FIN DEL MUNDO

The last day on our own in BA was a down day for Steve, who had a travel bug, and ended up sleeping and giving his stomach a rest. I teamed up with Ulricka, from Germany, and we walked all over the city. We went to the BA Opera House and took a guided tour of one of the four most acoustically perfect opera houses in the world. It WAS quite fabulous. We had some funny adventures that afternoon and all of us ended up in the hotel bar that night for more wonderful Argentine wine and snacks and an early bed time. We go up about 4:00am to start the travel to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world, and we are here now, a d leaving this evening on a ship for Tierra del Fuego.
After one of the strangest flts ever on a government owned airline, we landed in remote and wind swept Ushuaia. I was pretty surprised to find out almost 70,000 people live around here, and of course, it is the departure spot for anyone going to Antarctica. We were bundled in fleece and polar tech as we got off the plane and finally made it to our really wonderful hotel,perched high, high on a mountain side over looking the Beagle Strait and Chile. We are literally at the end of the Andes Mt. range....and the "end of the world".
We all were so hungry and grabbed a quick lunch in the hotel bar. I ordered a chicken baguette, and was brought a lamb sandwich, and I decided to just "eat it anyway". I ate the best lamb I have ever ever eaten anywhere including New Zealand, Turkey, or Egypt. I found out later that Patagonian lamb is a delicacy not to be missed because of the pampas grass they eat. Believe me, it was a wonderful mistake. Our group went on a tour of the very desolate and historical Ushuaia prison of old, and then Steve and I went walking through, and about 6 pm decided to go on a hike up the Mt behind our hotel! It is light here so long now that we had about 4 hrs left so we found a trail through some woods and off we went. Long and varied activities this day.

DO THE TANGO!

Everyone had the afternoon free and we walked around exploring until it got too hot! Then Siesta. Of course, in Buenos Aires that wasn't relaxing. We heard very loud noises, like drums, bombs, and firecrackers. Our room faces a main street so all we did was go out on the pigeon poop balcony and look down and saw a big demonstration. Since we are only two blocks from parliament building, we found out this is a common occurrence in this city...protesting with loud traffic stopping parades. Afternoon Delight. NOT.
Good thing I had a big double cappuccino after lunch because the evening was going to start with cocktails in the hotel,lounge at 8:30pm. Dinner at 9:00pm (very common). And then a wonderful exhibition of the real tango, which didn't start until 10:30! Wow! That's a long way off from my 4:00 pm "wine time"!
It was a great dinner with the Argentine wines flowing and the show was dramatic and entertaining. We could not take a flash, so the picture quality was not great, but a good time was had by all, and good thing our coach didn't turn into a pumpkin, cause it was way after midnight and a long walk back!

THE UGLY

Argentina has had a convoluted political history of military, dictatorships, nationalism, wars, peace, and it is all in the history books. What is going on now is still being written and it is an ugly chapter in this county's history. Between 1976 and 1983 Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship. This group systematically kidnapped babies from mothers who were put in concentration camps until their children we born, and then the mothers were killed. Some were taken on planes and pushed out the doors while still alive. Some of the children were killed. Argentina is STILL unearthing the remains of men and women who were killed by their own country. A Freeway in the middle of town was being revamped, and under the dirt was found bones...lots of bones. Recent bones. Small torture cells, small children, and evidence of a brief but terrifying time in their history. These "disappeared" children, who were born in captivity, were given to families in the military. They were robed of every human right known to man. Under the freeway they are still digging and unearthing bones. With DNA procedures, these "disappeared" are being identified. The white signs in the dirt surrounding the "dirt child" have been identified children, who were killed. The statue of children reaching up represents the call and struggle for help. Help to be remembered and help to be identified, and never to be forgotten.
For a long time, this sad and ugly time in Argentina's history was ignored. A group of strong courages women called "Abuelos de Plaza de Mayo" have established themselves as a non governmental organization to FIND and identify their children(who were killed) and their grandchildren(who were given away). They have visited every court, office, daycare, orphanage and anything they can to find their "disappeared". Every Thursday they walk in the Plaza as a silent protest and to keep the issue alive so they have hope to find another 500 now grown children who may be alive and do not know their own history. I have read much about the "Abuelos de Plaza de Mayo", but seeing the unearthing under the freeway while cars and busses are whizzing by, was VERY sobering. There is always someone in attendance to show respect for the forgotten, and stand by pictures of the ones who have been identified. I only wish we would still be here on Thursday to pay respect to the courages women who have been fighting since 1977 to find their families.

