South America: Part Three

Argentina and Uruguay

Ushuaia, Argentina

Well, we have arrived at the End of the World…at least that’s what the signs say “Fin del Mundo”.  A few months ago, we were informed that our ship requires additional certifications to travel to Antarctica and Villa Vie would be moving it into the itinerary towards the end of our 3.5-year world tour.  Honestly, we were perfectly happy with this update.  Due to the restrictions in Antarctica, we would not be able to get off the ship and go on land because our ship is too large, and we do not have the small zodiac boats required for landing.  In order to reach Antarctica, you must also cross Drake’s Passage which is renowned for being either very calm or extremely rough.  If I’m going to suffer through a potentially rough crossing, I want to be able to get off the ship and walk with penguins, so we are planning to book an Antarctic expedition cruise that is designed for that purpose some time in the future.  We thought about trying to get a last-minute expedition cruise while we are here and then catching up with our ship later, but with my arm recently healed we decided to wait.  I will need to get in and out of the zodiac boats and walk on icy surfaces and I can’t really afford to fall on my arm again this soon.  In the meantime, we are enjoying the ports that we are stopping at.

On our first day in Ushuaia, we just wandered around town and took in the sights.  It’s a fairly small city, but very pretty and full of shops and hiking supplies.  We walked up to a couple of viewpoints and went to the ‘Ushuaia’ sign.

For our second day in port Mike found a hike up to a glacier that was walking distance from town, so we recruited a few other residents and went hiking.  It was a long, steep hike, but worth the fantastic views and it was refreshing to get out into nature.  Once we entered the Parque del Fin del Mundo we tackled the climb up the ski slope.  At the top of the slope, we decided to divide and conquer.  Mike, Paul, and JR headed up to touch Martial Glacier, while Sue and I headed to a viewpoint on the ridgeline instead. 

We were only supposed to be in Ushuaia for two days and then our itinerary had us sailing to the Falkland Islands, but the weather is deteriorating.  Falkland Islands is a tender port and by the time we arrived it would be unsafe for us to tender, so the captain made the decision to keep us in Ushuaia for two more days.  So, for day three we took it easy and just went on a long walk around town to the Fire Walk Shopping Center. 

On our final day in Ushuaia, Mike wanted to hike back up the mountain to a lake, but my legs were still sore from the glacier hike.  Instead, we walked along the waterfront and then up to the Paseo de las Artes Park where we found a sculpture of books.  We wandered back through the main shopping area and checked out a few local shops.  They had some neat items, chocolates and lots of penguin stuffies for sale. 

We are disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to explore the Falkland Islands, but we respect the captain’s decision, and we really did enjoy our time in Ushuaia.  Our next stop is Puerto Deseado, Argentina, but we have three sea days until we arrive.

Sea Days (Three)

There’s not really much to say about our sea days.  We walked, we read, we watched Netflix, and we ate.  Nothing exciting happened, but that’s okay.

Puerto Deseado, Argentina

We were supposed to be docked in Puerto Deseado, but there is a broken-down container ship at the pier, so we have to tender instead.  Puerto Deseado is on the Deseado River, and they experience a strong current and a 5-meter change in tide which made tendering interesting to say the least.  They sent two tenders to shore first thing in the morning and then paused service until after lunch when the tide changed.  We were going to pass on the first day in hopes that we would be able to dock the second day, but the captain said it was unlikely that we would be able to move to the pier.  He also mentioned that the weather was supposed to deteriorate tomorrow, and tendering might not be possible, so if we wanted to visit town today was our best bet.  Given this new information we hopped on the tender after lunch and headed to town.

The ship is anchored 4 nautical miles from shore, and it took half an hour to reach the pier.  Mike had already found a hike that he wanted to do to the Cueva de los Leones Cave.  It recommended visiting the cave at low tide and we didn’t arrive at the pier until about an hour after low tide, so we hustled down the coast to the cave.  It was a windy but pretty walk and the cave was interesting. 

We talked about exploring the town as well, but we knew the tender going back would take longer because the tide had changed.  Instead, we headed back to the pier.  It turns out we had time to spare because the tenders took a long time to get to the ship and back to pick us up.  It was high tide when they came back and we were hopeful for a smooth ride back to the ship as the tide pulled us out.  We were wrong…

The wind had picked up significantly throughout the afternoon and it was blowing inland.  The current might have been helping, but the waves were getting nasty, and the wind was working against us as we returned to the ship.  The tender was slamming up and down and rolling over fairly large waves.  We had a few leaks in the roof and as water sloshed up over the cap it came in.  I should have had the sense to take seasickness tablets to shore, but I forgot and I’m still kicking myself.  I somehow made it back to the ship without getting sick, but I spent some time just sitting next to the security screening on deck 2 once I was onboard.  After finally making it back up to our cabin, I laid on the floor for a while before finally getting cleaned up to go for supper.  It was by far the worst I’ve felt while on a boat of any size and would prefer not to experience that again.

