Buenos Aires

 I had intended the previous post to be my final entry for this trip, but we had time to get out in Buenos Aires before we flew home and some of the photos I wanted to enter in a blog post so I would remember. 

This photo was taken in front of our hotel and it shows the Women's Bridge. 

Cindy at a nearby steak house before we took on some very large pieces of meat. 

There is a great deal of political activism in Buenos Aires and these are two recent representations. The first memorialized the COVID deaths of the city (the rocks in remembrance of individuals) and the charge that officials were vaccinated long before the citizens. The second is from the Plaza de Mayo (very close to the COVID rocks) and represents the white head scarves worn by the Mothers of the Disappeared in the location where they frequently marched. 

The Evita Balcony

Our hotel was also near the location of many government buildings and these soldiers were marching to change the guard near the government buildings.

Probably the reason I had to add a few more pictures was because of the spectacular house colors in the neighborhoods. Buenos Aires is a massive place with a population near 14 million in the metro area. There are many tenant neighborhoods of tenement housing some of multiple similar bland-looking flats (apartments) and some of colorful mashed-together homes. Lots of graffiti art

Not Messi (he is in Florida), but you find the images of Messi and Maradona everywhere in Argentina. 

A barista handing over my final coffee in Argentina. I was lazy and did not find a coffee shop in Ushuaia so I could claim I had coffee in the southernmost city in the world, but I did get this photo in Buenos Aires. I do have a shot of the southernmost US coffee shop (from Hawaii), but I should have made the effort to get off the boat and add to my collection.

Chocolate Bar

 We are in Buenos Aires and leave tomorrow at 10PM for the long flight home - first to New York and then home. Long night.

I don't think I have posted any food pics on this trip and this is often a staple of my travel posts. The food on the ship was excellent and always in far greater supply than necessary. I have picked out this special event for my only food post. I call it Chocolate Bar because I am a puny guy.

This is all for a few months. Time to get back to salads.

Cape Horn

 We are nearing the end of our journey and just rounding Cape Horn making our way to Ushuaia where we catch a plane. The map appearing below shows the location where I took some of these photos.

My only knowledge of Cape Horn was based on what I read in Mitchner's Hawaii in which the author described the perilous journal of the missionaries sailing from New England around the cape on the way to Hawaii. It sounded very rough and dangerous. 

Some on the boat got up to watch from the deck (with drinks) as rounding the Cape the first time is supposed to have some special significance. We watched from our window (Cindy might have had some tea.)

The boat did sway a bit, but nothing I thought was extreme. I went up to the dining/library area to have a coffee and generate a blog post and found that there was some damage as guests had either stumbled with plates or things must have fallen from tables.

Garibaldi Glacier in Garibaldi Fjord

Today was our last opportunity to get onto the water in one of the small boats. We were to take a Zodiac and land on a glacier. It turned out that this was not possible as you will see in the following video, but it was an interesting trip nonetheless. I am more of a photographer than I am a videographer, but the clips should be good enough to give you an idea.

This glacier has a strange feature that is easy to notice. There is a vertical line near the middle. The line is the result of debris captured in the middle as two glaciers merge before heading to the ocean. 

 

Balloon launch in Garibaldi Fjord

 Another balloon launch, but for this one I took care to capture the surrounding scenery. The launch this morning was accompanied by the chefs preparing Apple Crumble and Irish Coffee. We are in the Garibaldi Fjord at the base of the Garibaldi Glacier. After tough seas through the night, the morning is calm and bright.

After capturing the video of the balloon launch, I decided to have another Irish Coffee. I thought I made a video of the bartender completing the preparation of my drink (a little coffee, a generous portion of Jamison, and whipped cream), but my phone is automatically set to photo when I activate the camera. Sorry.

Mark makes a rare public appearance.