Iguazu Falls!

After disembarking the ship, we headed to the domestic airport for the flight to Cataratas del Iguazu International.  Arriving there, it was off to the Iguazu National Park on the Argentine side.  The falls are actually located right on the border between Argentina and Brazil, so there's a National Park and an airport in Brazil as well.  This is the largest waterfall in the world.  Its name comes from the native Guarani language and means "big water".  No kidding!

Our first day's afternoon at the falls started with a Parilla (BBQ...yum!) lunch followed by a ride on the water.  The tour description said "you will get wet".  OK.

 They issue you a life jacket, and then a big rubber bag to put your belongings in.  Then they show you how to carefully seal up the bag.  So, just how wet are we gonna get?  Well, it turns out that "wet" doesn't exactly describe it.  The description should say "you will get absolutely soaked to the bone".  The boat drivers joyously drive right under the falls, and that water's coming down hard.  The ride back to shore offers some really rough rapids that had everyone squealing.  The rest of the afternoon was comfortably cool, though, as we all slowly dried out, while walking some of the pathways around the falls.

We spent the night at the Loi Suites Hotel (www.loisuites.com.ar)  What a neat place!  The several buildings are joined to the lobby by hanging bridges and everyone gets either a nice balcony or a room with a soaring ceiling.  Having had both breakfast and lunch, we drank our dinner:  martinis by the pool followed by a small bottle of local wine from the minibar.

Up the next morning and fed, we were off to our second day at the falls.  First, we took a train ride to visit the Devil's Throat.

While we were there, Gordon did some bird watching.  A flock of Grey Dusky Swifts.  They live behind the various falls and are the logo for the park;

And a Plush Crested Jay:

Later, we walked more of the pathways to enjoy the breathtaking views.  Look how tall some of these falls are!

More local wildlife...it's a Coati, he's got an ice cream wrapper and not one bit was going to get away from him!

Lunch was served at the Grand Melia Hotel.  Parilla, of course, along with other gourmet goodies, and then we did some more birdwatching.  This one's a Three Striped Flycatcher...he was looking for flies around the pool.

Soon we were off to the airport for the flight back to Buenos Aires.  The city was in high form, because the following day was inauguration day for their new president and Comicon was at the convention center.

So, overall, we'd say this:  go to Machu Picchu.  Go to Iguazu Falls, it's one of the most impressive sights we've ever seen.  Take a cruise.  Drink Argentine wine.  Eat Parilla.  You won't regret it.

Uruguay and Buenos Aires

We anchored at Punta Del Este, Uruguay and went ashore to have a look around.  This was a pretty nice place with lots of high rise condos, restaurants, museums, and some very nice residential areas.  Our tour took us around the peninsula...there is actually one intersection in town where you can see water in all directions!  We stopped for photos at the Hanging Bridge:

Then we drove over it, twice.  The second time, our bus driver went about as fast as he dared, laughing.  You want to hear a bunch of geezers giggle?  We visited some excellent viewpoints and passed the famous La Mano, on the beach.

Finally, a stop at a quaint little automobile museum that was installed in the basement garage of a former gas station.  Nothing fancy here, but hey, we're car guys so we had to go.

And then onward to Montevideo, Uruguay.  This is an upcoming urban area, again, condos, restaurants...reminded us of Florida.

We visited the local agricultural market and then the new Ferrando market, which is located in a former furniture factory on a residential back street, and given over to mostly gourmet goodies.  We were hosted by the manager and treated to churros and fresh orange juice.  Delicious.  But then, our guide introduced us to the Uruguay/Argentina national tea, or rather, national habit.  This is the famous "mate" or "yerba mate".  What you do is put a whole bunch of this crushed up herb in a special, leather-covered cup, then add warm water to fill.  A very special straw that resembles a perferated spoon is then inserted and handed, if to welcome someone, with the straw facing the individual who is to sip.  The sipper, if uninitiated, then takes a small sip and says:  "Yuck!  This stuff is terrible!".  And indeed it is.  But it's like coffee to them, and they carry their mate setup around with them just like we drag our thermos of Starbucks all over the place.

Montevideo, for some reason, is home to a whole lot of shipwrecks.  All sitting in the bay...

