here. These people are the guardians of the third largest fresh water source on the planet. Do you know that it takes 20 gallons of water to process one gallon of oil? Chile has no guidelines in place for cleansing the used water before it is dumped back into the pristine glacial melt....therefore poisoning the water, the fish, the animals. If the old ways of doing things continue,soon this magnificent area will no longer exist.

Our mission today was to go to the Pinguinera of Otway Sound, a special preserve for the Magellan penguins. There are about 2,000 nesting couples who return here every year. Their offspring hatch between mid-November and early December, so we missed the downy gray chick phase, but got to see lots of the young penguins hanging out in the crowd scene down at the beach. The young will leave by the end of March, and not come back for 5 years, when they reach maturity.

I got to see such funny behavior - a male trying to steal someone else's burrow, and that couple coming out and doing this low-pitched 'hoo hoo hoo' sound as they approached him menacingly. Do you know why penguins are black and white? It's all about body temperature control, and survival camouflage. On land, when they are cold, they turn their black backs to the sun to soak up and store the heat; when they are too warm they face their white bellies to the sun to provide some air conditioning for themselves. When they swim in the ocean, their black backs are invisible against the black water to their avian predators; at the same time, their white bellies are invisible to a predator looking up to the 'white' sky seen from underwater.

Nature is perfect in every respect - destruction as well as creation.

I had thought that Chile and Argentina were still not too friendly with each other, but Dominique corrected this impression. She said that, in years past, when no one understood the vast mineral wealth lying beneath the pampas of Patagonia, Chile gave away much of that land to Argentina, including Tierra del Fuego. She says that Chile's history in Patagonia is unique, in that they have never been martial towards the other countries. I don't know if this is true or not, but it is one local person's perspective.

As we have moved south along the tremendously long Chilean coastline, I have come to a greater appreciation of this country. It covers so many degrees of latitude that the physical environment from North to South is greatly varied. The South is incredibly beautiful, and incredibly harsh to live in. The people here are strong, resourceful, independent. I think they want to secede from the Northern part of the country as they give most of their natural resources to the North, and receive no benefits in return.

Laguna San Rafael, Chile

It's all about the glacier.

We stayed near to it for almost an hour, and got to see two huge chunks "calve" off.

Here is the San Valentin glacier, 197 feet tall. It is one of 19 glaciers originating from Monte San Valentin, the highest peak in the southern Andes. This glacier is the closest to the EQUATOR of any on earth. She anchors the top end of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest mass of ice outside the polar regions, a complex that feed numerous rivers in Chilean and Argentine Patagonia.

This ice field contains the greatest amount of fresh water on earth outside the polar regions.

The big controversy down here right now is whether the largest river should be dammed for hydroelectric power, which would all be sent to northern Chile with no power to the local regions. It sounds like another Yangtze River disaster in the making. Hopefully, the environmentalists will win this one.

Not here in these waters, but earlier along the roads, the ONLY garbage I saw, and there was lots of it, were PLASTIC BOTTLES and PLASTIC BAGS. Please, people, invest in reusable water bottles and reusable shopping bags.

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

"It's hard to imagine an area of the world more beautiful than the section of Patagonia from Coihaique to Puerto Chacabuco. Mist hangs low over farmland, adding a dripping somnolence to the scenery. Dozens of waterfalls and rivers wend their way through mountain formations. Yellow poplars surround charming rustic lodges, and sheep and cattle graze on mossy, vibrant fields. The picture of serenity terminates at the sea, where the nondescript port town of Chacabuco sits."

Cold and very rainy outside today, so we skipped the 6-hour bus trip over winding mountain roads to Coyhaique. Instead, we've stayed on board, taken lots of pictures of the harbor and surrounding hillsides, caught up with old friends including our Captain Felice (my Maori brother), read and watched movies. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, sometimes you need a sloooooooooow day!

Tomorrow morning, no matter the weather, we are off the ship at 7:30 a.m. to go to the Laguna San Rafael for iceberg and bird-spotting!

Puerto Montt, Chile

"First-time visitors to southern Chile are often surprised by the scenery. Chile's Lake District is a place of powerful beauty. The district, though often neglected on travelers' itineraries, is one of the most gorgeous places on earth. It comprises two Chilean regions: the ninth (La Araucania), and the tenth (Los Lagos, of which Puerto Montt is the capital). The official boundary is the Biobio River. South of the river, earth and water have contrived to produce a series of cerulean lakes to mirror the majestic ice-capped volcanoes and Andes range that guard their seemingly secret existence.

The region is named for its twelve biggest glacially carved lakes. Small rivers and streams link many of them to some of Chile's best freshwater fishing grounds. Six volcanoes line the district's center.

Puerto Montt is the region's largest city. Nearly 700 miles south of Santiago, it is the terminus of the continental portion of the Pan American Highway. German colonists first arrived in the community in 1852, and their influence is apparent at every turn. There is a Bavarian look to many of the homes - ski chalets, shingles, high-pitched roofs and ornate balconies. The wooden churches are a variety of colors, and all quite charming."

(* above is paraphrased from our on-board guide)

So yes, the biggest surprise has been how European the landscape looks! Forests, lakes, rivers. Who knew that a country this far south would feel like such a northern clime? I think most of us feel that if we're going south, it ought to be getting warmer. In fact, many people on this ship apparently forgot to pack warm weather clothes...as if they didn't look at the itinerary and see that it said Antarctica! So I guess I am not the only American who is woefully ignorant of geography. I just have to remember that the latitude numbers equal each other whether they are N or S. I glanced at a book in the library detailing a recent journey by dogsled to the North Pole - the log states: 90' 0" Latitude, 0'0" Longtitude. Pretty amazing to see those numbers as a place where a human being actually stood.

We travelled to the Petrohue Falls in the Ensenada national park. They were tiny, but brilliantly colored blue-green, and have created bizarre shapes in the surrounding basaltic stone by running through the ancient lava flow.

Along the way we drove along the southern shores of Llanquihue Lake, a chilly 65 degrees farenheit. There were loads of people swimming, to my delight. Our guide told us that, "Hey, it's summer here and people like to go to the beach to swim and barbecue. It's a lot colder in winter!" I say, "Hardy people!"

On the far shore we could see Osorno Volcano and behind us, another volcano, both snow-capped.

Earlier in the day I had checked out the local market, supposedly one of the best for Chilean handicrafts in all of Chile. There were lots of knitted articles, Lapis Lazuli, and wooden artifacts. Most amazing to me is that they sell the alpaca yarn in skeins the size of basketballs, by the kilogram!