Roderick Phillips's Blog, page 26

San Telmo market, Buenos Aires, Day 110

 

The thing to do on a Sunday in BA is to visit the San Telmo market and general street party.  And our seedy hostel is within walking distance of the bohemian barrio, so after a leisurely breakfast we stroll down there (again crossing the 9th of July street).  The city of BA may be resting over the weekend, but many Portenos and probably all the tourists are crammed along Defensa street and Plaza Dorrego.

The San Telmo market experience begins much like any other market with plenty of bric-a-brac for sale: old spoons, books, soda siphons (Christi’s new favorite collectible) in addition to some more upmarket pieces such as ivory, furniture, and trendy clothing.  There were also a few buskers: an old woman with no talent, to some fine classical guitar playing.  Empanadas, caramelized nuts, chocolate strawberries, freshly squeezed OJ, and mate were offered by street vendors.  Amazingly no one appeared to mind if you photographed them or their wares.  However, this paled into comparison with the antics ongoing in Plaza Dorrego, where exhibitionism seemed the name of the game and the folks were appalled if you DIDN’T photograph them and who am I to deny myself such joyous opportunities.  I’m not entirely sure why a sub-culture of Portenos are dressing up as pirates, geisha girls, historical figures, little girls (in a definitely non-sexy way), rock stars ect.  They genuinely wanted to be photographed and expected nothing in return, certainly not money for themselves or charity.  There were even middle-aged female Turkish belly dancers and middle aged male rockers banging out Beatles songs.  It was all very surreal.  We did see a few groups doing the tango for tips and one even offered to pose with me (3 photos of A$15), which I declined. 

We had a rather yummy lunch at a traditional parilla called El Des Nival, before continuing up Defensa to the large Central Plaza de Mayo.  Many Portenos and many tourists were roaming around enjoying the afternoon sun.  The square is surrounded by imposing buildings, including City Hall, the cathedral, the national bank and the offices of the President plus views of the ubiquitous Obelisk.  We continue walking along the pedestrianized Florida Street to the splendid open park, Plaza San Martin.  We hang out here until the sun sets soaking up life in this fantastic capital city.

 

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching story

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The Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Day 109

 

It’s time to leave the stark beauty of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.  Time to leave complicated weather patterns, but uncomplicated living.  All the places we have visited from Bariloche on south have been my kind of town –at least in size.  I don’t think I’m tough enough to survive the Antarctic winters, though!  It’s a quick ride to Ushuaia airport and while we’re anally early, the plane is more lackadaisical; we depart an hour later than scheduled.  It has taken the better part of a month to travel through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego and only 3.5 hours to escape to the warmer climes of the capital, Buenos Aires (BA).  Along the way, we fly over Golfo Nuevo, where, no doubt, the southern right whale mothers are still nursing their young.  The weather in the Argentine capital is hot and sticky – people are wearing shorts and t-shirts – while we’re still in our winter attire and sweating bullets.  Our pre-arranged bus transfer whizzes us through downtown BA to the seedier neighborhood of Constitucion.  It’s Saturday afternoon and deathly quiet.  BA appears to shut down over the weekend.  Our hostel, the Garden House, lies behind two sets of barred doors on the upper levels of a grey non-descript building.  Our room is a tiny, bare bones affair more in keeping with the stark landscapes of Tierra del Fuego than the glitz and glamor of BA.

Christi and I spend some time planning what to do and when, including securing her a Brazilian visa (at a whopping US$130!).  I thought it might be fun to walk to the centrally located obelisk on the main thoroughfare, 9th of July.  The manager of the hostel seems to think this is a very bad idea.  We ignore his advice.  The walk is decidedly seedy; there are a few vagrants around and the odd crack-head.  It certainly isn’t the Champs Elysee/Washington mall experience I was hoping for, although the obelisk is remarkably similar to the Washington Monument.  At this point we do take the hotel managers advice by switching to the Underground.  Until we arrived in BA I didn’t even realize the city had a tube system.  And it’s damn cheap – only A1.10 flat rate fee per journey.  Divide the rest of our day between Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Viejo.  The older part is full of trendy shops and boutiques, which Christi finds exciting and I boring with a couple of exceptions: the cupcake shop (designer cakes to eat with your designer coffee) and the stiletto shoe shop selling fancy, colorful spike-heeled shoes; your gotta love these Portenos!  For dinner we head off to Palermo Hollywood and after much searching find some ethnic food: yummy chicken tika masala at the rather expensive Mumbai Indian restaurant. 

 Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale 

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Maritime Museum, Ushuaia, Day 108

Another lazy morning, another missed breakfast.  Perhaps our time aboard the luxury Mare Australis was more tiring than I thought.  After updating our diaries yet again (they are such a lot of work), we lunch on our leftover lamb dinner.  We donate the bones to the local dog population, including Christi’s latest favorite canine victim, a chained terrier who appears to live permanently outside his owner’s house in a kennel whatever the weather.  Next we visit the local tourist in formation office to add the official ‘Ushuaia End of the World’ stamp to our passports and then head to the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia.  The museum is located in a former prison building that housed some of Argentina’s worst offenders.   

The first prison was built in what is now Ushuaia in 1896.  Part of the reason for establishing a prison here was to allow Argentina to claim sovereignty over the area.  At that time the Strait of Magellan and passage around Cape Horn were strategic waterways linking the Atlantic and the Pacific – the Old World and the New.  The first prisioners to arrive in Ushuaia were chosen in part for their construction skills, which was needed to actually build the prison.  Until the prison was finally constructed, the prisoners slept in tents under freezing conditions – so in an odd sort of way the sooner the prison was built the better off the inmates would be.  The current prison was built between 1902 and 1920: there were five pavilions (2-stories each) radiating out from a central hall, sufficient for 580 of the country’s worst convicts.  It was Argentina’s answer to Alcatraz.  And there were some truly evil inmates, including the mass murderer Mateo Banks who killed 8 members of his own family, purely to get his hands on the family’s wealth to pay off debts and a deranged 16-year old teenage boy Cayateno Santos Godino who delighted in torturing and killing children.  The prison finally closed in 1947, the buildings being given over to the Navy. 

Today the complex is known as the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia.  Each of the pavilions is now dedicated to different aspects of local life and culture.  The lower level of the first pavilion is devoted to the history of the prison while the second story details similar prisons around the world on one side and a history of Antarctic exploration on the other.  A second pavilion has been left in its original state to give visitors a more chilling appreciation of the prison, while the third is an art gallery (first story) and a history of Ushuaia on the second. There is also an exhibition of model ships, reflecting the age of maritime exploration of Tierra del Fuego and south to Antarctica.  And finally a sad portrayal of the demise of the Yamana at the hands of the ‘civilizing’ white man.  There’s a lot to learn here at the end of the world. 

Blog entry by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale

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Ushuaia, Argentina, Day 107

 

Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and is the capital city of Argentinian Tierra del Fuego.  Looming over the town to the north are the beautiful Martial mountain range, while to the south is the Beagle channel. Ushuaia is commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world (fin del mundo), although Puerto Williams, which lies on the southern shore of the Beagle channel (on the Chilean island of Navarino), disputes this claim.

Internet access at the hostel Antarctica is virtually impossible, but I sit patiently and wait my turn.  There does not appear to be a time limit, more of a guilt limit.  Having been away from the news and gossip for the last few days, we check our e-mails to see whether anyone is missing us and the news feeds to catch up with the latest disasters, coups, and sporting events.  Surprisingly all appears well with the world, so Christi and I spend a lazy morning at the hostel updating the never-ending diary.  Later we explore Ushuaia, while alternately being snowed upon and feeling a waxing sun on our faces.  Luckily there is no wind or rain.  Clearly visible on a hill out of town in the green-roofed majestic hotel del glaciar.  This luxurious abode is where Christi and I wish we were staying.  We backpack out of necessity, not for pleasure!  Ushuaia is full of tourist shops (with tempting last-minute offers on cruises to Antarctic continent [US$3,500 for 11 days]) and restaurants that range from sushi to pasta and the by now familiar parillas.  Christi chooses a parilla called La Estancia where we enjoy sumptuous succulent spit-roasted lamb.  It’s one of the best meals of the journey so far.

