168

It was an early start for us today as we were out the door for 8:00 and off in search of the 'parada' for bus #168 that would take us into San Isidro. An hour later, through the concrete jungle that is Buenos Aires and finally out into the cute village of San Isidro, we met with Guille's cousin and his wife, Frederico and Felicitas.

By 10AM we were starting a yoga class which for me was a double whammie. I struggle with yoga in general and I struggled with the Spanish. I kept having to crane my neck and watch the others to know what to do although the instructor was pretty good about giving some directions in English. It was a good chance to push my own limits so I'm glad I did it.

And my reward was a delicious glass of fresh lemonade and an oatmeal raisin cookie at the 'Bike and Coffee' cafe followed shortly by lunch when Alejandra and Frederico and Felicitas' identical twin girls, Camila and Lara, joined us. We were eating, drinking, and laughing for a good couple of hours at this adorable cafe in an old train station.

They say kids laugh and smile hundreds of times more in a day than do adults. I believe it! All the grumpiness from the last few days just melted away this afternoon as the girls serenaded us with a song (about a dog and his fleas going around town on a bus!!!) over and over and OVER and giggling the whole time. I didn't know the words but I really responded to their incredibly contagious laughter and joined in too. What a gift!

Across the tracks from the cafe was an antique market which we checked out afterwards. Lots of cool things but no suitcase big enough for what I wanted to take back!!!

Afterwards Guille and I walked back to her cousin's house and checked out the town. Guille is toying with buying a place out there and I don't blame her. It is a whole other world from Buenos Aires where people are out running and cycling on the bike paths, there are lots of parks and green space AND...it's quiet! It has a good vibe and the lifestyle is very appealing.

When we got back to their house I noticed that the girls, initially shy with me, opened up and started talking to me a mile a minute. I did well to keep up with their rapid-fire-Spanish but it was tough. It was funny later when Guille told me they'd asked where I was from. She told them Canada and they said they thought I was from 'Disney' because they speak English at Disney. Adorable!

It was another hour on the 168 back to town and the three of us shuffled along the streets back to the apartment in a daze, tired from a full day in the sun and little sleep the night before. Still, it was the best day in a while and for that I'm grateful.

Grumpy y los colectivos

This is about the fifth version of this blog entry! After coming off such a high after my Antarctica trip, these past few days have been a bit more difficult. I've been grumpy about a lot lately and whenever I sat down to write I noticed I was only moaning. Not cool.

It happens - trips have ups and downs. Thank goodness for Guille who is such a positive person and always makes me smile. Still, it seems that I've misplaced my sense of humour. I really need to keep better track of it - I hate losing important things!

When I left Buenos Aires to fly to Ushuaia on the 25th of February I was sad to leave it. It's a big city but it was growing on me. These days it's feeling more like a hostile, concrete jungle that is leading to feelings of claustrophobia.

It turns out the apartment Guille is staying at isn't exactly close to the key routes for public transportation so I have done a lot more walking than I planned. My feet are sore and the heat is taking the stuffing out of me. Every day I need a nap and I fall asleep hard!

To minimize the walking, I've explored more on the 'colectivos'. That's what the porteños call their city buses. The price is right, for sure. The most expensive ride I've had is 1.75$ but most are 1.20 (that's about 30 cents!!!).

I've been 'sploring with the #12, #105, and other random buses whose destinations were really unknown. My strategy was to hop on a bus that advertised going in the general direction I wanted to go. It was always a gamble!

I would keep up with where we were with my mini-map and I would get off when I figured I was as close as I was likely to get. I always ended up walking a bit on either end of my journey but I'm slowly figuring it out. I do appreciate that jumping on buses and seeing where they go isn't for everyone but it's part of the fun learning a new city! Try it sometime!

In my few days back I've been out to La Viruta for a milonga with Guille and Margaret, I went to a tango class at the school, and I've 'lunched'. I had lunch with Jemma one day, Margaret another and then Guille and her mom another day. It's nice to have 'people' in a city I'm only visiting.

The apartment where we're staying is very comfortable and the price per night is very reasonable (0$!). I've been earning my keep with groceries and wine so it should be okay. Unfortunately there is no wifi at the apartment. That hasn't stopped us from trying to 'acquire' it though. We've been perching on the corner of the balcony trying to get access to one of the neighbour's networks, reminiscent of tuning TV bunny-ear-antennae trying to get a signal!!! After being away for so long there are some things I need to catch up on...I need my fix!!! :o). Too bad it's a decent hike to the nearest cafe with wifi too. Bah!

In any case - that's enough negativity. I think I blame the full moon we had on the 8th. Fortunately it has passed and in the words of Scarlet O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day!" (Soooo cheesey, I know. Huh...maybe my sense of humour isn't completely lost. Bad jokes are my specialty!!!)

Easing back into the real world

It really was an Antarctic Dream...

...I wasn't really ready to come back to civilization. I've really enjoyed disconnecting from the real world. No email, no Facebook, no news, no problems or stresses. Only a small part of me was curious to know what, if anything, had happened in the world while I've been gone. Very little as it turns out.

We disembarked from the ship around 8:30 this morning and most of us said our goodbyes. Some of us were headed straight to the airport, others were staying in Ushuaia a bit longer. My flight wasn't scheduled until 15:40 so I headed into town and hung out with Jemma, Mitch and Sara by the water front and then at the Ramos General cafe for a nice coffee.

