Welcome to the 2006 South America Tour
Trip Report Page
A real time and ongoing reporting of the daily adventures of our members currently visiting South America
Participants: Louise Boutis, Tom Chester,, Joyce Goffeau, Diane Jamieson, Sue & Mati Kuuskmae, Bob Lynn, Margot Schott, Helen, Ruth.
Trip Highlights: Departed Feb 10th, Returning March 3, Booked on UniWorld, Visited Countries Chili, Argentina, Falkland Islands, Uruguay etc.. and the grand finale of Iguaçu Falls!
Last Entry: February 24th, 2006
Sail the most scenic part of South America and explore some of the world's last frontiers : Stretching from the world's highest waterfall to one of the globe's most imposing glaciers, South America offer something for the romantic and the inquisitive, the adventurer and the intellectual. Experience the majesty and beauty that define the quintessential South America on an incredible cruise aboard the Norwegian Crown. It's an extraordinary journey through a wilderness of glaciers, fjords, towering snow-capped mountains, rivers, waterfalls and wildlife.
Subject: Arrived Santiago, Chile
Send reply to: kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent: Fri, 10 Feb 2006
Sue
and I arrived in Santiago at 9:45 local time after a 9 ½ hour flight from
Dallas. Our flight leaving LA was delayed 45 min. on the ground so we only had
20 minutes to get our Santiago flight in Dallas, which was in another terminal.
Waiting online to pay the $100 entry charge, we
spotted Joyce and Louise and the others. They all had
a fine flight as well.
It’s very hot here:
about 90. The people are very friendly and will attempt English with you
when they see that you are a dumb tourist trying to get around.
Today, we are taking it easy. I am that is. Sue is
racing around visiting Lucy a friend from Santiago who lives in Redondo Beach 5
months of the year.
Tonight we have some sort of folkloric show and
dinner.
I am using my laptop in the hotel room, $3 per hour
for high speed connection.
Mati
Subject:
At Sea
Send reply to: kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent: Sun, 12 Feb 2006
We have been at sea for 3 1/2 hours; very rough seas.
Urgent, please send help. We do not feel good!
Mati
Subject: Cruise Day 2
Date sent:
Mon, 13 Feb 2006
Hi Everyone:
Here we are on Day 2 on our cruise on the Norwegian
Crown. There is wireless internet onboard (for a fee, not nominal) so I’m
learning how to compose offline as my first few experiences with sending e-mail
failed as it’s easier to download e-mail and webpages then to send them . The
seas are rough and the ship often loses contact with the satellite for wireless.
For some reason the captain thinks that it’s more important to have the
satellite connection for navigation—the nerve of him.
Let me bring you up-to-date from the beginning:
After 2 long flights: LA to Atlanta to Santiago, Chile
for most of our group of 8 and LAX to Dallas to Chile for Sue and I, we all
arrived none the worse for wear about 9:30AM local time in Santiago.
First we had to line up to pay the $100 per person
entry fee. (Canadians, Mexicans, Australians pay less; other nationalities
nothing) The Chileans aren’t being mean; they are just reciprocating for the
fees charged their citizens to get US visas after 9/11. Credit cards welcome,
thank goodness. $100 bills of most series rejected as there is a Peruvian
counterfeiting ring flooding South America with bad $100s.
Then a longer line for immigration and passport check,
finally luggage and then the bus to the hotel. The lines were long as all the
overseas flights arrive within 1 hour of each other in the morning: Air France,
American, Air Canada, etc.
Outside it was already in the mid-80s and the
temperature for the next 2 days would hit a high of about 93. It is summer after
all here.
Our hotel-the Sheraton—had internet access so while
Sue went down to the pool, I logged on and watched as the room swayed and the
paintings and mirrors bounced off (for about 90 seconds )the walls as we had an
earthquake. Apparently they are quite regular here as the hotel personnel just
shrugged it off as a tremor. It was 5.0 on the Richter scale and not considered
serious. As an aside, Santiago has very few colonial buildings standing because
major earthquakes every few years have destroyed most of the historic
structures.
That night we went to dinner and a show of folkloric
dancing. We were warned that it was kind of hokey, but actually was quite
enjoyable. Somehow Chile claims Tahitian-like ancestry because Easter
Island 3,700 mile in the Pacific is part of Chile. A good part of the dancing
was Hawaiian-style like a bad luau with half-naked young males in loincloths
twisting around spears and an equally like number of hula dancers aptly shaking
their booties. We stumbled out of there after midnight.
