Buenos Aires Argentina Feb 25 – 27 2012

 Buenos Aires is a city over close to 14million people and is often called the “Paris of  South America”. Walking around the streets you see a mixture of architecture from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and even the USA.

The La Boca district 

The paper mache figures on the balcony are from left to right  Maradonna  who is an idol in this country, Eva Peron and Carlos Gardel a  famous singer of Tango.

This area has  now been made very touristic as thousands of people visit every day to watch the Tango Dancers in the streets.

The colourful buildings of the La Boca district were started by an artist who had a vision to brighten the port area, it quickly took off and now most of the buildings which are made from corrugated iron are painted in bright colours.

 In the 1940’s the city was a political stage for General Juan Peron and his wife Evita Duarte Peron who was loved by the working class for her middle of the road position between capitalism and communisim. The Casa de Rosa ( pink palace) was made famous for the speeches given by Evita from the balcony.

The Pink Palace where both Juan &Eva Peron gave political speeches

Argentinians are great meat eaters so we visited a BBQ restaurant, amazing to sit in a restaurant that has an open BBQ and have great hunks of meat sliced off a whole pig or lamb

A coffee in Buenos Aires includes a glass of orange juice, a glass of mineral water con gas (with gas) and 2 wonderful biscuits all for about $4

The bbq suckling pig we had for dinner

Montevideo Uruguay 24 Feb 2012

On first sighting Magellan wrote in his diary “I saw a hill” thus the name Monte ( hill) and video (see) 

Unfortunately the wind was very strong yesterday and we were unable to use the tenders at Punta del Este, so we just sailed around in circles for 24 hrs waiting for a berth at Montevideo, luckily it was warm so we were able to spend some time in the pool.

 The
 Splendour of the Seas joined us in port at about 6am but was gone by the time we got back to the ship at 4pm

Montevideo has a population of about 1.5m and is made up of an old city, which is full of old European buildings and a new city with apartment blocks ,and beaches a bit like the Gold Coast

The old city has a very strong Portugese influence in its architecture and parts of it look very much like Valetta in Malta.

Today we did a tour of the old city before heading out to the Bouza winery for a wine tasting including cold meat and cheese from the region with some freshly baked bread.

Puerto Madryn 22 Feb 2012

This city, of about 75,000 people in the Patagonia region of Argentina, was settled by the Welsh in 1865. The Welsh people were disheartened by the fact that English language and culture was encroaching upon their cherished way of life and accepted an Argentine promise of land and cultural independence.

Arriving here is a bit like being on the Nullabour plain in Australia, miles and miles of flat treeless plains with just some scrub.

We skipped the town and headed directly to Punta Tomba which is the largest Magellan penguin colony in South America and although a 2.5 hour drive it was definitely worth it.

 How cute these penguins are waddling up the pathway in front of you

These penguins are larger than the fairy penguins we see in Australia, standing about 1.5 to 2 feet high and much more active during the day as you can see from the pictures.

Is this true love?

Cape Horn Chile 19 Feb 2012

We arrived at Cape Horn at about 6am today despite warnings of bad weather we had a beautiful calm sunrise and the captain was able to hold the ship at Cape Horn for a couple of hours turning the boat around several times so everyone on board could see the land marks.

 There is a weather station, a light house and an albatross memorial.

Look at the gap in the middle of the Albatross monument - the gap shows an Albatross 

Ushuaia Argentina 18 February 2012

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 Ushuaia (pronounced ush-why-ah) is situated on the Beagle Channel and is only about 600 miles from the Antarctic. The Beagle Channel is a 150mile long body of water named after the British Ship HMS Beagle that sailed through here twice, the second time with Charles Darwin aboard during missions of discovery in the1800’s.

 It started as a penal colony in 1884 and has grown to be the largest community in the region with a population of approximately 70,000.

Got up very early this morning as we were travelling through the channel of Glaciers, it was quite dark but the sun just managed to rise before we arrived at the last glacier, quite spectacular 

Today we visited the town and the military museum (formerly the prison) before trying the speciality of the area King Crab that was delicious

Punta Arenas Chile 17 Feb 2012

Arrived in Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) to beautiful weather – we have been so lucky while it is cold it has been fine every day so far.

Punta Arenas on the shores of the Straits of Magellan, was settled by the Chilean government in 1843, and was originally a penal colony. The area prospered as it was an important refuelling and supply station for ships passing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a major trade route before the construction of the Panama Canal.

 The introduction of sheep brought great wealth to the area which is displayed in some of the large homes which have now been converted to museums.

Cruising the Chilean Fjords (15 & 16 February 12)

 Two days at sea with some spectacular scenery of the Chilean Fjords.

Watched some wonderful shows and listened to some lectures. 

We also celebrated our 38^th Wedding Anniversary with a visit to a speciality restaurant (USS United States) I had the lobster and John had Dover Sole.

Puerto Montt Chile 14 February 2012

Valentines day – what a great place to celebrate.

We left the open ocean sometime during the night sailed through the Gulf of Ancud into the calmer waters of Reloncavi Sound and into Puerto Montt at about 9am.

Puerto Montt is the end of the road (and rail) when heading south in Chile.

 This is a stunningly beautiful region with huge lakes and snow capped volcanoes.

German immigrants from Bavaria settled the area and you can certainly see the influences in the architecture.

 We did a private tour with some new friends met via cruise critic (web site for cruisers). After a tour of the town we headed off to see the Orsono Volcano, the rapids and a beautiful emerald lake.

 Chilean BBQ for lunch – the food was cooked on a spit BBQ out the front of the restaurant, and the most wonderful Black Forest torte for dessert.