Travelog – Page 13 – Wavelet Blog

The Last Place on Earth – Buenos Aires

2012.1.7Buenos Aires was the last stop of our entire trip. It’s certainly cannot be called “the last place on earth”, as it is the most visited city in South America. This is what the consul told us as we applied for the tourist visa at Los Angles, “Buenos Aires is different from other Latin America cities. It’s a little bit Spain, a little bit Italy, ….”. Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world back in the beginning of the 20th century. Its prosperity attracted large amount of immigrants from Europe. They brought in their cultures and greatly influenced the growth of the city. From the grand buildings and broad avenues, to lovely sidewalks, cafés, bookstores and parks., no wonder Buenos Aires is often referred as the “Paris of South America”.

Avenida Roque Sáenz Peña

However, Buenos Aires is not immune from the problems of big cities. Especially after the collapse of Argentina economy 10 years ago, unemployment, poverty and economic inequality led to high crime rate. Ten years after, the economy is recovering and street is much safer, but crime is still a big obstacle of Buenos Aires.

We got to our hotel, Esplendor Buenos Aires, well after the midnight. The hotel is one of the oldest hotels in the city and located at the heart of the Microcentro district. It’s right next to Galerías Pacífico mall. Florida Street, Plaza de Mayo, Plaza San Martin and Obelisco are all within the walking distance.

Painting Decor in Esplendor Buenos Aires

The next day morning, the street was still very quiet at 10am. We first walked to Plaza San Martín. The plaza has a park and several monuments and memorials within its perimeter. It is surrounded by some beautiful buildings, including the famous Kavanagh building.

A Café at Plaza San Martín

Monument to José de San Martín, Plaza San Martín

Palacio San Martin, Plaza San Martín

Monumento a los Caídos en Malvinas and Kavanagh building, Plaza San Martín

Returned to where we lived, we went to Galerías Pacífico. Compared to the noisy Florida Street jammed by stall shops, Galerías Pacífico offers a more elegant shopping environment. Centro Cultural Borges can be accessed from the second floor of the mall. Besides art exhibitions and auctions, it also hold year-round tango shows in very low price.

Galerías Pacífico

After a short break at the hotel, the plan for the afternoon was to see the other side of Microcentro district. We first went to the Florida Street (Calle Florida). It’s so famous that we felt we were obliged to see it as least, however, neither the environment nor the style of shops were what we like, so we just walked through the street without making any stop.

Florida Street in the morning

We then spent sometime around Plaza de Mayo. In the height of summer of Buenos Aires, it’s a hot and humid day. We stopped at a Café on Ave. de Mayo. As we just sat down, my wife found her iPhone was not in her bag. Knowing pick-pocketing is quite common in Florida Street, we almost left everything in the hotel, but the only thing my wife brought couldn’t survive being stolen. My wife understandably got very upset, so we returned to the hotel directly.

Plaza de Mayo

Our evening program was the Tango Show at La Ventana. Argentine tango is originated in Buenos Aires. From the tango school to the tango shows, from the street dance to Milonga filled with locals, this city takes tango to her heart. I am specially attracted by the tempo of tango music. I originally talked to one of services that would take guests to several popular Milongas to experience more authentic tango, but eventually, considering that we were the first time visitors without any tango knowledge, we chose the more entertaining tango shows. It’s a little touristy indeed, for example, the part that actors sung “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and waved the Argentina flags in the middle of the show, however, I could see the passion and pride they put into the program. I was deeply moved when the old man who created and run the show for many years was introduced. He played accordion on the stage for the rest of the show. Since then, I was particularly fascinated by elder Argentine men when they are singing, dancing or playing instruments, as I can perceive a sense of elegance that can hardly be found in Argentina’s turbulent recent history.

Tango Show at La Ventana

The tango show started at 10pm and ended at almost midnight. To Porteños, this is only the beginning of their night lives. Leaving the theater, walking on the cobblestoned street, I began to comprehend the magic of the city. Our taxi drove along the Puerto Madero. The light decorated the building and the river, the dark concealed the graffiti and trashes on the street. Buenos Aires is a more beautiful city to watch while riding a taxi.

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September 16, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – Tierra del Fuego NP

2012.1.6I booked a tour to see Tierre del Fuego National Park on our second day at Ushuaia. Knowing that the scenery is not as dramatic as TDP, my wife preferred staying in in the city to do more shopping.

