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Ushuaia, A last farewell
We disembarked from our home for the past two weeks at 9AM, after breakfast. We had a long goodbye yesterday, turning in our boots and group velcro patches, having a goodbye meeting with the Explorer Crew and then another with the Captain and the onboard photographer played an outstanding video compiling the trip highlights. Now…
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How Blue is Your Petrel?
The little Blue Petrel and its cousin, the Slim-billed Prion, have been confounding me all week! They’re small, flit to and fro, and stay just above the waves. All these qualities make these birds frustrating to photograph as getting good focus is a major challenge. Early this morning, under less chilly conditions and on a…
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Ushuaia is a Very, Very far Place
Our flight was just over about one hour as we headed for the most Southern city in Argentina. Population: 8,000 permanent, about three times that in season (which just began in November). Our plan for today is a lot less hectic. We have a few hours to kill at our hillside hotel, then a boat…
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Mesmerizing Moreno and Captivating Condors
Our second attempt to travel SouthEast to El Calafate got off to a bad start as a 5AM pick-up turned into a 45 minute wait on the bus as several passengers were awakened to a much earlier departure than contemplated. Luckily we arrived at a less crowded airport and made our flight. The three hour…
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The Travel Agent Swings and Misses!
An early morning, up at 5:45, off at 6:30, airport at 7AM. Absolute bedlam! Thousands of people going to and fro, long lines, but our travel agent got us well positioned and half an hour later got us to the front of the line. The summer season is upon them and schools are out now,…
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Lights Out at the colon Theater
We booked our tour of the grand Colon theater two days ago, and now it was time to set out and see this magnificent building. Since we had a little time before the tour, we went, close by, to the jewelry district to buy a pair of earrings for Kathy. She had managed to leave…
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I Can See All the Obstacles In My Way…
After our birding adventure, we had a quick lunch and set out for the Recoleta district. First we needed some local currency so off to an ATM. The ATM basically said we needed too much money ($150?), so I tried for half that amount and got rejected again. Off to a second one which wouldn’t…
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Costanera..Costanera!
Catchy tune, right!? Well I found out the the Costanera Reserve has wetlands, marshes, woods and grasslands. And that means BIRDS! Lots of them. The alarm rang at 6:30 and it felt to me like a punch to the face. Conversion time: 6:30-4hours time difference + 1 hour for being here one day and starting…
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I have Gelato On the Brain!
Let’s be clear, I don’t have that nasty freeze headache after eating too much ice cream. No, I’m now obsessed with Gelato. After a visit to Rapanui a few minutes ago, I’m afraid of these thoughts….diving into a large vat of chocolate gelato, having gelato at every meal, creating a new “green” food group, yes…
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They took down a Cinema and Put Up a Bookstore!
Well, not exactly! El Ateneo is a grand Movie House turned into a Bookstore. This was a fun visit of our late morning walk around. We were amazed by the number of parks and I kept seeing the bird species that I first spotted this morning. Crossing the 9th of July Avenue took two lights…