Buenos Aires & Antarctica Jan/Feb 2023

That’s not to say that we’ve been slugs all this time.  One of the great things on this ship are the daily lectures (45 minutes to an hour) from Naturalist Celia Garland ( www.celiagarland.com ).  The first day (Sunday), the topic was an overview of Antarctica and it’s history.  Monday brought us Whales and Dolphins, and Tuesday was all about Penguins.  Before you stop reading – I am not going to steal her thunder and recount the lecture.  But I would encourage you to visit her website.  She is everything you wanted your favorite college professor to be, offering a significant serving of “Discovery Channel” in her presentation.  

The most we’ve ever experienced before is a single sea day between ports.  This cruise, which has to cover some significant distance, starts off with three (3) consecutive sea days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for those who are counting).  In the past, we’ve recognized that these are some of our favorite days because there is no “agenda”.  We do not have to get off the ship and schlep across town to see some cathedral / fort / shopping district.  Instead, you get to have lazy days that are truly a gift.  

 Several persons have asked about our itinerary.  Here it is: Sat, 1/28 Depart Buenos Aires Sun, 1/29 At Sea Mon, 1/30 At Sea Tue, 1/31 At Sea Wed, 2/1 Ushuaia, Argentina Thu, 2/2 Cape Horn, Chili Fri, 2/3 Schollaert Channel & Dallman Bay, Antarctica Sat, 2/4 Elephant Island, Antarctica Sun, 2/5 At Sea Mon, 2/6 Port Stanley, Falkland Island Tue, 2/7 At Sea Wed, 2/8 Puerto Madryn, Argentina Thu, 2/9 At Sea Fri, 2/10 Montevideo, Uruguay Sat, 2/11 Arrive Buenos Aires Stock Photo from Google -- I'll label our photos as originals once we reach Antarctica

 

We are in room 1110, which is on one of the higher decks.  It’s called “Aqua Class”, which means that we get to eat in the Blu Dining Room rather than going down to the main dining room – although we have that option should we want.      I don’t know if the food quality is higher, but it is nicer in that it is a smaller venue and a bit quieter than the big dining room.  We do breakfast there as well – order from a menu rather than the buffet, which makes portion control a bit easier.

While there is still a printed “daily notice” that is dropped off, everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – is in the Celebrity App on your phone.  This includes schedules for all shows, classes, activities and – if you click on it that you want to attend, it is automatically loaded on the calendar and you get a reminder.   There’s also a chat function – you can add people you meet on the ship and then communicate with them the same way as if you were on a Facebook or text message chat – but you don’t have to give out your telephone number.   Wifi was the most difficult part of check in.  We could make some stuff work but not others until we went to the help desk and figured out that you have to turn off the virtual private network (VPN).  Once that happened, it’s worked like a dream.  

Saturday was the day we boarded the ship.  This is definitely a different experience post-pandemic compared to the cattle call that used to happen back in the old days.   First, it’s much more digital.  Boarding Pass?  On your phone.  We already had to take pics and send them in, so (other than re-taking mine because it didn’t seem to go through), that sped up the process.      You go into the terminal, and as you enter they slap a sticker with a color and number on your shoulder – I could not help but note the comparison of that to cattle going into the sale yard that are being tagged for different purposes.   Anyhow, you drop the big bags with the porters out front and then go in and have a seat.  About 20 minutes later, they were calling us to go in through security.  We went to the ticket desk, passports checked, pics checked for ID’s and off to luggage screening.  Once we were through that (where they take and keep your pa...

We took yesterday and today off to transfer to the ship and get settled in.  Today is a "sea day" so we've been lazy and enjoyed every minute of it.  We'll get back to it tomorrow maybe.  In the meantime, this is our current view from our balcony -- ocean is smooth as silk with 70 degree temp and beautiful sunshine.

Our last dinner in Buenos Aires was another cultural experience – this time, Italian – which strongly influenced the culture here.  Two kinds of ravioli in different sauces and a bottle of wine was enough of an early dinner to send us back to the room to finish our departure prep.

