January 8th – 9th
Ibera Wetlands
Departing Buenos Aires on the 8th, we caught a flight to Posadas and then had about an hour drive to Ituzaingo where we checked in to Cezeta Hotel. This is another quite basic style lodging. I am not overly impressed with the quality of some of the hotels that Intrepid chooses, but they do get high marks for location. Continue reading
January 7th
Say “Beef”
On the evening of the 6th, we were scheduled to meet up with our new Intrepid Tour group at our hotel. It turns out to be a very small group with four from Australia, two from the UK, plus Tim and me. Continue reading
January 5th
We had a rainy day, which was refreshing after the oppressive high heat of the previous day. With our light weight rain jackets, we were prepared, and off we went to get our tickets to tour Teatro Colon, or in English, the Opera House. Continue reading
January 3 – 4th ~ Buenos Aires on our own
Boca District
Getting off of the ship went smoothly. We caught a cab at the terminal and arrived at our hotel by 10:00. We had made the decision to book Two Hotel, which is where out Intrepid Tour is scheduled to meet on the evening of January 6th. It is a basic, inexpensive hotel that has seen better days, but we thought that not having the inconvenience of changing hotels might offset that.
Might not have been a wise choice, but we lived with it. Continue reading
January 2nd, 2018
A cruise ship arriving at the port of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the second largest city in South America and the capital of Argentina. It is located on the Rio de la Plata, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
By the end of the 19th century, Buenos Aires was becoming one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Famed architects came from Europe to build beautiful mansions, impressive monuments and wide boulevards. Continue reading
January 1st, 2018 ~ The start of a brand new year!
Gus visits Montevideo, Uruguay
Montevideo, is located on the bank of the Rio de la Plata. It is the capital of Uruguay. The city has a population of 1.3 million people. The entire country has a population of around 3 million people. For comparison, California is 2.4 times larger in land size than Uruguay.
“Montevideo has consistently been rated as having the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America.” ~ Wikipedia
December 31st
Happy New Year!
Before I talk about how New Years was celebrated, I want to mention our experience at the Platinum Photography Studio. (By the way, the professional shots on this page were NOT the ones from the Platinum Studio. Those will be in black and white.) Continue reading
December 30th
Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Puerto Madryn is another stop where seeing penguins was the number one billed attraction. But unlike other areas of Argentina that had been colonized by conquistadors, this settlement began with 150 colonists from Wales, England who were seeking religious freedom and a home to perpetuate the Welsh culture and language. Continue reading
December 29th ~ At sea
Engine Control Room with the First Engineer
Early in the cruise, I saw a notice in the daily Princess Patter that one could sign up for an optional behind the scenes tour, billed as the “Ships Ultimate Tour”. Tim had long wanted to see more of the workings of the ship, so we stopped by the main desk and signed up. The price was $150 per person.
Today was the day! Continue reading
December 28th
Christ Church Cathedral with Whale Bone Arch, Stanley, Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are still a point of contention between the British and the Argentinians. If you look at a local Argentine map, the islands are listed as Islas Malvines and as a territory of Argentina. On US and British maps, they are shown as the Falkland Islands and as a territory of the United Kingdom (UK). Continue reading
A Note From Abroad 