Saturday, January 31, 2009

On the Boat

Okay. We have a few minutes of access, so no checking e-mail, but I'll try to keep sending reports.

We stepped off the plane in Ushuaia and even with the cars at the airport, it was breathtaking. Mountains and fog and now that we've left the dock, nothing but water between us and Antartica!

I don't know that I'm shooting art, but I can't stop clicking that camera. This place is just amazing.

We hit the Drake channel around 10 tonight, so we'll see how that goes, but they assured us today we'd see icebergs in a day or so and well...wow.

Gotta run. Hopefully, more tomorrow.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Buenos Aires - Day 3

Well, shorter day today. First a 2.6 mile stroll in the Reserva Ecologic. (parakeets and hummingbirds, and something that looked kind of like a cross between a guinia pig and a possum.) Then we hit the town again. First stop the Plaza de Mayo (Evita's balcony speech) then we ran (the wrong way through the rain) to the nearest barbeque, but finally found it. After giving Wendy a very strange look when she said she was "soy vegetariana", the waiter came back and said he had ordered her something and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to eat it.

Actually, it was kind of like a vegetarian empanada, so she was very happy, even with the sizzling platters of meat going by.

We actually took a taxi back to the hotel (!) and we're heading out soon for the ice cream place we found on the first night. Then Wendy gets to meet her passengers at the reception and it's next stop Patagonia.

I don't know if I'll have access until I get back, but if I do, I'll keep this up.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Buenos Aires -- Day 2

And the adventure continues. 9 hours of Buenos Aires at a dead run, or as Wendy calls it, a gentle stroll punctuated by phrases such as "It's only 18 blocks. It's nothing."

I did have some seconds for photography though. My favorite place today--to see and to photograph was El Caminito. Fortunately, we were warned that it wasn't safe to wander from the main street of the barrio, so we got to take a cab! Sitting. What a concept! But the colors of the buildings were fantastic and the small art show had some amazing work. Wendy couldn't leave without one small drawing of the place. I loved it, too.

After that it was time to tour the El Zanjon de Granados, a reconstructed building in BA that used to be a tenement. The reconstruction was so well done that there was no feeling of age left (sigh), but the architecture was beautiful.

We had a brief stop at the Museo Fragata Sarmiento, and got to sit out a bout of rain (great timing), then a quick stop at the Galeria Pacifico for a tango show and a heavier pair of socks for me (!) and then dinner near the hotel. (My new favorite phrase. Agua sin gas -water no bubbles.

Tomorrow, Evita's balcony and the nature preserve, then the rest of the Audubon people arrive and there's a reception in the evening. We leave for the ship the next morning at 5:45 a.m. So, we'll see when I can get back to this blog.

Buenos noches!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The great adventure begins. On the way to Antarctica (and trying to type on a Spanish keyboard).

The plane ride was great, once Wendy (my daughter) and I stopped giggling at the seats in business class. Thank you frequent flyer miles.

The hotel is much more (As Wendy says ¨frufru¨ then the two of us are used to, but we could try to get used to it.

Today was explore Buenos Aires. Lots of images in the Cementerio de la Recoleta. Stopped dead in front of an amazing painting in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes to show Wendy an example of Rembrant lighting, and then looked at the name of the artist and realized I was showing her a REAL example of Rembrant lighting! (and later, Monet, and Renoir, and Picasso, and Van Gogh....)

Took in the Floralis Generica (metal flower structure). Had supper and are about to head out and explore the wonders of BA ice cream.

We have internet access through the business center computers at the hotel, so I´ll try and add something until we head for Ushuaia.