TOURING THE CITY

After a good night's rest and a cool morning, we hit the ground running and tried to see all the main areas and famous landmarks in this Largest City and Capital of Argentina. Buenos Aires is also the second largest metropolitan area in South America with about 15 Million people. No wonder the airport was crowded! Our bad experience at the airport is just a memory and today we saw the beautiful side of a great city. There are lots of parks, LOTS of coffee shops, museums,distinct and interesting neighborhoods, many, many book stores, and Argentinians love to talk about social issues and POLITICS while sitting in their cafes. We had a guide par excellence, Sandra, who marched us thru history in a few hours, and told us the good,the bad, and the ugly of this fascinating city. We visited La Boca district, where the Tango started in the bordellos of the immigrant population and for years was too vulgar to be popular. While La Boca was quaint and colorful beyond words in the bright sunshine, it basically shuts down when the sun goes down and is too dangerous to visit. Even the restaurants are closed. But, today we walked all over it. We had a wonderful lunch, where they brought "wine and juice" mixed, and wonderful bread immediately after one is seated. Always...a big fresh bread basket is brought. We strolled thru beautiful serene parks, and one of the biggest cemeteries in BA, where we found the tomb of Eva Peron, who is still so revered in this country.
It is siesta time and shops are closed and we are resting up for a late dinner and a show at the legendary "Esquina Carlos Gardel", one of the city's most famous tango houses.

BUENOS AIRES-CITY of WAITING IN LINES

Hate to label this beautiful city right off the bat, but our first experiences led us there. After 3 flts and jumbled times zones, we arrived in Buenos Aires about 8:30 AM ready to recharge atnour downtown hotel and meet some fellow travelers. As we approached the passport control area and saw literally thousands of people standing in snake lines, I thought "wow" that is a LOT of people waiting to go through passport. Thinking like a US citizen, I also thought they were probably efficient and could move that crowd in a timely manner. BIG wrong! Welcome to Argentina, where standing in looong lines seems to be a national pastime. 2 hrs later and feeling faint, crabby, hungry, potty challenged, were were finally approaching one of the few passport staff. I turned around and looked back, and the people,were stacked end to end all the way to the stairs and no where to go except where we had just waited and there were even more people. Finally, feeling like we may be able to get some fresh air, we encountered another line for customs and this one made passport control look efficient. Not to belabor this bad start, i just want to say it took us over 3 hrs to leave that airport, and 95% was waiting in some line or another.
We were picked up by a woman who was also waiting all that time out by the exit area. Even she was a bit rattled. We were delivered to one of the oldest hotels in BA (yes,,that is what the locals call Buenos Aires)...The SAVOY. We are smack dab in the middle of town, and after unloading and resting for 1 hr. we joined our guide, Silvana, for a quick walking tour of the area around the hotel, so we could negotiate food,drink, shopping, etc. Honestly, all I could see were lines...everywhere. I am hoping after a good nights rest and dinner, I will have a change of heart, because I Really, really want to love one of the most exciting cities in the world.
Quick note: Steve and I ducked into an empanada shop for a quick bite and got one of the most amazing slices of pizza and a "chop"... Ice cold draft beer. I am feeling better already.

JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD

While all you Super Bowl Fans are munching and crunching and screaming for your favorite team, we will be high in the sky on our way to the hinterlands of Patagonia. For a football fan like Steve, he is wondering how the heck he messed up on this when we booked our flts. The flight attendants may have to calm him down with a bit of alcohol! Not sure when we will find out the scores, but we are armed with the ipad, and iphone, so it should not be a problem. We are stopping off in Buenos Aires for a few days of sight seeing and recouping, and maybe a little tango lesson! Then, it is on to Ushuaia and a try at rounding Cape Horn on a ship. I am SURE I will be posting about that later, as sea sickness is my nemesis.....
Hang on for the ride...

FINAL THOUGHTS

It seems like we have been gone for months! Africa is so much! We just scratched the surface, but in that short time, our senses were overloaded on the colors, the sounds, the smells, the contrasts, the problems and the beauty of the continent we call Africa. The last night, Steve (who was affectionately nick named: Mr. Animal Planet, or Game Drive Boy) went on a night game drive. The group came across two large male lions who had just fed and were resting. The driver made some guttural sounds and the lions ROARED Not, just A roar, but deep,LOUD, freaking primal sounds that actually shook the vehicle they were in. For Steve, it was the frosting on the cake! And he said he will never forget it. I take home so many great memories. Seeing so many animals free and wild that we have only seen in captivity, was the main reason we went to Africa. But there was so much more, from all the people we met and interacted with, to our new knowledge about a country we knew very little about. I will just share some random pictures, and I really hope we will go back. There is much more to see!