A quiet morning in Ushuaia:

Once Mitch and Sara left, Jemma and I got a wifi-fix before I went with her to get her bag and hail a cab to the airport. Boy - it's a really good sign that after ten days at sea were not both saying 'ummm...yeah...catch ya later' but rather were happy to keep hanging out until the end. I appreciate how lucky I was to have such a good roommate and I wonder where our paths will cross again.

It turns out I crossed paths with many others from the ship in town shortly after I wandered down San Martín. I saw Paul in fine form wearing his boots and skirt with bare legs. Ushuaia must have must have felt balmy by comparison to Antarctica. Then I saw Mitch and Sara again - only briefly though. You can only say goodbye so many times and I will very likely see them in Canada again before the end of the year. I ended up having lunch with Carola and Cristina which was lovely. And finally I saw Hilde again before I had to head out to the airport.

After checking in I had plenty of time to wait. I caught my reflection in a glass window and noticed I was sitting at a decent angle from vertical. I'd been feeling a bit off all day and I then wondered if I wasn't having the 'land sickness' after being at sea for so long!

It was a long flight back to BA. Martino (aka Dr. Beiber) was on the flight back with me and it was nice to have someone to talk to at the airport and during the layover in Rio Gallegos (30 mins is about as long as I'd want to spend there anyway!).

This time when I landed I gave the taxi driver the address to the flat where Guille is staying for a while now that she's in BA for a while. It was great to catch up with her and her mom though it was brief as I was absolutely exhausted. I'm glad I have a few days to chill in BA before my next adventure with Captain Zach.

Last Day

Today is our last day on the 'Antarctic Dream'. I'm not ready to leave yet but I guess it's time. Meal conversations are changing from 'where have you been' to 'where are you going' and 'have you packed yet' or 'I sure wish I had something clean to wear'!

Shortly after breakfast they announced that we were sailing past the famous Cape Horn. It's the most southerly tip of South America and many ships have perished in the vicinity. Here's Jemma and I on deck with Cape Horn over my right shoulder.

And here's the map the captain was keeping current with our route progress.

The seas were calmer today. I was almost disappointed though I know many were very relieved. Julian managed to do his lecture on Antarctic explorers today. Shackleton really did have an amazing story! They also showed us the last episode of Frozen Planet which highlighted scientific research at the South Pole. That certainly piqued my interest and has planted some seeds in my ever busy brain.

There was a slideshow just before dinner with pictures Cristina took of all of us and all we saw. She's got a great eye - it was inspiring. They also presented the logbook/diary they put together for us with details of the whole trip. It will make a great souvenir.

We all got prettied up (to the best of our ability given what we'd packed) for the cocktails and celebration dinner.

The crew gave some short speeches and it has to be said they did an amazing job! Here are most of them:

It was the usual suspects at dinner (Jemma, Rich, Mitch, Sara and Julian) plus Team Netherlands, Bram and Will.

After dinner the drinks kept coming and at one point every chair that wasn't chained down ended up at our table for a big came of 'Mexico'! It was a fun drinking game that caused many people to clock out early! Thank goodness for beginner's luck! Then again, there were still a couple of us up at 2:30 and the 6:30 wake up call was just around the corner. At least I made the most of my last day on the ship!

Revenge of the Drake

The stuff on the bedside table crashed onto the floor sometime in the middle of the night. My suitcase had rolled its way across the room and I found it by the desk when I woke up. Taking a shower this morning required gymnastic abilities I didn't know I had. The choppy waters the Drake Passage is famous for, the ones we somehow escaped on our way down, are hitting us hard now. These seas got a rating of a Force 6 (on a scale from 1-12), whereas we only went as high as a Force 2 on the way down.

There's been a noticeable shift in everyone's moods today. As we entered the Drake Passage and the seas became rougher, everyone started taking their seasickness pills. Some are faring better than others but there were still a lot of empty seats at meals. Many opted for room service, others couldn't keep anything down.

Julian couldn't give his lecture today on the history of Antarctic explorers because he was so sick. Despite taking medication the poor guy had to bring barf bags downstairs. He looked awful so we opted to 'boycott' his lecture and let him go back to bed. I guess even the guides who have done this trip so many times still feel it.

I had a good laugh at lunch today. The seas had picked up to a proper Force 7 and since I wasn't feeling ill I found the crazy rocking quite fun. Unfortunately I happened to choose a chair that wasn't chained down. When the boat pitched, I toppled over. I wasn't hurt, only surprised because I thought the chain would have stopped me from going all the way over. The captain and Rodrigo came over after hearing my cry of surprise and kindly assisted me up. They were so concerned that I was hurt. All I could do was laugh. This is part of the experience of crossing the Drake!!!

Sea Force Winds. A 2 on the way down to Antarctica. A 6 for most of the day. A 7 at lunch. A 4 at dinner.

It was a fairly lazy day where I reviewed some of my photos, chatted with people in the dining area and went to catch the showing of David Attenborough's 'Charles Darwin: The Tree of Life' and part 6 of the BBC's Frozen Planet. Both were excellent documentaries!

Since I didn't take any more pictures today, I thought I'd use my self-imposed daily blog quota of 4-5 pictures to include a few pictures I didn't have room to post on other days here. Oddly enough, they're all of penguins!

Gentoo and tourist penguins everywhere at Cuvaville Island:

At Pleneau Bay - the only Adelie penguin we saw:

Port Lockroy:

The Antarctic Dream: