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Awesome Argentina

By : Marjorie Gendler
Trip Begins January 9, 2009
Trip Ends January 17, 2009

First to Buenos Aires, then to Ushuaia at the bottom of the continent where we hiked and visited a penguin colony. Next to El Calafate where we stayed on a sheep ranch, visited a glacier in Glacier National Park, and went for a great horseback ride.
See my photos : Margie's Patagonia Trip

Want to go? Awesome Argentina

I went to: Argentina, Patagonia
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January 9, 2009
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Arriving in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I am traveling alone and planned to arrive a few days early because I live in Salt Lake City and could not depend on the weather allowing me to make my scheduled flights. It turned out that all flights went well and I arrived in Buenos Aires in the early this morning. I took a taxi to the hotel. They did not have my room ready, but held my bag and I went out for a walk. By 11 a.m. I went back to the room and it was ready. I was so tired I took a nap before going back out. The hotel is near Plaza de Mayo, and I enjoyed spending time there. The mix architecture, from the colonial Museo del Cabildo to the modern buildings just off the plaza, made great contrasts. I paid the peso to enter the Museo del Cabildo and found there wasn’t too much there and what was there was all Spanish. I rued not having spent more effort to learn Spanish.

I enjoyed walking along Peru and Florida pedestrian streets, also very near the hotel. In addition to all the little shops, shopping galleries, restaurants and street peddlers, there were all types of entertainers. Living statues, native tribal dances, musicians and dancers kept the street alive both during the day and in the evening.

After eating dinner I walked home in what I thought was the right direction, but ended up quite out of my way. By then it was 10 p.m. and too dark to read the map I carried. I approached another woman walking along the street and asked if she could give me directions. She had very little English and I had very little Spanish, but we managed to communicate enough for her to set me off in the right direction.

January 10, 2009
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Exploring Buenos Aires

Today I walked in a wider circle around the hotel. The Puerto Maderno waterfront has been redeveloped with upscale lofts, shops and restaurants. I love harbors and enjoyed the scenery of the yacht club and the two old sailing ships. My plan was to walk in the ecological reserve and look for birds, but it was closed because of a fire.

In the Retiro area I walked through the trees in Plaza San Martin, a nice reprieve from the hot sun on the sidewalks. From there I had a good view of the tower that vaguely resembles London’s Big Ben. The guidebook I carried with me said it was a gift from England and called Torre de los Ingleses until the Faulkland wars, when it was renamed Torre Monumental. Ironically, the memorial wall for the fallen soldiers of that war is in Plaza San Martin facing across the road toward the tower.

I had dinner at a street-side café off Florida. I am having trouble finding food. I am a vegetarian and avoid fried or fatty foods. The only alternatives to meat seemed to be cheese based. I have eaten more cheese these past two days than I normally eat in a year.

January 11, 2009
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Guided tour of Buenos Aires

Today, Sunday I started on the official tour. Our tour guide met us at the hotel and I met the couple, Kathy and John from New York City, who would be joining me for eight days. Our tour guide gave us a good running commentary on what we were seeing and the history of the area.

Our first stop was at the huge metal flower sculpture, Floralis Generica in the Recoleta barrio. It was fascinating to learn that it opens in the morning, closes in the evening and is lighted at night. It was the first chance I had to get a picture of me in Buenos Aires when John, Kathy and I swapped cameras for shots in front of the sculpture.

The most fascinating part of the tour was the cemetery in Recoleta. I had never seen anything like it before and took dozens of pictures. It was like its own little city with main avenues and little side streets. The streets lined with tombs resembled city town houses the way they abutted on another. The variety of designs, the beautiful sculptures and colorful stained glass windows made me want to take a picture of almost every tomb. We saw the tomb of Evita Peron.

We were left off in the San Telmo area where there is a weekly flea market. We had thought it would be interesting, but once we started walking through the crowds we decided to leave for a quieter street. We found a nice little restaurant where we had a beer and something to eat

January 12, 2009
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Flight to Ushuaia

Ushuaia, Argentina

Our guide from yesterday took us from the hotel to the airport for our flight to Ushuaia. On arrival at the domestic airport we learned our flight was rescheduled to leave from the international airport on the other side of town. Fortunately the flight was changed to a later departure time so we were able to make the flight in plenty of time and the guide took us there.

