Arrived hot and sweaty after a very long flight from San Francisco. Grabbed a taxi to the hotel with our ton of luggage however we had to hang out in the lobby for a couple of hours as we could not get a room assignment until 3:00PM. Because we were going to Patagonia and the Falklands we needed some warm clothes however BA was perfect for shorts. …

We are wet with sweat rather than rain due to the heat/humidity! It is our 2nd day and we took a city tour of BA this morning. Met some terrific young folks who just finished a 4 month work stint on the Princess Cruise - the same one we will be taking so we milked them for the "must sees"!

Tomorrow we go to Colonia which is in …

It is interesting to see the people here. They are not very attractive and most are carrying extra pounds. The locals say it is the soul not the body that counts! Looking around, one has the instant explanation for obesity. White starch everywhere, no fiber. Basically a meat and potatoes society who loves their pastries and chocolate. Even the …

This is a country of demonstrations, This morning we saw 2. We thought they were using guns at first but the loud "pops" turned out to be fireworks. The tourist bus drivers were pissed off that they had such low wages. It seems that the govt does not have good control on inflation even to the point the it raided and emptied the Social …

Today we visited an Estancia (ranch) and got to ride a horse in a circle, the horses look pretty tired but we got into the spirit of it. We also watched the gauchos demonstrate their riding abilities as well as their serving abilities as they were also our waiters, and stuffed our faces with lots of meat - chicken - sausages (Stanley) and salad …

We made it to the Provence of Mendoza on Sunday (2 hrs via jet from BA) our flights were somewhat in question as it seems that the airlines frequently go on strike however it left on time. We were met by our guide and driver and had a tour of the city-- our guide(s) were wonderful and spoke excellent English. Mendoza the town isn't as impressive …

Today we had a private tour of wine and food. We visited a very old winery called Bodega Benegas which use to produce bulk wines and is now into the classic style with small production and $$$ for AG. Very beautiful and very excellent wines with private tasting. We would have liked to ship their meritage, but the shipment alone was $300 US …

Today we went on an all day gaucho adventure to the countryside of Mendoza. 2 hrs to drive to the foot of the most gorgeous mtns and valleys ever. We rode horses for 4 hours (ouch!) and learned how to gallop, trot, and we even rounded up the loose horses and penned them just like Rawhide! The lunch (at 4pm) was fabulous--5 types of grilled meat …

We made it to Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world! It took all day to travel from Mendoza.

This place is truly spectacular. It is the gateway to Antarctica which is 700 miles to the south. The town itself is ok (70k people), but the natural sites are really beautiful. We had 2 all day private tours (because it is so reasonable) of …