Getting to Mendoza

Nothing could have ever prepared me for overwhelming beauty of Anarctica. What a trip, what an experience. When I get back, I´ll follow up on the experience more with pictures. There is nothing like seeing 6000 penguins swim on to shore at once (and I captured it in glorious HD 1080i). Antarctica is vast, grand, and more beautiful than I ever had dreamed. Being able to kayak around icebergs and have penguins swim up to me will forever leave it´s mark on me. Antarctica, truely enchanting.

So the Russian ice breaker docked on time at Ushuaia and my flight was on LAN Chile at 11:40a that day. I had plenty of time. What they don´t tell you is that they post the departure times in Buenos Aires time and not Ushuaia time (-1). So really the flight was at 10:40a. How nice of them to mention that on the receipt... I guess I take time zone conversion for granted in the US. Next Argentinian airlines have a vague sense of time meaning departure time is a vague guess. I had 1.5 hours inbetween my Ushuaia flight and connecting Mendoza flight. Plenty of time in the US and most of the world. The plane arrives late, no big deal. The flight crew doesn´t hurry, instead they hang out with the arriving crew. They talk, they kiss, and enjoy some good conversation. An hour later we take off. Yep, there is no way I´m making my connecting flight. When I get on the plane they take my second carry on too, I guess in argentina you can have only one carry on. The plot thickens.

So I land in Buenos Aires and we get on this bus to the baggage terminal. We wait about 5 minutes for everyone to board. It drives about 50 feet and drops us off at the terminal. I laughed so hard because I could have walked to the baggage terminal with 4 minutes to spare. Next my luggage comes out, but not the carry on bag they took from me. 10 minutes later after the last piece of luggage comes out, they put the carry on luggage on the conveyor belt. I head to the Aerolenous ticket counter hoping to switch my flight. Good news, there is a 10:45pm flight tonight. Bad news it´s 4:15p. I´m having flash backs to my Asian trip where I had to kill 8 hours in Phuket airport because I missed my flight due to the taxi breaking down. What to do in Buenos Aires domestic airport for 6 hours? Drink of course. So we start downing red bull and vodka. She eventually has to leave for her flight. I decide to go upstairs to the food court. What catches my attention? In the land of meat, ¨sushi argentina.¨Yes that´s right, I had a Philly roll in the airport... in argentina and two small bottles of Malbec to wash it down. I´m completely loaded by now. The red bulls and vodka, and malbec is catching up with me. I caught my 10:45p flight to Mendoza, how I´m not really sure.

So I arrive in Mendoza very late. Catch a cab to my apartment which is very NYC sheek. Sleep off my buzz and now I´m walking around Mendoza. At 3p today, I´m heading to the ¨Vines of mendoza¨, which I saw on one of my favorite shows ¨three sheets.¨ Tomorrow I´m heading to the country side and will be hiring a driver to take me around a couple vineyards. Chao

--Dan

"The end of the world" Ushuaia, Argentina

All I can say is, "absolutely breathtaking." This is like a little swiss town carved out of the Alps, but in Argentina that would be the Andes mountains. The town is pepperred with A-frame houses and cute little gift shops. I arrived late around 7pm and Aerolineous Argentina lost our luggage. Good news is that I had my Artic jacket on-board, bad news the carry-on bag had my clothes for Buenos Aires and Mendoza, the checked bag had my Antarctica clothes. Murphy´s law at it´s best. What to do with no clothes? Go out to eat and then head to the bar to forget that you don´t have any luggage. There was this great little restaurant at the top of Ushuaia called Kaupe which had fantastic food and wine. We both had the local scallops and king krab, which were extremely tasty. The olive oil tasted like butter. Don´t worry, I kayak off the pounds in Antarctica. The local Irish pub had some good home brews. If I wasn´t heading on a boat in the roughest seas in the world, I could have drank much more at that place. We are going to head off to see the "local glacier" and then at 4pm we board the ship to Antarctica, so this will probably be my last blog until I reach Mendoza. My favorite quote "the best thing about the end of the world it only happens once" and Antarctica is a once a life time trip.

Leaving BA.. Big Apple heading south

In about an hour, I'll heading south to Ushuaia or as I like to call it "the end of the world." It is the southern most city in the world. I'm going to take picture looking south, so I can tell people "do you want to see the end of the world?" Then hand them a picture of Ushuaia. Ok... bad joke.

Went to La Boca yesterday and I could understand why it was a slum back in the day. Other than the 3 block tourist section, it is still a slum. Lots of cool outdoor cafe's and live tango dancing which is always nice. Finally got to use the new camcorder to capture the tango in high definition.

I'm a big fan of 1000 places to see before you die and I was a little disappointed that thet "Teatro Colon" was closed and had no tours. They are refurbing it for the 2010 Argentina festival. It is supposed to be one of the top 5 places to listen to an opera. Maybe next time.

Puetro Madro was a beautiful walk along the river. It was very interesting to see the parity between the old european architecture and new modern buildings on the other side of river. On the modern side it definitely had a south beach feel with lots of trendy restaurants that had sofas instead of regular chairs. Got some great shots of the city. Thanks John for the fish-eye lens.

On to Ushuaia!

Buenos Aires! Obama Wins!

Today is my first blog in Buenos Aires and my last full day here. I finally found the computer in the Marriott. First things first, the Malbec wine here is amazing and so many different varieties. The 10 varieties I get in a PA state liqueor store can't even compare to a single restaurant's inventory. Yesterday I headed out to a "Guacho" ranch (cowboy), where I experienced more good wine, horeback riding, and a great meat asada (BBQ). Kelly and I are definitely excited to begin the Antarctica portion of our journey tomorrow.

Couple of first impressions of Buenos Aires and I believe misconceptions. As a whole, Buenos Aires is not cheap. There are some things that are less expensive such as cheese, taxi's, and some bottles of wine. Things such as leather, food, tango shows, and bar drinking are more expensive then the tour books let you believe. Kelly was able to pickup a semi-custom leather jacket for a reasonable price, but your definitely have to shop around for the deals. We went to an awesome tango show with dinner and it was $100 /pp. I think Buenos Aires was a steal at one point, but like other destinations (like Cancun or Italy), they got smart.

Recoleta cemetary is really understated like Evita's grave. When you walk first walk into Recoleta, you immediately get the feeling of this is going to be a memorable moment in your journey. I can't really begin to describe the grandure and ornate detail of the tombs in the cemetary. The only other place that comes close is Pere Lachaise cemetary in Paris (where Jim Morrison is buried). Casa Rosada was an amazing sight. You could almost imagine seeing Eva Perone in the balcony addressing the crowd.

Today is La Bocca section, Theater Colon, and Puerto Madero for dinner. We'll see what that has to offer. It is always an adventure.

Finally, technotes for the trip. I have film background, but have been a big fan of the small compact digital camera that fits in your pants pocket. My brother gave me a Nikon D40 with some awesome lens. I've really enjoyed taking great pictures again. The 12-28mm lens was extremely useful in Recoleta cemetary to capture the graves without backing up 30 feet. The "power monkey" charged my ipod great and is recharding now via solar. The power monkey is going to become a stable part of my travel gear. The HG21 camcorder is having mixed reviews. I'll talk about it late. Chau