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart - a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching story

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Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina, Day 106

Even though we try to delay the inevitable loss of our luxury lifestyle, Cruceros Australis is very efficient at getting us old, unwanted passengers off the boat so that it can prepare for the newbies.  Our bags are dumped on the dockside and after a last croissant breakfast we collect them and stagger all alone up the pier, through customs and immigration and back into Argentina.  Remarkably the sun is out, the skies are mostly blue and the snow-capped mountains behind the port town of Ushuaia are gleaming.  

We double check our map of Ushuaia and it’s only a kilometer to our new home, the hostel Antarctica, so off we trot.  Ushuaia, originally a penal colony, still has that frontier feel to it, and it’s not that surprising to see gaudy advertising hoardings featuring semi-naked women opposite the hostel – the Mare Australis it aint.  Still the staff are friendly and after we’ve checked in they recommend we visit nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park now, right this minute while the weather holds.  I had planned to visit tomorrow, nominating today as a rest day.  However, bearing in mind our Bariloche blunders, we gird our loins, dash to the corner store for a few snacks, and grab the 10 am minibus.  It’s a 12 km, A$50 (each) ride to the park entrance and another A$50 fee to enter the famed Tierra del Fuego National Park.  Since neither Christi nor I are in the mood for serious hiking we stay on the bus until it drops us at Bahia Lapataia, probably the most picturesque and (as we soon find out) definitely the most popular section of the park as tour bus upon tour us disgorges passengers.  They stay 30 minutes and are gone.  Along the way to Bahia Lapataia, a fuegian red fox crosses our path although we were too slow to photograph it. There are several small trails and viewpoints around the bay, including a short boardwalk tour along the shore.  It is wildlife rich with great photo ops of Upland geese (female is brown, male white) to the less exotic, but friendly European rabbits (together with beavers they are introduced species and considered a pest), and the raucous black-faced ibis.  These are busy routes, however, and we are glad to escape the sedentary tourists for some more rigorous hiking.  

We wander along several other trails through Lenga (false beech) forest to peat bogs, beaver dams (with all the attendant tree destruction they cause) and Laguna Negro with its beautiful marshland and snow-capped mountains.  From there we follow the last stretches of the coast trail beside the Lapataia river, breaking off to Roca lake.  We probably hiked about 3 miles, so it was a pleasant amble.  For once our timing was perfect.  We reach the warmth of a small cafe and settle down with a steaming mug of hot choccolate as the clouds gather and the area is pumeled by driving snow.  We watch contentedly until the 5 pm mini bus arrives to take us back to town.

 Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching ride

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Cape Horn, Tierra del Fuego, Day 105

The legendary Cape Horn was discovered in 1616 by a Dutch expedition.  It’s a sheer 425m (1,394-feet) high rocky promontory.  Cape Horn is also the only point where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet and for many years it had huge strategic importance.  Argentina and Chile even went to war over it (Chile won).  Antarctica is only 600 miles away (due south).  If you were to circumnavigate the world along the same latitude as Cape Horn (almost 56o south), this island would be the only landfall you would encounter.  And of course it has a great tag line: The End of the Earth. 

My heart is pounding as we drop anchor and I get my first view of this remote island.  Conditions have to be perfect before the captain will allow the passengers to go ashore and it’s a nervous wait before Eduardo receives the thumbs up from the exploratory party.  Forget wives and children first, I jump aboard the first Zodiac to leave.  Time is of the essence since any change in the weather could curtail the excursion.  As we approach the makeshift dock crew members in wet suits are on hand to help us ashore.  There follows a frustrating 30-minute wait while all 160 steps are cleared of snow.  Finally, I reach the top of this barren, blustery, snow-covered  island.  The Chilean government maintains a nominal naval presence here to regulate traffic rounding the horn.  There´s a lighthouse, a church, a flagpole, and a few monuments notably the Cape Horn monument (a 7-foot tall statue of an albatross in flight) dedicated to all those sailors who lost their lives fighting the merciless forces of nature that prevail in the vicinity of Cape Horn.  It starts to snow again as I race around poking my nose into anything and everything that will give me a taste, a flavor, an experience, a memory of this historic place.  We’re only allowed one hour in this frigid paradise and the crew literally has to drag me off this remotest of remote rocks.  I’m  in heaven.  Christi says she has never seen me this happy before.