Friday we had nothing in particular planned.  In reality, it’d be hard to top Rojo Tango from the night before.  We woke up to dark threatening clouds that made good on their threat most of the morning.  We’re on the 20 th floor of this hotel, and it’d been a long time since we’d experienced a thunderstorm from that height.   It was fine to have nothing planned, though, because it was important to pull everything out and re-pack it for the next phase of the trip.  Remember that it’s summer in Argentina, so everyone here is in shorts and T-shirts, but that will not be the case once we board the ship tomorrow.  It was therefore necessary to do a bit of a seasonal shift and figure out what clothes need to come to the top of the heap and what can be put away.   A day to rest without plans was welcome, anyhow.  

Thursday, we had nothing planned during the day.  We wandered around the neighborhood near the hotel, bought some flip-flops that we’d forgotten and replaced an iPhone charging cord that failed, but the big event for Thursday was Rojo Tango, the dinner show scheduled for the evening.   We cannot say enough wonderful about the Tango show.  It was in a theater setting (red leather, red carpet, red lights – hence the “Rojo” – in a very nice hotel about 15 minutes from us.  Transportation was much calmer than the night before, which was welcome.   This was a dinner show, although we noted that a number of people came in, apparently just for the show part.  The room seated about 100 people, and there were probably 50 for dinner.      Dinner started out with something that was very tasty, but looked kind of like a chicken McNugget.  It was just a nibble to get you started, so wasn’t all that relevant.  They poured your choice of wine (red...

Dinner was a wine pairing at an authentic Argentinian Steak House (La Choza de Gascon) and was excellent.  The restaurant was filled with locals -- mostly families having dinner.  Our host was Diego, who decided about 18 years ago that there was more money to be made in wine than in teaching English, so he made the jump.   This was a small event – 4 guests – us and another couple from Brazil on their honeymoon.  Diego was great in explaining about the various wines, the regions they come from in Argentina, and why they have the various properties they have.  There were four wines that we sampled, plus homemade Limoncello at the end – something tart and with enough sugar to send you up into hummingbird territory.   Each wine was more or less paired with a different course, although we were free to repeat or skip whatever ones we wanted.  First was an empanada, which is a pastry filled with beef.  This was followed by a melted cheese (you could...

At this point, we had fed our inner-nerds with enough factoids for the day, and returned to our hotel.  We needed a bit of a rest before we got ready for dinner.   So, we did what anyone would do and asked one of the nice men in dark suits at the front of the hotel to get us a cab to go to La Choza, the restaurant for our steak dinner and wine experience.   When you’ve been with someone for 20+ years, there is a lot of non-verbal communication that can occur in little more than a glance.  This is what happened less than a block from the hotel, when our looks at each other said, “GET YOUR SEAT BELT ON”.      It seems that the cab driver – who spoke no English – liked to use ALL of the gas pedal and ALL of the brake pedal, sometimes at the same time.  This is in the equivalent of a 2010 Ford Focus that obviously had seen a lot of miles.     Those lines on the pavement were apparently viewed as mere suggestions, much the same as the red lig...

Let’s pause for a moment and talk about one of Argentina’s most famous citizens who happens to be interred there, Eva Peron (or Evita).  Most of us in America know about her primarily from the movie with Madonna, which got some stuff right, but like everything Hollywood is embellished a bit.   Maria Eva Duarte was the illegitimate child of a wealthy landowner in Argentina.  Seems Dad had his “city” family and parked his side piece (Eva’s mom) out on the farm so he could come to the country and play happy family whenever he wanted.   This apparently wasn’t unusual at the time but did lead to some abuses (many of which are documented in the movie, so I won’t go into them here).  Evita had ambition, though, and at least a little talent so she went to the big city to catch her break in theater.  She started by doing radio voice-over and stage work.  Since politicians like to hang around with movie stars (or their equivalent), she got to know some important...

There is a statue near one vault that shows a young woman and a dog.  She was married and on her honeymoon in the Andes mountains when there was an earthquake that resulted in a rockslide.  It buried (killed) she and her husband.  At the exact same time she died, her dog (who was home with the grandparents) sat up, howled, and also died instantly.  

