Viking has organized bus tours for us as we wait “patiently ” for good weather too cross the Drake
Our first excursion, Thursday, Dec. 29. was to cross the mountains at Garibaldi pass viewing Lago Escondido.
Then we drove on to Lago Fagnano.
Lunch of roast lamb at a place with great gaucho entertainment
There is also a camp for about 180 sled dogs
Returning, the weather lifted a little for better view
After several hours delay due to baggage handler issues, we made it to Ushuaia and onto the Viking Polaris
Unfortunately , already we know we won’t be leaving for 2 days as the passage is too rough. Our captain, Capt Maggie has decided to stay here in the calm waters. We will get to visit a little of Ushuaia in the meantime and have some of the expedition staff and experts talk to us about the science happening on board
As of right now, we are moving the ship off the pier into the harbor area so other ships can dock to load and unload. The Celebrity Infinity, Quark expeditions, World Traveler, and Aurora of Greg Mortimer are also stuck in the harbor along with several commercial ships. Hurtegruten expedition ship Fridtjof Nansen just joined us
2 days of travel are next, iguazu to BA on the 27th, then BA to Ushuaia on the 28th, to the Polaris at last! Here are a few last views of the big city as well as our flight
We were able to arrange with our tour guide to visit the Brazilian National Park! What a great treat! Because we were with a tour, we breezed right thru immigration! The international Bridge over the iguazu River is painted for each National color
The views of the falls were spectacular from this perspective!
Today was a true adventure. About half an hour walk thru the Atlantic rainforest jungle in Misiones province of Argentina, along the Parana River and the Urugua-ì stream. Across the river, we could see cattle grazing in Paraguay.
We had to hike down the steep embankment to river to the kayaks and at the end, back up a steeper one.
Our kayak trip was about an hour and a half on the water. The hike was quite steep to get out of the canyon and our hike about 45 minutes back to the house of our hosts, La Lorenza. Our host, it turns out, was Emelio White and his wife Pica.
After our adventure they fed us a wonderful lunch, and we learned about Emelio’s work on his photography book of the rain first wildlife, a book we enjoyed in our hotel room!
Our great guides, Juan Paulo and Andres
A flatbed truck ride thru the jungle and then a fast boat ride over the rapids, to and under the spray of the Waterfalls! Guaranteed to get wet!
Our trek began at 8:30 with the lower falls trail and then upper trail. Spectacular views of the water falls and a bit of the flora and fawna
We didn’t see any mammals, but we were fortunate to see a couple toucans
We flew today to Iguazu Falls for our pre cruise extension. Our hotel, the Gran Melia is beautiful! And the view is spectacular.
When we entered our room, we found Santa had arrived first with Champagne. Panecotta, nuts, chocolate, and nougat goodies! And the hotel has a beautiful tree. This will be a different kind of. CHRISTMAS for us!
Our room has a view of the jungle only, but we are told there are capuchin 🐒 monkeys close! We have seen a few birds and will be in the lookout for Toucans!
Some of the scenes around the hotel, the infinity pool, patio restaurants, and vegetation
Christmas eve buffet at the Gran Melia
Fabulous dinner and show. We each had the octopus appetizer and the steak, which was fabulous! Dessert was chessecake with berries or flan
The dancers portrayed tango thry the ages, in period costumes and styles. Fabulous show
We have arrived! No long flight delays ( a short 1 since a passenger didn’t board, but his luggage did ! Of course it had to be removed before we could fly!) We were able to go to our hotel to check in and had 3 hours to have a shower, lunch and even rest a couple minutes before our 3.5 hr city panoramic tour.
We walked around a couple beautiful parks
and rose garden
We had a treat of a hot drink and croissant at the oldest Cafe in Buenas Aires.
We visited the cathedral where Pope Francis officiated before becoming pontif. The Tomb of national hero of their independence struggle, General Jose de San Martin, is guarded inside the cathedral
and the main square, Plaza de Mayo.
Other city monuments, the oblesk, BA, once covered in plants until the soccer fans celebrating the World Cup 2 days ago destroyed the plants! The city has many Beautiful sections, government buildings, opera house, over 120 parks, and many lovely monuments to the history of the country.
Very soon, we have the great treat of dinner and a tango show! If photos are allowed, I will post some! Great first day in Argentina.
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