The next morning (Saturday) we had a city tour: the
usual, the main cathedral, the statues honoring the heroes of the
Chilean-Bolivian-Peruvian War, remember that one ?
In the afternoon, Tom, Bob and I went on an optional
tour to the Concha Y Toro winery and a visit to it’s Devil’s Cellar, where
the original owner 130 years ago started the rumor that the devil dwelled within
to keep the superstitious locals from stealing his barrels and bottles.
Apparently, it worked. Sue, Diane and some of the others went on a
handicrafts shopping tour .
Saturday night we went to a restaurant in Santiago and
met Lucy and Gaston, friends from the bridge club of many of our group. They are
originally from Chile but have lived in the US for 30 years and since retirement
spend our winters in Chile. Otherwise, they live in Manhattan Beach. When down
here, they miss Trader Joe’s the most.
Funny taxi story: we took 2 taxis to restaurant and
back. Going cost about $8 for each cab, coming back cost one of our group $3.50
and the other about $6 plus they were shortchanged another $2. Minor stuff but
funny when we compared notes.
Sunday we left Santiago by bus for Valpariso and the
port of embarkation.
If this e-mail makes it successfully, I’ll catch
everyone up to date later.
Mati
Subject:
Sue’s update
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent: Tue, 14 Feb 2006
Hi
from sea: It was a bit like a roller coaster yesterday evening and overnight and
some of us took our sea sick pills immediately upon getting unpacked, and that
was a wise move it turned out. Still the bed was rocking up and down all night;
we slept after a fashion. Some of us are having trouble sleeping but those who
wisely forget about being worried about taking medicine pop the sleeping pill, and
they are off. As usual, I decided to try and go it without but soon had
to take one anyway around 12:30 a.m. Two saw the Dr. today: Tom for pains in his
hip and Helen for not sleeping....hope all will be well for the rest of the
trip. We understand that the sea is usually rough on take off and then calms
down greatly.
Today we are at sea all day and it is finally sunny
and pleasant around the pool....no one is swimming tho as the pool is closed. We
had a Tango lesson this afternoon, will have a 6:15 dinner, and then will try to
catch the early Swing show. I did try out the slots but I have not won as yet; I
will keep trying. Tomorrow we are going to stop at a town called Puerto Montt
where we will have a whole day touring starting early in the morning. Falls of
the Petrohue River and Lake District where it is an Alpine type area where
Germans had initially settled. We expect it to be sparkling clean in keeping
with that nationality. Wednesday we visit Puerto Chacabuco a region of fjords and glaciers, Simpson River National Reserve...we will take the bug spray! Then
we will be at sea for two days gazing at the fantastic scenery of the fjords.
We will make another report after tomorrow’s excursion.
Mati is really enjoying his laptop so nothing is
really too different from his routine at home. I hope to get more involved in
the exercises when I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn as we do
tomorrow. I took advantage of the beauty services today and had a facial
peel...yes, I do still have my skin left on...let us see if it makes any
improvement. One woman was making reservations for nails, hair, massage, peels,
teeth whitening, etc. and filled up about 8 appointments on her card. They have
a staff of about 10 in that department.
Now off for an early dinner and we hope to get into
the early show.
Love,
Sue
Subject:
Mon. - Wed. Update
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:57
Buenos Tardes:
I have figured out composing e-mail offline and now
you will continue to be assaulted by travel spam.
Late Sunday afternoon we arrived in the dreary port
city of Valpariso, once one of the busiest ports in South America, especially
before the Panama Canal was built.
Maybe the city looks better when it’s sunny, but
it’s hard to persuade me.
Entry to the ship went smoothly and soon we were
rocking and rolling at sea. I’m fortunate not to suffer from seasickness but
pills were dispensed to any and all, but many passengers succumbed. Sue was okay
as was most of our group of 8. The pricing structure for the ship's doctor is
interesting: $50 for the first visit, $100 for the second, $200 for the third. I
guess they don’t want you to really go.
Monday was spent at sea with continued bouncy sailing,
so people just partook of the onboard activities, number one which appears
to be eating and drinking and from the size, the super size of many of our fellow
passengers, perhaps they should lighten up on the former. I even visited the
library and checked out a book.
