So,
we’re off on another three month cruise! As hard as it is to
believe
, we brought even more stuff than our last long cruise – Kathy brought various technology items to “show and tell” in her lectures, including a robotic vaccuum cleaner!
Our 10 hour coach flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires was cramped, made tolerable only by sleeping pills that put us out of our misery
for most of it. Upon arrival, we headed immediately to the BA apartment of our good friends Dave & Jim. They live in upstate New York during the summer, and Buenos Aires during the summer. A paradoxical statement until you remember that the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. This has the great advantage that the days are longer – it stays light until 10pm. At right is their idyllic tree lined street -- considered by some the most lovely small avenue in the city.
Had our first beef-fest the day of our arrival – ample portions of tenderloin ("lomo" & ribeye ("chorizo") that cost all of about $30 apiece including excellent (and copious) wine, appetizers, and sides. The following day we were packed up for the jungle: Iguazu Falls.
Iguazu is one of those "you gotta see it to believe it" natural formations on our planet. If somehow it got left off everybody's "Wonders of the World" list, that'd be a mistake. Photos beckon but don't satisfy. The falls are more than a kilometer across. We arrived in perfect (for the jungle in the peak of summer) weather -- 90F, sunny, humid. The park is in the northwest corner of Argentina (not to emphasize this southern hemisphere stuff too much, but remember that "farther north = warmer", south of the equator), on the Brazilian border. It is wonderfully arranged with trails and trams and catwalks so you can get up-close and personal to all the falls.
We opted to stay in a (much too expensive) hotel within the park with a room overlooking the falls; the view (above) was worth the price. We spent a day and a half tramping through all the various views of the falls -- the combination of heat and humidity soon made us our "own personal waterfalls", nonetheless it was a fantastic experience. We saw a decent assortment of rainforest creatures including toucans, coatis, and some really really big spiders. Our last day, we awoke to torrential rains -- there is a reason they call this "rain forest", right?
We felt bad that folks who had just arrived were headed into the torrent in their rain gear, after we'd had a perfect day just one previous. We managed to get an earlier flight back to Buenos Aires (1pm versus 7p) thanks to a combination of laid-back Latin attitude from the airline, and Scott's remarkably-useful-at-times high school Spanish. Our hosts Dave & Jim fixed us a wonderful meal despite our having upset their siesta by showing up mid-afternoon ,and invited another BA friend of ours, Graciela to join us. We spent the next couple of days eating well, and enjoying the city. Buenos Aires is like Paris on the cheap – great restaurants, great wine, great style. "Porteños" (what the locals are called) are by and large far more friendly than Parisians; curious about you, and eager to help you with their language if you just show a little effort.
Costs are about a third what they’d be in the US. Wonderful parks and tree-lined streets. It didn’t take long for us to adjust to living the typical hours here – dinner at 10 or 11p, stay out till 2 or 3 or 4am, sleep till 11am. Our friends knew all the nearby neighborhoods and restaurants, to our great culinary advantage.
Coming up is our flight to Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina, where we board our ship & head off to Antarctica. We’ll keep you posted!
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