Back aboard the Mare Australis I’m the only person on deck watching Cape Horn disappear from view and the last person to sit down for breakfast.  Later we watch a documentary about the magnificent failure of Ernest Shackleton and the men of the Endurance to reach the South Pole and this is followed by a final lecture about Darwin’s Patagonia and his time aboard HMS Beagle.  In this crazy, busy day we even have one more excursion: Wulaia Bay on Navarino Island.  I amble along without a care in the world, hiking up a snowy trail to a stunning panoramic view of the bay.  Darwin encountered the Yamana Indians here, but wasn’t impressed.  He wondered whether they might be man’s missing link!

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale

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Beagle Channel, Cape Horn Cruise, Day 104

With all that was happening yesterday, I forgot to mention that Christi and I still found time to visit the bridge which has an amazing 180o view, making the snow-capped channels look even more spectacular.  Everything on the bridge is automated and spotlessly clean.  Indeed, it takes only one officer and one crewman to steer the ship.

At 4 am this morning we temporarily leave the relative shelter of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, and are exposed to the full force of the mighty Pacific Ocean.  I’m awoken not so much by the pitching and rolling of the boat, but by the clanking of the glasses, which are sliding over the floor.  Later we enter the iconic Beagle channel named after the boat in which Charles Darwin sailed to the Galapagos Islands after Captain FitzRoy had completed surveying Tierra del Fuego.  As our next excursion (to the Pia glacier) is not until this afternoon, the crew uses the morning to regale us with information on the flora of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego and an idiots guide to glaciology plus there’s a tour of the spotless engine room. 

The weather has not been particularly co-operative these last few days and so it continues as we land at the Pia glacier viewpoint amid driving snow an low grey clouds.  While we wait for the weather to clear hot chocolate and whiskey is again handed around and some passengers decide to build a snowman.  It’s sods law that the weather improves dramatically after we return to the ship and I’m out on the deck frantically photographing the majesty of the Beagle channel, Pia glacier, and Darwin range. 

The Pia glacier is but the start of our glacier experience today as we enter the evocative-sounding Glacier Alley, featuring the Romanche German, French, Italian, and Dutch glaciers.  And as an added twist the staff in the Sky Lounge provide drinks and snack indicative of each country: sausages from Germany,  champagne from France, wine and pizza from Italy, and lager and cheese from Holland.  There are snow-storms chasing us and up ahead are reports of more bad weather, but we have a temporary window with which to enjoy these great views.

Tomorrow it’s Cape Horn and I’m drooling at the prospect of landing on this last piece of the Americas.

 

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching story

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Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn Cruise, Day 103

During the night we sailed through the Strait of Magellan and entered the Admiralty Fjord.  One of the inlets off this fjord is Ainsworth Bay home to the Marinelli Glacier (part of the massive Darwin Mountain range ice field in Tierra del Fuego).  Feel much better this morning, and after a delicious breakfast, Christi and I amble up to the Sky Lounge on the 4th (Cape Horn) deck in preparation for our first excursion.

We land on a rocky shore in Ainsworth Bay and our guide, Eduardo, begins his description of the area (part of Chile’s Alberto de Agostini National Park) in splendid English – yay!  We wander through a false beech tree forest, resplendent with old man’s beard (a lichen) and beside pristine streams.  The weather predictably switches between sun, showers, and snow.  On the way back to the beach we see an huge elephant seal protecting a 6-week-old baby elephant seal.  Apparently it’s unusual for a male to demonstrate such nurturing qualities.  And because this is a luxury cruise we watch the elephant seals while drinking hot chocolate (me) and 20-year old whiskey with fresh 2,000 year-old ice (Christi).

Back on the boat it’s lunchtime followed by a lecture on wildlife in Tierra del Fuego.  This precedes our afternoon excursion around Tucker Island, located at the entrance to Admiralty Fjord.  It’s a tiny island with sheer cliffs that can be circled in the Zodiac in about 45 minutes, but it’s a major nesting site for skuas and cormorants.  There’s also a small beach where magellanic penguins come ashore to breed. 

In the odd moments between excursions and meals the crew even find time for a slideshow on Antarctica and the tale of the Carménère grape, which was thought to be extinct before being rediscovered in Chile.  After dinner there’s a review of the day’s excursions followed by a presentation of  the movie Winged Migration (shown on the third – Tierra del Fuego – deck in the Yamana lounge.  The Yamana were the original inhabitants of the area, but have now largely died out).  Stagger to bed exhausted near midnight.  I never realized the luxury lifestyle could be so grueling. 