We were met at the Ushuaia airport by a woman from the local guide company. She took us to the Linares Manor, our hotel for our stay in Ushuaia. From there we took a taxi to the ski lift at the base of the hill leading up to the Marital Glacier, a hanging glacier. We took the ski lift up as far as it went and then hiked up to the glacier. We had a wonderful view of Ushuaia, the Beagle Channel and the Chilean islands on the other side of the channel. I would have loved to hike to the peak so we could see the views from the top, but it was 5 p.m., I had no water with me, and we had not eaten since breakfast. We turned back at the base of the glacier, stopped for a beer at the bottom of the lift, and called a cab to return to our hotel. The glacier, we were told, has shrunk drastically over the past few years, an example of the effects of global warming.

Ushuaia is built on a hillside and our hotel was several streets up with a perfect view of the harbor and town below. I took several pictures from the balcony off the lobby. John, Kathy and I walked down towards the harbor, window shopping as we went to the restaurant where we had a great meal. Argentina has great wine.

January 13, 2009
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Hiking and Paddling in Tierra del Fuego National Park

Our guide for the day, Frederico, picked us up at the hotel in the morning and we drove out to Tierra del Fuego National Park. We had a very easy hike through the park forest. Freddy was very knowledgeable about the history, flora and fauna of the area and I tired to remember as many names of plants as I could, but some are already forgotten.

Freddy told us that to go to a university the young people have to leave Ushuaia and go to Buenos Aires, but that the universities in Argentina are free.

They had tent-covered picnic tables at a campground where they fed us lunch, including a bottle of Argentina Malbec red wine. I am going to have to look for Argentina wines when I get home.

After lunch we joined up with another guide for a paddle raft trip down the Ovando River. It was an easy flat-water trip with beautiful views and a great variety of birds. I marked off as many as I could identify in my South American bird book. We saw lots of rabbits. They were brought in along with beavers and the grey fox. All of them have over populated and become pests.

We took out of the river at the end of the Pan American Highway. I had a picture taken of me and our guide at the sign marking the end of the highway.

On our way back to the hotel we drove around the old airport landing area where there was an old DC3 parked. We went to the water’s edge and enjoyed the views of Ushuaia across the bay. There was a large cruise ship in the harbor as well as commercial, military and pleasure craft. I took several pictures.

Tonight we went out to dinner again, had another great meal and more excellent wine. John and Kathy decided to stop for another drink, but I, not able to keep up with them, chose to go back to the hotel. On my walk back I saw that we were going to have a great sunset, so I hurried along to get the view from the hotel before it was gone. It was a beautiful sunset and the reflections off the water in the channel were magnificent. I took several pictures.

January 14, 2009
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Harberton Farm and Penguin Colony

Today we were picked up by a different guide who was equally as personable and knowledgeable. He drove us to the east to Estancia Harberton, a former cattle and sheep ranch. As we drove through the industrial area he explained that in the 70’s the government declared the area tax free and invested in industries there to encourage people to move there. For a time there were a lot of factories assembling appliances and such. Eventually it was no longer profitable and all but three of the factories have closed. He said that when the factories were being built the city grew faster than it could handle. People built houses wherever they could on government land, the roads and utilities came later. So many people were required by the government to move their houses that some were built to be moved. They were called sled houses and he pointed out several that still exist.

At Estancia Harberton we boarded a Zodiac and sped toward Martillo Island to see the penguin colony. On the way we passed a cliff with nests of rock cormorants and were followed by a sea lion who seemed as curious about us as we were about him.

On Martillo Island were hundreds of Magellanic penguins lounging on the gravel beach, playing in the water and sitting in nests. The sound of the all calling penguins was something else. John was able to record it with his camera and promises to send it to me by e-mail. The island is owned by Harberton and they only allow a limited number of people to visit, so we were the only people there. There was an area marked off with logs that we were required to stay within, but the penguins considered it a part of their areas and so we were able to be right near them. They were not afraid of us. There were many babies, the youngest about a month old. One stood looking at us and flapping his wings. He was so cute.

In the center of the Magellanic penquins were some Gentoos, larger than the Magellanic and with orange-red beaks ending in black. They were nesting on rocks whereas the Magellanics were nesting in the dirt, digging small holes.