One tomb shows a statue of a young woman with her hand on the door opening the mausoleum.  The story is that she was engaged to be married, and her fiancé worked for her dad (something military; it was difficult to take notes in the cemetery).  Anyhow, the daughter finds out that her mother was having an affair with her fiancé.  When the daughter learned this, she became catatonic – breathing and heart rate very difficult to find, especially given medical treatment at the time.  They assumed that she was dead and buried her.   The cemetery caretaker heard something in the night (turns out she woke up and was trying to get out of the zinc part of the casket), went and told the family but by the time they got there and opened it up, she had suffocated.  Evidence of her trying to get out was found inside the zinc liner, and this led to the construction of the vault showing her able to open the door.   Originally, she was buried (alive) in the section on t...

Like all old cemeteries, there are some interesting stories that go with some of the graves.   Remember that Argentina originally followed the European model, so folks who were important (or gave a lot of money to the Catholic Church) got to be buried inside the church.  Once that practice stopped, though, many wanted their mausoleum to continue to look like a church.  The largest in the cemetery looks very much like a little church, and of course it’s at the end of one of the main streets.  

Between 1580 (when Buenos Aires started) and 1822, every church had their own cemetery, just like the European model.  Then came the Yellow Fever epidemic and the need to consolidate a bit, so the government created the Recoleta Cemetery.      If you have ever been to the New Orleans, LA St. Louis Cemetery, you’ve got an idea of how this looks.  Mausoleum after Mausoleum next to each other.  There are a few differences, though.   First, they don’t have the water table issues (i.e., no floating caskets), so interment chambers go down a couple of levels under the visible building.   Second, the family owns the location, but if they need money or are just tired of it, they can pull grandma out, dust the place off and sell it.  It runs about the same as an apartment.   Third, there are expenses associated with keeping these things.  They are taxed, and it’s up to the family to maintain and upkeep.  You can tell the ones where the f...

After we left the market, we were in the Las Canitas neighborhood.  (Incidentally, some things are misspelled because I don’t know how to put those little punctuation symbols in).  This is an example of how an “economically challenged” neighborhood has evolved to become the “arts district”.   Many of the buildings in this neighborhood backup to railroad tracks (now unused), because the folks that loaded and unloaded things from that little train needed someplace close to live.  As a result, they built first wooden buildings and later metal ones.   The wooden buildings had a flaw – they burn.  This led to one of the first volunteer fire departments in Argentina, just like Ben Franklin put together for Philadelphia.  There are a number of plaques up about things they did.  There’s also a paid fire department now.   After a while, the occupants began improving their housing, often using materials that they “found” – galvanized metal sheets and s...

Like many of us, natives of Buenos Aires enjoy a highly caffeinated drink occasionally.  It’s not coffee, but is instead called “mate” or “chimarrao”.  Traditionally, there is a gourd cup with a metal straw that has a filter on one end.  The mate is put into the cup and boiling water is added, and then it is shared communally.   Yup, everybody from the same cup.  During the pandemic, exceptions were made and people started keeping a spare cup so they could share only between family units.   Oh, and it is considered really, really rude to wipe off the straw when the cup is passed to you.

Our next stop was at the Mercado san Telmo – a traditional market with lots of little individualized stalls with a limited offering.  Think more “antique market” than “Walmart”.   Confirming that once again all cultures are similar, if not identical, Enrique pointed out a candy called Alfajores Super Dulce De Leche candy and explained that it’s usually only sold at those particular markets, so if someone is going there you ask them to bring a box back to you, much the same way that we might ask someone to bring Salt Water Taffy back from the beach.  

We then left the square to see other parts of the city, travelling through what was traditionally the neighborhood where immigrants from England lived.   The Argentinian railway system, in fact, is a “spoke and wheel” model that came from the British, which means that to ride the train just about anywhere you had to go through Buenos Aires.      There is a square in this neighborhood which has a structure in the center known as British Tower – a gift from the British people in memory of the 1810 revolution, since they weren’t all that fond of the Spanish then, either.   This worked fine from the time it was built in 1909-10 until about 1982, when the leaders in Argentina tried to redirect the attention of their detractors and re-claim the Falkland Islands by invading.  This didn’t work, Margaret Thatcher sent the British navy over to kick some butt, and 630-some Argentinian military personnel lost their lives.      Probably the best...