The final destination for this segment was Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Here, we took the good old "highlights" tour to get the overview.  A famous area of town is La Boca, originally settled by Italians.  El Caminito Street is especially colorful.

Finally, no trip to Argentina could be complete without a visit to the Recoleta Cemetery.  All above ground, although many of the tombs have basements where the caskets or urns are actually stored.

Here, we visit Evita Peron's grave.  Our guide warned us not to be disappointed.  You'd expect some fabulous gravesite, but in fact, she's entombed with the rest of her family Duarte.  Still, the people love her and leave flowers and gifts, and there is always a line to pass by.

After disembarking the ship, we were headed to the next great adventure, Iguazu Falls.  We were unsure of what we were about to see...

Chilean Fjords and Ushuaia, Argentina

Onward to Puerto Chacabuco where we actually canceled a rather long excursion and stayed aboard.  Turned out to be a good idea because the day was cold and windy.  We were anchored at the top of the Aisen Fjord, home of the Skua Glacier.

Next was two days of cruising the rest of the Chilean Fjords, but we got off to a rough start.  Very rough.  The wind was too strong to turn into the fjords on the original course so we headed out to sea, into the wind, hoping for a break so we could turn in.  The break came about one o'clock in the afternoon, but not without some warnings...Captain Ubaldo warned us that we were going to make a long, slow left turn which would put us broadside to the wind.  These ships can list pretty good in cases like this.  The ship becomes a great big sail.

We noticed that crew members (trained in first aid, no doubt) were dispatched into the lounges, just in case.  We lucked out...oh, sorry, due to the skill of the Captain, that is...we made the turn slicker'n snot and headed back toward the coast.

The Chilean Fjords, especially the Fallos Canal and Amalia, are unusual.  Somehow, we just weren't expecting to see all the snow.  But then again, we're practically in Antarctica.  The fjords run from Cape Horn in the south to the Reloncavi Estuary in the north.  Some are essential to providing access to remote ports.  All these waters are considered internal to Chile, but the country allows free use of the main waterways.

The Smyth Channel is a principal Patagonia channel.  On the south branch, there are a number of lighthouses, buoys, and beacons as a pilotage aid.  Also, there are special instructions for navigation.  Some of this is as a result of the Santa Leonor Wreck.  She ran aground in 1968, and the story is that as they navigated the area, the Captain, at one point, said "alright".  Interpreted by the helm as "all right", they made a sharp turn and the rest was history.  All aboard were rescued, by the way.  And now captains say "starboard".

Made it through the fjords and docked in Punta Arenas.  We jumped on the shuttle bus and rode into town.  We took a picture of Magellan and rode back out of town.  

There's a reason that Magellan's looking back out to sea.  He, too, saw no reason to hang around in town.

Most people have heard of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina, if not "the end of the world".  That's another 150 or 200 clicks south.  The town was merely a tiny place with about 800 residents in 1930 when a German cruise ship carrying 2000 people wrecked nearby.  The townspeople had only one small hotel, so they put all those people up in their homes until they could be evacuated.  It was then that they knew they had a future in tourism.

The "resorty" city (they're happy to tell you that this is a city, not a town) reminded us of Funchal, but much colder.  We took a catamaran trip along the Beagle Channel to the penguin rookery.  No chicks yet, the females were just arriving this time of year, but plenty of Magellanic, Gentoo, and King Penguins.

We saw a pretty impressive sea lion colony along the way, too.

A day at sea brought us to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.  And as quick as we arrived, we were gone.  Gordon had heard from one guy that he'd had the Falklands on five itineraries and only got there once, such is the wind and sea current situation.  So we, personally, are now zero for one.  A disappointment, too, since we had a tour that would have taken us up really close to the penguins...close enough for them to peck at us.  Captain Ubaldo made the announcement a little after seven a.m., and we could tell from his tone that Cappy weren't happy.

So, now we faced three days at sea before arriving in Uruguay.  There's a reason to stop in Uruguay before returning to Argentina.  Due to continuing hard feelings about the Falklands conflict in the 80's, Argentina is ghosting them.  One cannot sail from the islands direct to Argentina. 

Arica, Days Off, and Puerto Montt

A day at sea brought us to Arica, Chile where we took a trip inland and into the Atacama Desert.  Juan Diaz Fleming created these giant Tutelar statues, representing man, woman, the womb, and earth.  Again, such a landscape.