On our way from Martillo Island to our hike on Gable Island we also saw a chinstrap penguin. He was short and stocky. Our guide said they are not usually in the area and they had seen two the day before. We were just lucky to be seeing him. He stood still as we maneuvered closer and took pictures. So exciting!

We then landed on Gable Island and had another easy hike across the island. At one point we could look across the water and see Puerto Williams in Chile. Our guide again is well educated in the flora, fauna and history of the area. I can’t say enough about how great the Ushuaia guides are. The hike was interesting because of the unusual, to me, plants and trees we saw. I took a lot of pictures again today and again I don’t remember the names of all the plants I saw. Should have taken out my notebook.

Eventually we came to an abandoned cabin that had been occupied by the sheep herder when Harberton was a working ranch. We had lunch there, including another good bottle of wine. Nearby was an abandoned sheep sheering barn that was falling apart, with most of its roof missing. The view of the water and small islands was beautiful. We finished our hike and were picked up by the Zodiac for our return to Harberton and the drive back to Ushuaia. As we were leaving the ranch we saw a grey fox and birds feeding on a carcass. We were able to drive closer to watch and get a picture.

Tonight we went to Maria Lola for dinner. Again the food and wine were great. A nice way to end a great day.

January 15, 2009
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Off to El Calafate and Glacier National Park

El Calafate, Argentina

Today we flew from Ushuaia to El Calafate. Before we left, I walked around town a bit and found a sled house. I also walked down two streets below our hotel to check out the cemetery. Lie the one in Buenos Aires, it has above-ground tombs, but unlike Recoleta cemetery, they we not as beautiful.

We were picked up at the El Calafate airport and driven to Estancia El Galpon Del Glacier, a working sheep ranch with tourist accommodations. It is the best place we have stayed. My room has a separate small sitting room with views across the fields to the water.

We joined in with a tour bus of people to watch a demonstration of sheep shearing. I wasn’t able to see through the crowd of people to watch the shearing, but I have seen sheep sheared before. I did find the talk about the area and its history very interesting. Then they showed us the different breeds of sheep they raise and explained the advantages and disadvantages of each breed. We also watched a demonstration of the dogs herding the sheep. Took lots of pictures

The bus tour group were being served a barbeque dinner, but we went into the dining room for their overnight guests and had another good dinner with fine wine.

January 16, 2009
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Upsala Glacier and Horseback riding at Estancia Christina

The regular schedule for today is a hike on Morino glacier. Because the local tour operator would not allow anyone over 65 to hike on the glacier, Adventure Life arranged for an alternative tour for me. Ironically, I think the glacier hike was the safer of the two choices. I was fortunate enough to go to Estancia Christina. First we went to view Upsala Glacier, the largest in the Glacier National Park. On the way in a tour boat designed to hold 100 passengers we were six tourists and an equivalent number of crew and tour guides. We were eager to see the views from the boat and stood outside as long as we were allowed. The wind and water spray made it seem much colder. The mountains along the river to the glacier were topped with snow and there were large floating pieces of ice that had calved from the glacier. We got up close to the Upsala. I’ve seen glaciers before, but nothing this huge. It is always amazing how blue the ice is.

At Estancia Christina I took a four-hour horseback ride. It was not one of those nose-to-tail plodding along rides so often offered for tourists. This was for experienced riders and it was just me and the guide. The only problem was that he didn’t speak hardly any English and I don’t speak hardly any Spanish. All went well, but I think I would have learned more about the history and geography of the area if we could have communicated. We rode across flat lands, up and down hills, and crossed four streams. We stopped at a lake for the lunch we carried in the saddle bags, then headed back. On the way back we came to five or six horses feeding on the range and drove them back to the corral. By the time we were done my neck and shoulders were aching from the stress on the herniated disk in my neck from trotting and loping.

We had another good meal with fine wine. When I got back to my room there was a small bottle of champagne on ice waiting for me. My neck and shoulders still ache.

January 17, 2009
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El Calafate to Buenos Aires, to NY to Salt Lake City UT

Buenos Aires, Argentina

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window there were three horses grazing on the grass just outside my window. We just had time for breakfast and to finish packing when we were picked up for our flight to the airport. It took me 38 hours to get back to Salt Lake City, including sitting on the tarmac at JFK in New York for three hours until they de-iced the plane and we were able to take off. It’s good to be home and my cats are obviously happy to see me.

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