Scenery, But No Penguins

Our ship left The Falkland Islands a day early.  Gale force winds were expected the next day, making it dangerous to navigate the waters there.  It was not an easy decision to make, I am sure, but safety comes first.  This mean that I did not get to go out to see the penguins.  I was disappointed, and so were many passengers, but I am glad that Viking takes safety seriously.  As a result, we sailed into Beagle Channel during the morning.  Even though it was cloudy, the mountains are stunning.

Ushuaia, Argentina, bills itself as "the end of the world" and even has a museum named that.











The city is a mixture of the old and new, sometimes even in the same building.
Some old buildings are deserted and should be torn down, while tall new buildings go up next door.

Nuestra Senora de la Merced

Penguin merchandise is everywhere

We had cool temperatures, sunny skies and rain at the same time.  It is a lot warmer than parts of the USA right now, but winter will come.

Ushuaia, Argentina, surrounded by mountains, is a long way from everywhere but only about 625 miles from Antarctica.












Darrell took a train ride into Tierra del Fuego National Park,
but more about that in the next post.

The view from our stateroom balcony.

War---What War?

In 1982 I was busy with my life, raising a tween and a teen.  I did not have time to dwell on international events.  I was too busy with my own life, a peaceful, happy life.  Our children looked out on green fields and busy streets.

Children the same ages in the Falkland Islands looked out on Argentine tanks rolling down the streets, with the fear that the next bomb would hit their house, with the uncertainty of whether they would be able to stay in school or if their whole family would be moved at gun-point to a distant farm along with dozens of strangers.

The Falklands is part of the British Commonwealth, just as Hawaii was a part of the United States before it became a state.  The people speak English, use currency called the pound and drive on the left side of the road.  Less than 10% speak Spanish.  A few hundred years ago the French, Spanish and Portuguese fought over the land because it was a stopping point on the way around the tip of South America.  Since the Panama Canal made that hazardous trip unnecessary for shipping, its importance has diminished.  So, why fight over that little bit of land where only about 3500 people live?

We fought when Japan invaded Hawaii, and there were a lot of people there who came from Japan.  Many different languages were spoken.  However, it was part of our country, and that is why the British fought.  A recent referendum asked the local residents if they wanted to stay part of the British empire.  The turnout was almost 98% of the voters, and they voted, over 99%, to remain with Britain.
Recent discoveries of oil have increased the importance of The Falkland Islands.  If the Panama Canal were to be closed, the Falklands would once again be vital to shipping. They are also an important launching point for Antarctic exploration.

Today we visited the "human" side of the island; tomorrow we will see the penguins.  After a 25 minute tender ride, we had a 2 hour tour.  Outside the city there was not too much to see.  There are several wrecks in the surrounding waters, many of which were damaged rounding Cape Horn.  One of the ships was carrying guano when it sprang a leak.  By the time it reached Port Stanley, it was reeking and the whole crew deserted.  Another was carrying jars of acid which broke in the rough seas.  They barely made it to port, bailing madly, before most of the bottom was eaten away.



There are no trees in the Falkland Islands except those planted, wrapped and nurtured.  The wind is so strong that it either blows them over or dries them out.  Most of the vegetation is low lying, with thick leaves unless it can grow among other plants which protect it.  One such plant is "Fiddle Dee."  Its red berries are bitter, but if you add enough sugar, it makes a fine jam.  Another was used as a preventative for scurvy.  Even if the sailors did not know what caused scurvy, they found that chewing this helped prevent it, so they took it along.  It is high in Vitamin C, and can be dried and used to make a lemony tea.



Some of the homes are still heated by peat fires, so we stopped to see how peat "bricks" were harvested.  Many homesick sailors added to the totem pole with a sigh for the distance to home.  One local resident collects whale bones and displays them in his yard for all to see.

The totem pole

Peat "mining"

Whale bones, anyone?

This resident made his choice clear:  he wanted to stay with the British and live peacefully!






There are many monuments to past wars.

Monument to those killed in the Argentine invasion.

World War I monument

The local museum chronicles life in the small town, with articles about local characters and a figurehead from a sunken ship found washed up on a beach many years after the ship sank.  Penguins and whales are favorite themes both in the town and with local tourists.

A "friend" to take back on the ship

The weekly newspaper

 Even the church has whale bones.

Land of the Meat-Eaters

Argentina and Uruguay have an ongoing competition for the title of the country which eats the most meat per capita annually.  Our guide told us that the people in Uruguay eat 2.1 kilograms of meat per person each year.  All this was said as part of the guide’s tongue-in-cheek description of his fellow citizens.

We revisited Uruguay at Point del Este, a peninsula that divides the estuary of the Plate River from the Atlantic Ocean.  The beaches on the estuary side have mild breezes and gentle waves.  The Atlantic Ocean side is a surfer’s paradise.  The warning flags were red – no swimming allowed,-but dozens of people were enjoying the surf.

The standard of living is high and so is the cost of living.  Many foreigners retire to this area and build houses that remind them of the country they left.

One of the unusual houses belonged to a famous Uruguayan artist.  He was strongly influenced by Gaudi and Dali. The house is now a museum, which we saw only from the outside.







Although his work may not be familiar to you, part of his life story may be.  His son, a player on the national soccer team, was in a plane that crashed.  The passengers were given up for dead, but survived for 72 days before they were rescued.  The story was recounted in a book and a movie,  Alive.