The next day they shut down the tender operation all together due to the wind and left early, so it became a sea day.  We had planned to explore the town of Puerto Deseado on our second day, but after the tender experience yesterday I was happy to have a quiet day on the ship.  My system still felt a little off and I just spend the day watching Netflix instead. 

Sea Days/Missed Port of Camarones

The upcoming itinerary had us sailing for one full day, spending a day in Camarones, and then sailing another full day before arriving in Puerto Madryn.  Unfortunately, Camarones was another anchorage, and the winds had yet to settle down, so we cancelled our call and headed straight for Puerto Madryn.  We ended up with additional sea days, but they were able to add additional days to our stop in Puerto Madryn to make up for it.  As usual our sea days were uneventful.

Puerto Madryn

We arrived in Puerto Madryn around noon on February 7th and we have five days to explore.  After lunch we headed out to explore.  Puerto Madryn is the only port in Argentina that has a dedicated cruise pier that is about 800 meters long and it goes right into the middle of town, which is awesome.  They were running a shuttle down the pier, but we didn’t want to give up precious steps and we walked down instead.  Along the way we watched birds fishing next to the pier.  Once on land we turned left and walked along the beach all the way around the bay to the far point of town.  We saw interesting statues, caves from the original Welsh settlers, and great views of town.  While we were walking another cruise ship arrived and completely blocked the view of our much smaller ship. 

On our second day we turned right at the end of the pier and walked until we ran into the commercial pier and then wandered back through town.  The wind was starting to pick up again and it was pretty gusty, but we had a good time.  We saw a family of sea lions sleeping on the stairs along side the pier.

Our third day in Puerto Madryn was my birthday, but I really didn’t want to make a fuss, so we just did our usual ramblings.  We explored Plaza San Martin, Plaza Espana, Laguna De Puerto Madryn and a couple of other green spaces on our way to Chango Mas (formerly Walmart in Argentina).  On our way back through town I saw a black cat sitting on a doorstep.  When I said hello it came running through the yard meowing and I gave it lots of pets, best birthday gift ever.  We saw a second cat on the other side of a gate who rubbed up against the gate as we passed, so we stopped for another quick pet. 

Lunch was going to be over on the ship before we made it back, so we stopped for a pizza lunch with a couple that we often walk with.  I tried Fernet, an Italian type of amaro popular in Argentina, they mix it with Coke.  I wasn’t really a fan because it had a somewhat medicinal flavour, but it was nice to try something different.  The pizza was great, and I got to practice my Spanish with the gentleman serving us.

Day four the wind got really intense and is gusting over 80 km/hr.  They had to start the engines to keep us along side the pier because the wind is coming from land directly at the stern of the ship.  This area is quite desert like, and the wind makes it incredibly dusty.  We have been coming back covered in sand and grit each day, so I opted to stay in today.  Mike, ever more adventurous, insisted on venturing out to at least get his steps in.  He said the walk down the pier was a challenge, but it really wasn’t too bad once he reached land.  Following the waterfront, he walked until he had his steps and then he came back; a little sandy, but no worse for wear.

On our final day in Puerto Madryn, we attempted to hike up to the Mirador Puerto Madryn.  This viewpoint is on the highway coming in overlooking the city.  Mike thought he found a trail up to it that didn’t require us to hike down the highway, but alas, we ended up in a questionable neighbourhood on the outskirts of town and the trail appeared to be someone’s driveway to a rural property.  I offered to continue the pursuit of the lookout via the highway, but we decided to head back into town instead.  On the way back to the ship we found a wholesale outlet where we stocked up on snacks.

Five days was probably more than we needed for Puerto Madryn, but there are far worse places we could have been stuck for so long.  We enjoyed exploring the city even in the wind.

Sea Days

We have two sea days on the way to Uruguay.  Sea days have become time for rest and relaxation and the occasional trivia.  We really didn’t do much at all.

Montevideo, Uruguay

The port in Montevideo sits along the old section of the city, which is on a point, so we didn’t have far to walk to see the highlights.  We walked through the Plaza Zabala, the Plaza de la Constitucion with Montevideo Metropolitan Cathedral, the Plaza Independencia with the mausoleum of Jose Gervadio Artigas and the Palacio Salvo and the Plaza Cagancha.  Montevideo is a very beautiful city.

We found a pretty epic viewpoint and for once we didn’t have to climb it.  The Mirador Panoramico de la Intendencia de Montevideo is the roof top of the Municipal Administration Office.  It is completely free, and you access it via a glass elevator that travels up the outside of the building.  It gave us almost a 360-degree view of the city.  Montevideo was one of those cities where the buildings are incredible, but so close together that it’s impossible to get good pictures.  This made the view from the mirador even better.

