We left the Antarctic area on the evening of 26th Feb and were scheduled to dock on the 28th Feb in Ushuaia by 6 pm. The 26th night was the worst of the Drakes. On the forward journey we were going in and out of troughs and highs, but the return was a but different. We were being being buffeted sideways and and we could feel this. I am usually a sound sleeper but I woke up a few times in the night by the ship yawing sideways. I had no means of knowing what the Beaufort scale showed in the night but the morning was at 6. I am pretty sure it must have been close to 8 in the night. Everyone was experienced by now and had patched up and taken tablets the evening before and the morning showed reasonable attendence at breakfast. But we could see all the balconies to passenger cabins on our deck 3 was wet and slippery.
This was on 27th night after the worst of Drakes was over. You van see Beaufort reading at 6.
Wind speed at 65 kmph
The day was spent in returning my kayaking gear and the other outdoor gear we had with us. We only got to keep the parka and 2 water bottles. Keeping the parka was headache enough as we were allowed only15kg on the next 2 flights before heading back to US. We had a disembarkation talk where we were fully briefed on the procedures and the drill to be followed for a smooth disembarkation. We were to be taken on a tour of Tierra del Fuego on the 1st March morning before we boarded the charter flight to Buenos Aires. The ship had organised a formal dinner with cocktails with the crew that evening. We assembled in the theatre in the evening and every single member of the crew , except those manning the bridge and the engine room were presented to the passengers. I though that was a great gesture.
The wind had died down by 28th and we entered the Beagle Channel by noon. Meanwhile the expedition team decided to organise a gathering of people who had visited all the 7 continents and held a small cocktail in the afternoon at 11.30 am. Everyone including the expedition team was surprised to find about 50 people register for the event. Due to the large numbers they did not have time to write our names but distributed certificates to all of us for having completed a record.
In the meantime the Pilot boarded the ship to lead us to Ushuaia. We docked by 5.30pm. We stepped out by 6 pm to get a feel and walk on land after 10 days! We walked around the dock area and it was still nippy and we did need woollens, even if we had just returned from Antarctica.
The city tour bus
Ushuaia by night
We had kept our check in baggage out by 10 pm on the 28th feb. They were loaded on the bus by 7 am and post breakfast we disembarked smoothly onto the assigned bus, for a tour of Tierra del Fuego.
Tierra del fuego translates in english to 'Land of Fire'.
The black line is the international border between Chile and Argentina. The archipelago lies across the Strait of Magellan of which only 38% is Argentina and the rest is Chile. Its a protected national park with native flora which has adapted to the harsh conditions there. We spent about 3 hours there and were back at the airport by 1 pm for our flight to BA.
Terra del Fuego
Interestingly Ruta 3 or route 3 in Argentina is the international highway which runs from Alaska in the North to the southern tip of Argentina in the Tierra del Fiego
Distance to Alaska as shown 17848 kms
And then we were in Buenos Aires by evening. We had a scheduled bus tour of the city next morning which set to rest several misconceptions of mine, which I had mentioned in my 2nd blog post. One of them was the number of Italian restaurants in BA. It appears that in the wave of immigrants , Germans settled in the north, the Italians settled in the BA area and the rest, mostly British seemed to settled in the southern part. It was easy to understand the British preferring the south !. The climate must have been very close to what they experienced back in their homeland ! Another was about the inflation. As our excellent guide explained to us, the inflation is down on paper, but cost of day to day items keeps soaring week to week. People like her, she said eat chicken once a week and survive on pasta and other cheaper substitutes rest of the week. Beef is only for the rich and the tourists.. She also mentioned she has not had a raise since 2020. Well if that was mentioned to get better tips, she got our attention and the money !
This is the inside of the church where the current pope , Pope Francis was a bishop in BA, Bergoglio as he was called then, was the Archbishop of BA
Gen. San Martin, known as the liberator of Argentina , Peru and Chile lies buried here, inside the same church. Apparently his body was brought back to Argentina in in a sitting position and was re interred in a sitting position. Interestingly, San Martin was a Freemason and the catholic church did not wish him to be interred in the church. But he was also a national hero. So , they got around this by making a separate alcove to the main church.
The colorful port area is the home of the Boca football club. While the houses are colorful , there is no mistaking it for what they actually are . They are basically corrugated sheet shanties. Now adorned with cafes and touristy shops , crime rates are higher here.
We were to leave for Iguazzu the next day. And that is the next chapter.
Comments
Post a Comment