This country must breed artists.  Another famous sculpture, this one one the beach, has several names.  Some call it Mankind Emerging from the Earth, but the artist just calls in Hand.

The largest sea lion colony in the southern hemisphere is on a Wolf Island just off the coast.  You are not allowed to go to the island, only take a boat around it, but that does not stop the sea lions from coming to you.  These fellows were waiting for a hand out from the men cleaning the day's catch.

Welcoming and Wet

I brought along a supply of yarn to knit baby hats for a hospital in Durban, South Africa.  That supply was gone in a few days, since several others wanted to join in.  Other knitters shared their yarn, but soon we all were out, so I decided to shop for more yarn.  In Rio de Janeiro one of the ship's staff took me to a yarn shop, but they did not have the right kind of yarn.  I bought some cotton anyway, but it did not work well, so I set off to find more yarn in Buenos Aires.  A Google search gave me the name of a shop and Guest Services printed out a map.  Then I went in search of a taxi.  Taxis do not take credit cards, so I tried an ATM machine.  It did not work.  I ended up going to the Money Exchange in the terminal and got $20 of Argentine pesos (710 pesos to be exact.)

There was a taxi stand outside the terminal  I gave the driver the address and tried to make conversation.  I do not speak much Spanish and he did not speak any English.   It made for an interesting conversation.  It was just as well since I hoped he would pay attention to traffic.  When I learned to drive, I was told that when you pass a car, the safe distance to pull back into the lane was when you could see the car in your rear view mirror.  In Argentina, a safe distance is any distance that does not leave paint from your car on the other car.  Turns could be made from almost any

lane, and yellow lights meant step on the gas.  I made it in one piece, but did not have exact change for the fare (227 pesos,) so I paid 300 pesos. 

This is the store I found.  I bought a LOT of yarn, charging it to a credit card.  When I left the store, the same cab and driver were waiting outside and he expected the same fare!

On Thursday evening I went with a small group to visit an Argentine home.  Actually, there were several small groups of 4 to 8 people.  Each group was hosted in a private home.  Our hostess was an interior designer with 3 grown children who sometimes rented rooms to college students who came to Argentina to learn Spanish.  Her apartment (condo?) was in a building built in the 1950's, but modernized and beautifully decorated.  Her English was not too good, but far better than our Spanish.  The guide provided translations when needed.  We had a lovely evening with appetizers and a main course of pulled pork over mashed potatoes and a spinach and basil salad.  Our guide, being a typical Argentine man did not eat the salad.  They prefer meat.  We had a tour of her apartment which went on and on.  There were 5 bedrooms and 5 baths plus the maid's room.

Our hostess and the guide, Maxi

Friday was the first rainy day we have had.  The weather forecast said 0% chance of rain, so we left umbrellas and raincoats in the cabin.  It poured all the way to the river delta where we boarded a boat for a tour.  Houses are built above the water line with a wall or rocks to protect the land.  These were cabins or vacation properties for the most part.  There is no running water, electricity or stores available on the delta islands.  A "grocery boat" makes the rounds weekly, and a doctor and dentist visit by boat on a regular schedule for those who live there year round.

This is what happens if you neglect your "sea wall"

One of the historical buildings is enclosed in a glass cage to protect it from the elements.

The City of Beautiful Air

This is not a very accurate name for Buenos Aires, Argentina, since the original western settlement was built on a swamp and all the settlers perished.

We have been to Buenos Aires before when we took an OAT trip to Patagonia, but we took the city overview anyway.  Our ship was docked at the cruise terminal, but the container ships were nearby.  It is amazing to see  how these containers, each the size of a semi truck, are stacked on ships for transport all over the world.

Traffic is horrible, even though some of the main streets have 6 lanes going each way.  Near the port the flat bed trucks are lined up in 2 lines in the middle of the street, waiting to go in to the shipyard and get a container.  There are so any trucks and buses, that the city is building a tunnel strictly for trucks and buses to reduce congestion.  It is supposed to be done in June, but they did not say which year.  Part of the problem is lack of money.  The Argentine economy is in bad shape.

Our first stop was to Recoleta Cemetery, an exclusive cemetery where the tombs are above ground.  Only the rich can afford to be buried here so tombs are for whole families, often several generations.  Eva Peron, the President's wife and inspiration for the play, Evita, is buried here in her family's crypt.

 Each family is responsible for the upkeep of their crypt.  If a family dies out or moves away and the monument starts to crumble, an effort is made to contact a relative.  If that is not possible, the body or bodies are removed, cremated and buried in the general cemetery.  Then the space is resold, for more than the cost of a large house. 

This map shows the size of the cemetery.  Many of the crypts are ornate, but there are a few of more modern design.

Buenos Aires is a city of monuments, churches and shopping, shopping, shopping.

The area closest to the old port has become a colorful tourist mecca.

Argentina has suffered under several police states and revolutions.  The Ministry of Economics on the main square still shows the scars from a bomb which killed over 300 people.

The Presidential office building, The Pink Palace, and the Cathedral are located on this square.  During the days of the police state, thousands of people were "disappeared."
No one knows what became of them.  Mothers and grandmothers march in the square every day, wearing head scarves with the name of the missing person on the back.