In the evening, we had tickets to attend a Carnival performance, but sadly it got rained out.  We were very disappointed, but it was in an outdoor venue, so what can you do.  The next morning, we decided to go to the Museo del Carnaval since we missed out on the performance.  The museum tells the history of Carnival in Uruguay, and they have displays of costumes and stages.  It was a small museum, but very interesting and we were able to watch some recorded Carnival performances on the TVs in the museum.  It wasn’t quite the same as the real deal, but better than nothing.

Afterwards we met friends at the Mercado del Puerto for BBQ and wow does Uruguay deliver on BBQ.  We shared a platter with several types of meat and while I’m not a big red meat eater it was incredibly well prepared and very delicious.  Following our very large lunch we walked across the point to the Rambla Francia which is a walkway that extends for over 30 kilometres along the coast.  Given how late in the day it was we didn’t make it very far, but it was a lovely place for a stroll and help the food settle.  On the way back to ship I got to pet a black cat that was sitting outside a shop on the pedestrian street.  We actually saw several cats today, but most of them were inaccessible for petting.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We had three full days to spend in Buenos Aires and luckily the port is within walking distance of most of the main attractions.  On our first day we walked from the port through Plaza Canada past the Torre Monumental and the Plaza General San Martin to Calle Florida which is a pedestrian only street lined with shops.  From here we crossed over Av. 9 de Julio, a beautiful tree lined avenue, to see the Teatro Colon.  After wandering up to see the Palacio Barolo and the Plaza del Congreso we crossed back over the main road to Casa Rosada, the Pink Palace.  To round out our day we crossed over the Rio Darsena Sur to Puerto Madero via the Puente de la Mujer bridge.  The architecture in Buenos Aires is incredible and we now see why they call it the Paris of South America.  While we didn’t go into any of the buildings, we really enjoyed our walk.  It was almost thirty degrees outside, and I was missing Ushuaia, but we still had a good time.  After a long walk back to the ship we cleaned up, had dinner, and went to Tricky Twisted Trivia.  We do love a good trivia!

On our second day we headed back to Puerto Madero to explore the parks and Ecological Reserve.  Puerto Madero is a revamped dockside community that has been revitalized and has several trendy restaurants and condos as well as several green spaces.  It is essentially an island on its own and much of it is dedicated to the Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur; unfortunately, the ecological park is closed on Mondays, so we had to settle for wandering the parks in the area instead.  We had plans to go out for dinner with friends, so we kept our day a little shorter and returned to the ship to get cleaned up for dinner.

Friends of ours know someone who used to live in Buenos Aires, and they recommend we try La Estancia Asador Criollo for Argentinian BBQ.  We chose to walk the 45 minutes to the restaurant, and we went early to avoid the crowds.  In Argentina they tend to eat their evening meal around 8pm, which is way to late for us anyway.  We had a lovely meal and the food was fantastic; although, not quite as good as the BBQ we had in Uruguay.  We followed it up with Oreo ice cream from McDonald’s and then we walked back to the ship.  After all that food we needed some movement to help everything settle. 

There is so much to see in Buenos Aires, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to get it all in, but we really wanted to see the Floralis Generica sculpture.  It is a large steel flower sculpture that opens and closes.  It is in the area of the city called Recoleta and along a stretch of beautiful parks.  As we made our way toward the parks, we stopped at the Museo Nacional Ferroviario (Railway Museum).  The flower sculpture is located next to the Facultad de Derecho public university which is in an incredible building.  Our final destination for the day was the Jardin Japones, a beautiful Japanese garden with incredible wood carvings.  It is one of the largest Japanese gardens outside of Japan.  At this point we had wandered pretty far from the port and the ship was scheduled to leave earlier than we usually do, so we turned around and started making our way back.  We made it back to the ship with fifteen minutes to spare.

Sea Days

Our original itinerary had us heading to Punta del Este, Uruguay directly after Buenos Aires; however, it is a tender port and the sea conditions are going to be unfavorable for tendering, so the port was cancelled.  Following Punta del Este, we were meant to have two sea days prior to arriving in Porto Belo, Brazil.  Unfortunately, we need to complete a few repairs and make few changes prior to entering Brazil and having the Brazilian Authorities inspect the ship, so Porto Belo was cancelled as well.  We are now looking at five straight sea days.  It’s definitely not ideal, but so is life at sea. 

I’m taking the time to catch up on the blog and recoup from the last five days of walking; we covered over 80km in the last five days.  As much as I’m not looking forward to five full days at sea, I am looking forward to a little less walking.

Our sea days are generally uneventful, so we’ll pick you back up in Brazil.