The food is fairly decent and the portions modest, but
that doesn’t mean one should eat 4 times per day, which our group doesn't. Norwegian
Cruise Lines features what it calls Freestyle Cruising, which means that dress
is casual and you can eat whenever you want with the main dining room ,which
doesn’t require reservations, open from 5:30PM - 10. Your tables vary, so you
are waited upon by different staff members from time to time. To even out the
tipping situation, a $10 per day gratuity is added to your bill for each day of
the cruise—in our case 15 days. One can bring wine on board as long as it’s
Chilean, but there is a $15 corkage charge, but still works out cheaper than the
wine list on board.
This morning at 8AM, just a half hour off schedule
because of the rough seas, we docked at Puerto Montt where our tour buses
awaited us. Puerto Montt was a city and area founded primarily by thousands of
German immigrants who were encouraged to come here from 1848-1853 by the Chilean
government. After the attempted revolutions in many European countries in
1848(remember your world history!) and the advent of industrialization , there
were thousands of unemployed in Europe and Chile was trying to populate this
remote area. So today, the houses and neat farms resemble some kitschy, bizarre
version of pseudo-Bavarian or Swiss lakeside architecture and it is forbidden, perhaps
I should say verboten, to build in any other style.
Maybe this explains the fairly large contingent of
German tourists aboard. All shipboard announcements are made in order of
language spoken. First English, then German, Spanish and Australian (just
kidding), some of the Aussies can actually be understood).
Our first stop was a viewpoint high above the city
where the harbor and another large cruise ship—The Rotterdam—were visible.
From there we headed off to some Nacional Parque which was inundated by tourists
from the other ship as well, so there was a tremendous crowd and a huge
pedestrian traffic jam on the solitary path leading to a not-so-impressive
rapids.
From there we went to a more quaint, but still
touristy lakeside Alpine-like town, where we were served salmon (actually we are
served salmon everywhere off the boat) in a great lakeside restaurant with floor
to ceiling windows. The sun burst out and the clouds peeled back to reveal first
one, then 2 and finally 3 dramatic snow-covered peaks, 2 of them dormant
volcanoes. Side note on salmon: sometime about 20 or 30 years ago, Chile decided
to get involved in seafarming of salmon, which is not native here, and now
salmon is its second largest export. No. 1 is copper.
After a walk about town, we boarded buses for the one
hour ride back to the ship.
Wednesday morning we arrived in windy, gloomy weather
in Chucabuco. Here, the ship normally docks, but we were tendered in as a
Chilean naval vessel blocked the dock. Then we were herded into smaller buses
for a half day’s excursion into the dramatic Simpson Valley national reserve
and finally the regional capital Coyhaique.
There were great views all the way with many
waterfalls brought on by the 300 days of rain a year including today’s
weather. As we crossed the Andes to the eastern side and the capital, the
weather was sunnier and much warmer. The mountains trap the moisture on the
western side.
Now we’re back on the ship preparing to depart in 2
hours and from here on there will be spectacular views of glaciers in the
fjords, so we are promised.
Adios, Mati
Subject: At Sea for 2 Days
Send reply to: kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006
Mes amigos,
For two days (Thursday and Friday) we are at sea. Now,
Weather is cloudy with intermittent rain, but it’s not very cold—around 50.
We sailed in somewhere way south of Chacabuco to catch our first glimpse of a
glacier field. Fascinating how parts of it appeared blue as light reflected off
of it.
Later as we steamed out of that bay, we passed a
freighter that sank 20 years ago carrying a load of sugar. Its rusting hulk, bullet
riddled as it’s used for target practice by the Chilean navy. sits upright as
we glide within ½ mile of it. The freighter’s captain attempted to sink the
ship and collect the insurance money; however the wreck got stuck on some rocks.
Two lectures today: one on Chilean history and social,
economic life and the other by a maritime historian (author of 4 books) on
survivors of the Titanic. The lecture ,by a distinguished looking Englishman,
Maxtone Graham, spoke about 3 Titanic survivors he had interviewed, including
one who had never once spoken to anyone since 60 years earlier at the time.
She died a year later and her nieces found a manuscript/memoir of her Titanic
and other cruise ship experiences and he edited and had it published when the
movie came out. He remarked that it was his only best seller. His other books
are on the grand age of passengers ships from the 20’s to the 1950’s. If
you’re at all interested in this sort of thing, he’s worth looking up.
Dinner was accompanied by very large swells of 10-12
feet as the ship crashed through the seas and some people retired early to
their cabins. Most of our group went to the 10:15 show featuring dancers
trying to stand on their feet as the ship swayed to and fro.
