Today we did ... NOTHING! It was a gray, misty day at sea. We went to the "How to Arrange Your Art" seminar and the art auction, and then took a long nap. Very quiet day. And when we went to bed, it was actually dark outside (in Antarctica although the sun went down, it never got dark)
Port Stanley
Pishing Doon! (Scottish)
Cute Rockhopper Penguins
Who's looking at who?
Rockhopper Penguins being themselves
Rockhopper Penguin drinking water
Cross country by Land Rover
Church with whalebone arch in Port Stanley
Sea Lions on the Pier
Another day of glorious nothing, but this time it was nothing with some rough seas thrown in. You know they expect it to be rough when the containers of sick bags show up next to the elevators. Luckily it didn't affect us, and we just had a quiet day, enjoying the comedy of everyone walking around like drunk people - it was impossible to walk in a straight line.
The tour today was to Punta Tombo to see Magellan penguins, a replacement tour for the one we missed in Punta Arenas. But instead of a speedboat to get to the colony, we had a 2.5 hour drive through a flat, boring desert scrub landscape. Being from Colorado I can appreciate the austere beauty of deserts, but this one has nothing at all to recommend it. Except that there are 150,000 pairs of penguins at the end of it. And the occasional group of guanacos - a wild relative of llamas and alpacas - so elegant looking. Magellan penguins dig burrows rather than building nests on the ground, and they build them right up to the path, so there were many opportunities for close-up photos. Although there were burrows and penguins right next to the parking lot, our guide had told us to just keep going. The main part of colony was further on and it was a 1 km walk to get to where they go into the ocean. We saw all sorts of activities - sleeping, preening, feeding, pooping, even two doing a mating dance (watch the video). One of the cutest things was a group in a small cove bathing and playing in the water. They were splashing around, rolling on their backs, swimming sideways, just having a great time. And we also saw Lesser Rheas - they look like smaller ostriches. We only had an hour and 15 minutes at Punta Tombo, which was just enough time to walk out to the end, taking pictures along the way, and get back. I wish we could have had more time. But the ship awaits.
Guanacos
Magellan Penguin with Chick
Chick in burrow
Chick close-up
No touchy the Penguins
Magellan Penguin house hunting
Penguin highway to the sea
Beachfront Punto Tombo
Magellan Penguins entering and exiting the sea
Magellan Penguins playing in sea
Lots of burrows
Juvenile Magellan Penguin, doesn't have his stripe yet
Lesser Rheas
Backstroke, Sidestroke and Duck Pose
It is hard to believe that the trip is almost over. This is our last sea day, and there are just two ports left.
Our excursion today included a brief tour of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and then going over to Punta del Este, a resort town known for its hand sculpture on the beach. Unfortunately, the tour guide's English was pretty bad, so we only understood a little more than half of what she was telling us. But Punta Del Este was nice (if a bit warm, we weren't really prepared for full-on summer) and the sculpture was interesting. There were some art galleries we would have liked to explore, but we didn't have time. I think normally, the ride to Punta del Este would take abou 1.5 hrs, but it was a Sunday and in holiday season. End result was we only got 2 hrs in Punta del Este instead of 3 and that didn't leave much time to do anything too exciting.
Montevideo
Punta del Este beach
Punta del Este hand sculpture
Agapanthus - Stephanie loves these and wishes they would survive in our climate
Stephanie with Gaucho saddle and flags of Argentina and Uruguay
Time for another culinary tour! After a great tour of the city (our guide was awesome - very knowledgeable and interesting, but I didn't get many pictures), we went to some local neighborhood restaurants to try authentic Argentinian food. The walking part of this tour was very minimal, we wandered along a couple of blocks between restaurants. The food included chorizo sandwiches (the chorizo is very different than what we have in the States, with big chunks of meat in it), empanadas (every region has their own unique flavor, the one we tried was fabulous), and, of course, steak with chimichurri sauce, and some local Malbec wine (which I liked even though I am usually not a fan of red wine). Everything was delicious, and we finished it all off with gelato - part of the Italian cultural influence in Buenos Aires. The mango-banana was to die for!
Kinetic flower sculpture (should be open in daytime, but wasn't working)
Restaurant 1
Restaurant 2
Gelato shop
Eva Peron monument
After a somewhat early morning (we were off the ship at 8:15 - they want us off early so they can get ready for the next bunch of people), we had (another) tour of Buenos Aires (always nice to get a slightly different perspective, and a few more pictures this time). We stopped at Evita's (Eva Peron's) grave. There are not many monuments to her - really just the one we saw yesterday - because the dictatorial regime that followed shortly after her husband's presidency tried to wipe out the memory of her. We then went to lunch (more yummy Argentinian steak) and a tango show - beautiful music , singing , and amazing dancing. Then it was off to the airport for the long overnight journey home.
Dog walkers of Buenos Aires
Graveyard where Eva Peron and her family are buried
Cats of the Graveyard
Duarte Family Mausoleum - Family of Eva Peron
Eva Peron Plaque
Someone that liked their dog
July 9th Ave, widest avenue in the world with 14 lanes of traffic, named for Argentina's Independence day in 1816
Obelisk of Buenos Aires, commemorates 400 years since the city was formed (1536 - 1936)
Likeness of Eva Peron on side of building
Pictures around Buenos Aires
Tango Show
Heading to the airport