As with most cities, there were traditionally areas that were favored in real estate development, and then there were areas that we now call “economically challenged” (since we don’t say “slum” any more.      The houses of the folks who were advantaged were large, multi-storied and had 1 or more patios in the middle of them (pre-air conditioning, you know).  They were also near the center city area, since that was where most of the services and shopping that one might need were, and then many of them also had vacation homes out in the countryside, to the north of the city.   So, after the war for independence, soldiers that hadn’t been killed started returning, and with them they brought a little gift – yellow fever.  Several epidemics ripped through Buenos Aires between 1850 and 1871 (the last one killing about 8% of the population – compare this to about 4.69% death rate for COVID in the US).   So those affluent folks, being quick to figure out that ...

The original city hall rounds out the sides of the square.  The one in place now is not the original – at the time it was built, they used local materials which didn’t include rocks or brick; instead, it was built of adobe.  Adobe had the advantage of being cheap and available, but it did not hold up well and began to deteriorate after a few decades until the original was eventually destroyed.  After that, it was re-built to look exactly the same but later urban renewal came along and needed to widen the street along one end of the building, so they cut off several of the arches to make room for that.   The building is important now as a museum, and it was primarily where the meetings regarding independence were held.  During school (which is out now), there are oodles of school kids going there for tours.

The cathedral is pretty.  It’s also still an active church and there were little confessional booths around, although given that everyone has a camera and recorder at the end of their arm these days, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to confess anything in that environment unless it was purely for shock factor, anticipating that it could become a Tik Tok video.   As might be expected, San Martin is buried in the cathedral, along with a number of other important folks.  There are memorial recognitions with regard to his participation in Peru and Uruguay’s quests for independence as well.  His crypt also had two guards in full military dress standing guard.      There’s not a lot to say about the cathedral.  It’s a big, traditional style church that could be dropped into any European city and it would fit right in.  You can definitely tell it came from a time when comfort of the parishioners was not a consideration – there wasn’t a sign of a seat ...

Argentina historically has undergone periods of significant political unrest, including several military coups that unseated elected officials.  This most recently happened from 1976 to 1983 when the military undertook the National Reorganization Process, which, among other things, resulted in a significant number of people being “disappeared”.  This wasn’t always just the men – sometimes entire families just vanished.   This, understandably, upset many of the mothers and they began doing “white scarf” protests, appearing at the Square wearing white scarfs to show their disapproval.  There are now white scarfs painted on the Square and a monument placed there.   One of the fallouts of this is still coming to play.  Occasionally there will be public service announcements that say something along the lines that if you were born between 1976 and 1985 and have any questions regarding your parentage, please contact an agency that will do DNA testing.   Seem...

The “Pink House” is not really hot pink as one might initially think.  Instead, think of a building made of a light red clay.  In the 1860’s, the then-president was trying to calm down relations between opposing political parties, one of which was represented by the color red and the other by white.  Blending the colors was an attempt to get things to simmer down.  Whether it worked or not I don’t know but as most anyone who has ever painted their house realizes, it is much easier to stay with the color you got rather than try to change to something else.     The building is also not symmetrical.  It was originally two buildings as the country outgrew their office space someone came up with the idea of using the space between them to build an addition and get out of those cramped offices.  Although they styles compliment each other, there are differences – note that there are balconies on the left, but only windows on the right.   The Preside...

Jose de San Martin (1778 – 1850) is considered the “father” of Argentina.  Think of him as the equivalent of our George Washington.  He helped come up with the idea of separating from Spain and was instrumental in declaring independence and then coming up with a way to fight for it.   He was also bright enough to recognize that the Spanish Armada would pop over and squish them like a bug if there wasn’t a good plan, so once he got Argentina up and running he popped over to Chile and Peru and did the same thing with them.  (Note – Enrique told us that if you get this story from Chile and Peru, you will get a different slant that downplays San Martin’s involvement, much the same way that anyone who has friends going through a divorce realizes that the same facts can elicit very different viewpoints).   Nonetheless, with everyone united to get Spain out of the colonizing business in South America, the fight was on.   One thing that you can’t help but notice wh...