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Published: January 30th 2011
Compared to the usual UK festivities, Christmas in BA was relatively quiet and relaxing. That is except for the fireworks that erupted a few minutes before midnight on Christmas Eve and continued for well over an hour. Although we had been forewarned, neither of us expected the city to turn into the war zone that it did.
At first there were just a few bangs and explosions in the distance, but then the cacophony began. We sped to the top of our apartment block roof, where at 14 stories high, we virtually had a 360 degree view. Stretching into the distance we witnessed the cityscape bubble with fireworks - mainly rockets. The noise and heavy smell of gunpowder was both mesmerizing and magical.
On Christmas day itself and with a friend from Hong Kong, we had champagne by the poolside, followed by lunch on the balcony of the apartment. We tried to get as close to xmas dinner as we could but despite endless scouring of BA for a few items, we lacked brussel sprouts & cranberry sauce!
Along with thousands of others, the first day of the year saw us on Avenue 9th July - 'the widest
Avenue in the World' – watching the start of the Dakar Rally. Even the most geographically challenged of you, will realise that Dakar is not in South America, however in 2008, the murder of several French citizens in Mauritania meant the African race was cancelled and for the last 3 years it has been held in Argentina and Chile. This year the 445 competitors (186 bikes, 155 cars, 66 trucks & 38 quads - with only one English guy & one Welsh lady competitor) produced quite a spectacle as they roared through the streets of BA towards the mountains and deserts.
On Sunday 9th January we left our apartment and flew 3.5 hours direct to Ushuaia, the Southern-most city in the world, where we had pre-booked a log cabin for 8 nights. Ushuaia was the total opposite to BA. The temperature only reaches double figures on a hot day; there are only a handful of buildings over a few stories; and a traffic jam means that there are more than 10 cars in the same road at the same time!
We rented a car for 4 days, which enabled us to get around more, including seeing ‘frontier’ towns,
beaver dams, beached shipwrecks, a glacier, guanacos (llama-like), dying forests, but most impressively some generally stunning scenery – and incredibly bumpy dust roads. One of the bumpy roads with incredible views (see 360 degree video clip above) took us to a 1860s Estancia 80km away in Harberton, which effectively was the forerunner to the city of Ushuaia. The working estancia cum museum run by descendants of the original English family, was a celebration to hard times gone by.
We also hiked in the local National Park for a couple of days, visiting the Post Office at the end of the World and accidently crossing over into Chile, although luckily no-one saw us, so we weren't locked up.
The food in Ushuaia was also extremely tasty. Not surprisingly, the fish and crab were great, but we also had the largest mussels that we have ever seen or tasted and beaver Carpaccio – very tasty!!
The high-lite of our end of the world stay though was our ‘lastminute.com’ purchase of a 10 day journey to Antarctica. So on Monday 17th we caught The Antarctic Dream, an old Chilean Navy icebreaker ( www.antarctic.cl/web_eng/index.php ) to start our journey.
There
were 45 passengers from 12 different countries and although we had expected a lot of Americans, 30% were Dutch. There were 10 expedition staff and a ship and ‘hotel’ crew of over 30 so the ratio of passengers to staff was almost 1:1! Inevitably therefore the rather jolly group were well looked after and we got to know each other over great food and glasses of free Chilean wine.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest and surprisingly the driest of the seven continents. The actual landmass is one and half times larger than Europe. But that’s just during the short summer months from December to March. In the winter months, the continent almost doubles in size, as the ice extends into the water and the ocean freezes at a rate of over 2 miles a day.
Of the 10 day trip, nearly half were spent crossing the infamous Drake Passage, either getting to or returning from Ushuaia, which fortunately on our trip was relatively calm both ways – although it still reduced a third of the passengers to their cabins.
It was in the Drake Passage on the way over, that we caught our first sight of
whales, albatrosses and petrels. By the end of the trip, along with the help of on-board lectures we began to recognise the different varieties at just a glance.
During the trip we completed nine zodiac landings, often over 3 hours each, seeing several varieties of penguins, seals and coastal birds. Simply sitting and being with penguins watching their busy lives and the daily interaction between the wildlife was enthralling. Watching them waddle along their 'penguin highways' either on the way to feed or on their way back with full bellies. On a few occasions we also walked up from the shore into the snowy hills to gain a better view of the surrounding landscapes and views. Here we had 'silent 5 minutes' where no-one was allowed to talk and no cameras used, really allowing you to hear the true Antarctic sounds.
Simply looking around from the boat railings also proved a great way to pass the time. Not only were you able to watch the seabirds circling overhead, but also watch penguins, seals and whales swimming alongside the boat and probably the most magical sight of all, our proximity to giant icebergs. All shapes, sizes and forms, often
crystal clear, but also azure blue with hues of green and some with resting seals and hitch-hiking penguins taking a ride. Quite stunning!
One of our landings included visiting Port Lockroy, an old British base from the early 20th century. Now a museum, it also has a shop and post-box with all mail being flown to the Falklands before onward sorting in the UK (This takes a minimum of 6 weeks!) There were several rooms laid out and decorated as they were over 50 years ago, one even complete with wind up record player, which we had played for us.
As you might imagine we could continue writing about our Antarctica experience all day, but to end we’ll simply say that our top three moments, were probably -
• Negotiating the often ice-locked steep sided Lemaire Channel – the Antarctic Grand Canyon which was filled with ‘iceberg soup’
• Watching furry penguin chicks covered in down, waiting for their next meal from their returning parents
• The incredible variety of size, shape, texture and colour of icebergs passing by and knocking into our ship
We’ve included quite a few of our photographs below & a penguin video
above, but they really don’t do justice to such an incredible trip and experience. As you can imagine, there's plenty more where these came from.
So we finally returned to port on Thursday 27th for one night's rest prior to our 5am, 17 hour bus journey to Puerto Natales in Chile and the peaks of Torres del Paine – and that’s where we are now and where we’ll begin our next blog.
Bye for now.
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karen y
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blimey
The Antarctic pics were amaaazing. We currently in Sydney and I heard about the Antarctic tours for the first time last week. Keep on blogging, it's wonderful to read x x Karen