As a way to make up for the bad seas, the captain
announced an early unscheduled stop at another glacier field at 8AM this
morning, so we all got up early for that.
Now another day of cruising: first finishing our
journey through the Chilean ice fjords and then on to the Straits of Magellan.
Tomorrow is our last day to use Chilean pesos in Punta
Arenas as our next stop after that will be Ushuia, Argentina. There are
525 Chilean pesos to the U.S. dollar and in Argentina it’s 3 Argentinean
dollars to $1 U.S. The Falkland Islands use a unique version of the
British pound called the Falklands pound, not exchangeable anywhere else in the
world.
Mati
Subject:
Punta Arenas
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Sun, 19 Feb 2006
Punta Arenas
Saturday, the ship pulled into the port of Punta
Arenas, Chile, the southernmost city in the world. It is a technicality as
Ushuaia, Argentina also claims that distinction. The difference is that with a
population of 120,000, Punta Arenas is a “city,” whereas Usuaia is smaller
but further south.
In Punta Arenas , gateway to Patagonia, we had a day
of brilliant sunshine punctuated by brief showers. We were picked up by bus at
the dock and taken on the city tour, which included the city square with the
huge statue of Magellan. Here one could kiss his shiny big toe for luck, or as
our guide recommended, perhaps just rubbing it would work just as well ,what
with all sorts of viruses going around. I did neither.
Punta Arenas is a prosperous town with many interesting
Belle Époque buildings dating back to 1900, both commercial buildings and
residences of the wealthy. The town was founded by immigrants from Europe,
primarily Italians and Serbs and Croats, the latter two groups fleeing induction
into the Austro-Hungarian army. Sheep and cattle ranching, whaling and a brief
gold rush, fueled the wealth here. The people who suffered were the indigenous
ones whose contact with the Europeans resulted in their demise in a generation
or so. One of the more striking photos in the local museum shows well dressed
Europeans firing their rifles at Indians to clear them off land for gold
exploration.
We visited the cemetery, famous for its elaborate mausoleums
and shaped cypress trees. Ironically, there is a monument to the “last
Indian” or the “unknown Indian,” akin to our unknown soldier. And yes,
people come here to rub his feet for good luck and then if good fortune comes
true, they post thank you notes to the statue.
The constant feature of this city is the relentless
winds at 20-30 miles per hour, making it difficult to walk.
Lunch was served at an estancia or ranch with the
owner dressed as a cowboy, or Chilean gaucho and his wife is cowgirl type of
dress. After that, we were dropped off at the city square where some of our
group went shopping and we went to the Braun mansion, one of the wealthiest
families in the town until the opening of the Panama Canal when the family moved
to Santiago.
At night, the ship was delayed as a group of travelers from an optional tour to Antarctica had not returned. That tour which was to be 10 hours long and included 5 hours of flying cost an additional $2,000 and 28 people had signed up for it (none from our group). If the trip was cancelled, one had to go to an alternate visit to a glacier field national park at a cost of $900 or you would forfeit $200 . What the ship tour desk didn’t tell people was that the last 3 trips to Antarctica had been cancelled due to bad weather and so was this one. The Norwegian Crown finally left 2 hours late when this group came back from the national park trip.
Mati
Date sent:
Sun, 19 Feb 2006
From:
kuuskmae@adelphia.net
Subject:
Sunday - Terra del Fuego
Hi there
A 10-minute stop here, then back on the bus after
eating dust. Then another 20 min stop. Someone from the tour gets lost because
she did not listen and walked back to the wrong bus. Near collisions with
passenger cars out for a Sunday drive.
Someone asks, What animals will we see? Answer: not
many as foreign animals were imported here for a failed fur industry and then
released: rabbits, beavers, mink—and then released to reproduce in the wild
and they have killed off what few native mammals were there. It is okay to hunt
beaver and rabbit, but no one does as they are not eaten here.
Oh yes, birds. Look there is the Patagonian blackbird.
Looks suspiciously like a starling or small raven.
Back to the ship where we eat a quick dinner as Sue
wants to go to a folk show on ship and I want to escape to town where I am
writing this e-mail.
Internet in town: $1 an hour; on ship with my laptop
$25 hour.
Tomorrow at sea and then the Falkland Islands, excuse
me, the Malvinas, as the Argentineans take offense at the former name.