Pati said she thought she'd seen the great stinking desert, but was apparently mistaken.

And check out the hieroglyphs.

We then visited both Coquimbo and San Antonio, Chile, but we stayed on the ship.  We knew that this part of the cruise might be boring.   Not too much to see without a long, long shore excursion through the desert.  We werer right.  But, we were witness to our Captain Ubaldo Armellino's superior driving skills.  In San Antonio, he and the talented crew turned the ship 180 degrees in a space so small that we could almost bump fists with the deckhands on the cargo ship on the next dock.  Wow.

Next stop, Puerto Montt.  We took a ride to Petrohue Falls, which are fed by the ice on the volcano. 

The southbound odyssey continued...

Machu Picchu

Arriving in Lima after eleven p.m., we looked forward to a five-thirty wake up call to go back to the airport and fly to Cusco.  Leaving our cruise suitcases at the hotel for transport to the ship (this called for faith), we headed out with a carry-on.  So, at this point, we know nothing of Lima except that traffic is horrible at midnight on a Wednesday. 

 
Our guide, Marisol, was naturally concerned about all the geezers handling the altitude at Cusco...over 11,000 feet.  Drink water, and drink more water, a little at a time.  We all obeyed and the tour company kept the water coming.  Most people felt OK upon arrival so we set off touring Cusco, starting with lunch and a look around the main square.  Then off to the Sacsayhuaman (say "saxywahman") fortress.   Located on a hill overlooking Cusco, the fortress was constructed without mortar like many other Inca structures.  Yet the enormous stones, some weighing 200 tons, fit so tightly that not even a blade of grass can slide between them.  

 And here's one of the local cuties:

Our hotel, the Monasterio, was literally a centuries-old monastery, converted.  Interesting, upscale, but not the Ritz.  After all, monasteries didn't have picture windows (check out www.belmond.com).  Dinner at the hotel included an opera show that precluded conversation, but it was a really great meal, beautifully served.  We were so tired we couldn't see straight...by now we'd had about three hours sleep in two days.  But next morning we were up, fed with tamales, and off to Machu Picchu.

There is nothing easy about getting there.  That was apparently part of the Inca plan.  A word about Inca.  There are no written records of them until the Spanish arrived in the 1500's.  So, given that the native Quechua language and Spanish are very different, we don't even know what Inca means.  Inca may have been the king, the area, or the people.  Machu Picchu actually describes the mountain peak, so that was probably not the name of the place to the inhabitants.  But boy could they build!

Back to the journey.  First an hour or so bus ride to the train station, where we caught the elegant Hiram Bingham train to descend to the Aguas Calientes station.  On this train, it's brunch, wine, live music, and a slow ride of about four hours.  Belmond owns the train, too, so you can see more at the Belmond site.

Arriving in the pueblo below the site, one boards another bus that climbs up the hill on switchbacks.  The day began with clouds and a bit of rain, but slowly the day began to clear.

And we were hiking the heights along with the locals.

Fabulous craftsmanship, so old that we're not certain of the date, but amazing engineering.  Every wall, window, and door has a slight inward angle, but still it all fits together without a gap in sight.  It is thought that the "lean" had to do with earthquake-proofing.  Maybe so, because it's all still standing.

OK, the clouds let up and here are the money shots!

After touring, the trip back to Cusco is the same thing in reverse, but we used the faster Vistadome train that only takes about an hour and a half.   Still, not back to the hotel until after nine, toting cameras, backpacks, and souvenir water bottles from the Hiram Bingham train.  We were pooped, but we had to pack up for another early departure the next day.  Thirsty, we decided to drink the water in the souvenir bottles...and it wasn't exactly water...it was Coca Tea.  We were saved!  Just enough caffeine energy to whip through the luggage before crashing. The next morning we headed back to the airport, flew to Lima (ah, blessed sea level), and headed for the ship.

The luggage was indeed on the ship.  First cruise stop, Pisco, Peru.  We visited the Paracas National Reserve.  Check out the landscape.

This is really where the desert meets the ocean!

From Pisco, we were headed down the west coast of South America to the Tierra Del Fuego.