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching story

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Punta Arenas municipal cemetery, Day 102

Christi and I drop our backpacks among the Samsonite and Louis Vuitton suitcases at the offices of Cruceros Australis and receive our cabin assignment (room 114 on the Patagonia deck).  We can’t board the boat till 6pm, so we kill some time at the Punta Arenas municipal cemetery which is a site to behold.  It’s an elegant city of the dead; an evolving piece of art.  There are enormous mausoleums adorned with statues, together with more modest graves of immigrant laborers.  The cemetery is immaculately maintained with lines of topiary cypress trees and named avenues.  It appears that Punta Arenas takes better care of the dead than they do the living.  And of course there are stray dogs, including a bedraggled mother and puppy.  For once Christi has no food to share and is heart-broken as the dogs wimper for help.

At 6pm we walk excitedly along O’Higgins Street to Arturo Prat pier (both O’Higgins and Prat are national heroes in Chile, so you can’t make fun of their names).  Even though we’re in the cheapest cabin (relative phrase) our accommodation aboard the MV Mare Australis is delightful.  We have large windows with great views, two sumptuous beds to ease our tired bodies, and a spacious bathroom with endless hot water.  It’s about as different to the MV Samba (our Galapagos Islands boat) as it’s possible to get.  We’re ecstatic and quickly unpack, stowing the evidence of our previous backpacker existence in the closet.   

On the desk I notice a copy of our itinerary and it begins with welcome cocktails in the Sky Lounge at 7 pm.  Well let’s go! At the reception, Captain Enrique Rauch S makes his welcoming remarks, and this is followed by a display of Chilean folk dancing.  Next we have a safety briefing, which focuses primarily on the protocol for using the Zodiacs (the small motorized rubber dinghies that will whizz us ashore).  I’m so enthralled by the whole experience that I barely notice the boat slip quietly and seamlessly from the dock.

The gentle motion of the boat doesn’t last long, however, and as we sit down to our posh dinner the old, familiar feelings of mal-de-mer return.  Belatedly, I take a Dramamine and curl up on my luxurious bed.  All around me people are enjoying their roast beef with Chilean wine pairing and generally having a much better time of it than I am.  Much, much later Christi staggers back to the cabin with the rather slurred news that there is a free bar for the duration of the cruise.

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale

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Punta Arenas, Day 101

 

Our accommodation in Punta Arenas is a sort of granny annex tucked away in Emma’s backyard – behind the laundry drying on the line and beside the woodpile.  The frill fetish aside, the room has a massive bed, cable TV, and plenty of hot water.  The only disconcerting aspect is the print of the Arabian princess on the wall above the bed.  Her dark, smoldering eyes follow you around the room – but in a creepy way.  We eat breakfast (home-made cake, toast and preserve, juice and tea) in Emma’s living room under her watchful gaze, before heading out to run some errands.  

First we find a laundry on O’Higgins Street.  Unfortunately, our usual US$10 laundry bill is now US$20.  From there we go to the offices of Crucero Australis to receive the latest update on our impending cruise.  Christi and I don’t normally consider ourselves to be cruise people, but put the word Adventure in front of it and we suddenly sit up and take notice.  After the Galapagos Islands and Noel Kempf Mercado National Park, this is the last of our three big ticket items for South America.  In a few days, if the weather cooperates (which is highly unlikely), Christi and I will be standing on the most southerly landfall in the Americas: Cape Horn.  And Crucero Australis are the only company that explores this mythic  Land of Fire and Ice – Tierra del Fuego.  The weather is projected to be fair – for now.

The main square in Punta Arenas is Plaza de Armas, which features an imposing statue of that great Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.  The iconic explorer stands proudly above a rather grumpy-looking indigenous Ono Indian.  According to tradition, kissing the Ono’s toe brings good luck.  And who am I to disagree with tradition.

While Christi reluctantly uploads photos to Picasa I find a barber who gives me my first haircut since Peru and my first shave in a month.  Christi is sad to see the end of my rugged, mountain-man look, but I wanted a more suave and sophisticated look for the upcoming luxury cruise.

Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart, a gut wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale

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