Well, I am out to inspect the shops now. It feels like
30 degrees with the winding whipping around at 40 miles per hour. This is not
your Mexican Riviera cruising. This is the starting point for ships going to
Antarctica. We are not going, thank God. The ship leaves in 90 minutes. We are
bound for the Horn—or Capo Hornos as it is called in Spanish.
Mati
Subject:
Falklands Update
Send reply to: kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Wed, 22 Feb 2006
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Crown passengers
invaded the Falkland Islands. Understandably, a peaceful invasion unlike the
1982 Argentinean one, but an invasion nonetheless.
950 passengers going ashore in
“tenders” can overwhelm an island (actually 700 islands with 2 major
ones)territory of under 3,000 with Stanley, the capital having about 2,100
residents. There is a separate British Army and RAF garrison of some 1,800
permanently here. The natives—all Brits—are still a bit jumpy about a
possible invasion by the Argentines some day who still claim the territory some
600 miles from the mainland.
Some history here—sorry for the
pedantry--1982 in March a large Argentine invasion force captured Stanley and
forced a surrender by the British governor. After inaction by the UN, a British
naval/air and royal marine task force fought a war to regain the island from
April to beginning of June. 250 of the British died and 750 Argentineans; the
Argentine air force was largely destroyed (some 100 fighter jets) and that
turned the war in Britain’s favor.
There are 76 days a year that cruise ships
call here, sometimes as many as 3 ships, but today we were the only one. The sun
was shining brilliantly and our good fortune with calm seas of the last few days
continued. On land we took a 2-hour minibus tour of the island stopping at the
museum, someone’s yard who kept all those whale skeletons and a live reindeer,
and last a penguin sanctuary. The reindeer were brought from Scandinavia to
South Georgia Island (on the edge of Antarctica) early in the 20th century to
serve as a food supply for the many expeditions there. Apparently the herd is
quite large. How this one got here is a mystery.
We couldn’t get too close to the Magellan
penguins as they were at the water’s edge clustered in a large group, but we
could view them through binoculars and those with good cameras got close-up
pictures. One can approach penguins as they are not afraid of humans, but
there’s this slight problem in the Falklands as the beaches still have
landmines embedded in them from the 1982 war and people have to stay
behind this barbed wire fence to prevent accidents. The Argentineans used
plastic mines and left no maps so it’s been virtually impossible to clear them
with metal mine detectors.
After the penguins and viewing some
shipwrecks in the harbor on the way back to Stanley, we had lunch at the Globe
Tavern, fish and chips naturally washed down by some good British ale. Then it
was on to look in some shops. Sue bought some wool to knit a sweater. The
islands’ have over 600,000 sheep. Fishing is also a big industry, but the
locals don’t do it ; instead, the government sells fishing licenses to foreign
fishing vessels, namely Chinese, Korean, Russian and they catch, process, and
freeze the catch for sale in their home countries. The Falkland Islands earn
millions of dollars (sorry, pounds) in revenue from this.
Back on board the ship, we sailed off into
the sunset with slightly warmer breezes accompanying us.
Today, Wednesday, is a sailing day where we are left to amuse ourselves with reading, lectures , card playing , trivia contests, etc.
Mati
Subject:
At sea on way to Puerta Madryn
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Thu, 23 Feb 2006
To all my great Walking Friends,
Today was a day at sea, so we slept late then
went up for our usual cereal breakfast. Today is Bob’s birthday, and
Helene and I arranged for Bob’s room to be decorated and for him to have a
chocolate birthday cake after dinner. He was really surprised to see the
decorations. I went to the bridge lesson and Mati to a lecture by the
British guy, and soon it was time for lunch....lots of eating goes on here.
I played bridge this afternoon, took about 8 turns
around the entire deck, met Joyce, Louise, and Mati for tea and now we will get
ready for the big birthday bash for Bob down in the Seven Seas dining room.
Hope the cake will be good! I am finally sleeping very well without
medication...hurray. Jacques, we passed your kisses on to Joyce and the
rest of the women.
Love to all,
Sue
Subject:
Montevideo, Uruguay Report
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Sat, 25 Feb 2006
Esteemed Walking Club Members:
As you were celebrating Sue Bacas birthday, the South
Pole Gang was getting sloshed at the Santa Rosa Winery in Montevideo. So we were
right there with you.
Friday was a day at sea as we made our way from Puerto
Madryn, Argentina to Montevideo, Uruguay. The saes were rough overnight so our
arrival in this capital was delayed by almost 2 hours.
We disembarked from the ship at about 10:30 AM and
commenced our city tour by bus. Montevideo is a city of 1,500,000 in a small
country of 3.5 million inhabitants. The area of the country, the 2nd smallest in
South America, is about the size of South Dakota.
Squeezed between Argentina (pop. 38 million) and
Brazil (170 million)
Uruguay is greatly influenced by political and
economic events in neighboring countries, so when the Argentina economy
collapsed in 2001 and the Argentinian peso went from par with the dollar to 3
pesos per dollar, Uruguay went to 36 pesos to the dollar from 1 peso = 1.8 dollars. Got
that straight? There will be a quiz on South American currencies at the end of
the tour. Doctors and lawyers became cab drivers or tour guides. Our tour guide
Adriana, who had finished 4 years of medical school, became a tour guide because
she could make more than a doctor who earns the equivalent of $4,000 month.
Montevideo used to be known as the Switzerland of
South America because of its prosperity but now it’s a bit faded, but very
interesting nonetheless. There are many derelict buildings with faded Belle Époque
or Art Deco facades or designs, often sadly marred by graffiti.
On the tour, I’ve come to gauge the relative
prosperity of a country by its stray dogs, the so-called stray dog index. Chile
had the healthiest, most well-fed looking stray dogs. The ones in the southern
port cities of Argentina were skinnier, the Falklands had none, and Montevideos
certainly could use some Purina Dog Chow.
After the city tour, we went to the Santa Rosa Winery
where we were greeted with a glass of champagne and had a winery tour, then a
barbecue lunch followed by at least 4 more glasses of wine, and a tango and
samba show folowed by more champagne.
Our group had made the mistake of sitting near the
performance area and I was nailed to dance with a very beautiful tango dancer
and a scantily clad samba dancer. I upheld the honor of the group by my dancing,
so I'm told but I am offering to buy back all copies of the pictures before they
go on Ebay.
We stumbled back to the buses and returned to the ship
after the obligatory stop at the tourist trap leather shop. Now I am out at the
internet cafe banging out this latest report, the Norwegian Crown to my left, several
trailer loads of wooden logs found for a German freighter to my right.
Tonight, we have our farewell dinner onboard and
tomorrow we disembark in Buenos Aires where we stay for 2 nights.
So look for another exciting report Sunday evening.
Another week and we will be back and you will be able to listen to all our great
stories.
Mati
Subject:
Things Falling Apart at Iguassu Falls
Send reply to:
kuuskmae@excite.com
Date sent:
Tue, 28 Feb 2006
After a late night tango show, getting back to the
hotel past midnight, and then waking up at 5AM to get to the airport by 6:30 for
our 8AM flight to Iguassu Falls, bureaucratic snafus left Sue and I at the gate
along with 3 (not from our LA group) other people, while the rest flew off to
the falls.
Aerolinas Argentina had no boarding passes or records
for us and there were no seats on the flight that everyone else took. Of course,
we paid for the whole package back in June of 2005. Now we are waiting for an
11:30
flight which WE HAD TO PAY FOR. When we get back to
the US, Uniworld has to reimburse us $400. A funny story: to buy tickets, you
stand on one lane and pay, then go to another window to pick up your tickets,
and finally the regular airline counters to checking and get your boarding
passes. As this is a domestic airport, very few airline personnel speak English.
We had paid for ar/t tickets and I got 2 boarding passes (one for the return
flight); however, Sue was given one way to the falls. I asked if the agent
thought that I was going to push her over the falls. The Uniworld people maybe,
but not Sue. We also will get to the falls 4 hours after everyone else and miss
1 of the 2 tours.
The local Uniworld representative was no help and
essentially abandoned us at the airline check-in.
Before this we have had a great 2 days in Buenos Aries
touring around endlessly after disembarking from our ship Sunday morning, We
visited Eva Peron’s grave, the interesting Boca section(bit of a tourist
trap), saw the stadium of the Boca Juniors, Argentina’s most famous football
i.e. soccer team. Also saw the Casa Rosado, the Pink House, the
President’s house, akin to our White House.
We had a fantastic sirloin steak dinner at a top
restaurant which essentially cost $15 per person for everything including tip.
Then we shopped yesterday, essentially eyeballing the
stuff we might want to buy when we return to Buenos Aires Wednesday afternoon
for one more night at the same hotel.
Mati
First Pictures received from South America!
The wet bunch: Bob, Sue and Tom! Sweet & Wet!
Bob Lynn the Birthday Boy!
Itinerary
Map - courtesy of Kelli Young