The guide met me at hotel at 8:30am, then he went around the city to pick up a family from Australia and two Argentines. Our first stop at the park was a railway station. Besides offering a steam locomotive tour, the station has a major theme of its prison history. The city of Ushuaia was first created mainly as a prison because of its remote location. At the first half of the 20th century, Argentine government expanded the town around the prison to increase its population and to enforce Argentine sovereignty at Tierre del Fuego. This is why posters and paints of prisoners can be seen everywhere in Ushuaia.

End of The World Train, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

Southern Fuegian Railway Station, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

All of us were more interested in natural beauty so we skipped the locomotive tour and directly went into the park. The next stop was Ensenada Bay, we had a short walk on the coast of the Beagle Channel and the surrounding hills.

Ensenada Bay, Tierra del Fuego

Around Ensenada Bay, Tierra del Fuego

The tour took us to the Roca Lake. It’s located at the border between Argentina and Chile and offers one of the most beautiful views in the park. We walked along the lake to the visitor center. I got an opportunity to shot a group of Black-necked Swan.

Roca Lake, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

Driving south, we made a brief stop at Green Lagoon to overlook the lake in the turquoise color and the trees damaged by the beavers.

Green Lagoon, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

The highlight and the final stop of the tour was Bahia Lapataia. The guide stopped the car at a trail head and let us walk over the hill. The trail leads to a parking lot that marks the end of National Route 3. This is the most southern end as far as the road runs.

Lapataia Bay, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

The end of the Panamerican Highway, Tierra del Fuego N. P.

We bumped into our co-passengers of the Antarctic cruise from time to time on the street of Ushuaia and we met many of them at the airport. It’s an interesting feeling that we came from all over the world, spent several days together in such a surreal place and now we would return to whoever we are. At the check-in counter, Aerolineas Argentinas told us the flight “is ONLY delayed by 50 minutes”. We would arrive in Buenos Aires at the midnight.

Ushuaia Airport

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September 5, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – Ushuaia

2012.1.5In the morning at 7am, the ship reached the pier in Ushuaia. Our journey in the Antarctic came to the end. We would spend the rest several days in Argentina.

Ushuaia Port

We checked into Alto Andino Hotel. It’s a little bit off the main road, small but very well built. It’s still too early to get a room, so we left our luggage at the hotel and walked to the city center. Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego Province and often regarded as the southernmost city in the world. However, compared with Punta Arenas, which is a fully diversified city, Ushuaia’s main function is the gateway for researchers and tourists to explore the Southern Ocean.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia Signpost

Ushuaia really has only one main street, San Martin. At one end of the street, there is a Chinese restaurant, Arco Iris (Rainbow) restaurant. The owner came down from Buenos Aires to manage the restaurant by herself. They run a good lunch buffet and also offer traditional Argentine BBQ. However, we asked the chef to make a special order of tomato soup noodle. It was HUGE. After eating western dishes for more than a week, we finally had a real Chinese comfort food at the world end.

Arco Iris restaurant

There were many booths around the port selling cruise tours to the Antarctic region. The lowest price of the similar tour like ours was $3500. Only the backpacker can take advantage of this low rate. We stopped at several museums and Souvenir stores, but for the most of the day, we just took time and rested at the hotel room.

Ushuaia Street Drawing

Ushuaia is famous for its spider crab dishes. Living in the cold water in Beagle Channel, Spider Crab is a similar species to Alaska King Crab. We had the dinner at La Cantina Fueguina de Freddy on San Martin. The crab was fresh and tasty, but we are still in favor the dishes at Brocolino in Punta Arenas.

La Cantina Fueguina de Freddy

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August 5, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – Drake Passage

2012/1/3 ~ 4Roaring forties, furious fifties and screaming sixties are the names given by the sailors to the strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere. Drake Passage, notorious for its rough, often violent, sea, spans between the latitudes of 50 and 60 degrees. We will take two days to cross it.

Drake Passage is about 500 miles wide. It’s estimated that the passage was opened around 20 to 40 million years ago. This ‘event’ not only isolated Antarctica from other continents, but also made the unimpeded flow, Antarctic Circumpolar Current, possible. The current keeps the warm water away from Antarctica and further cools down the continent. Many researchers believe it is a major factor of the glaciation of Antarctica. Where the warm and cold water meet, named Antarctic Convergence or Polar Front, sees a sharp change of the surface water’s temperature and forms a significant biological boundary. As the cold water sink, upwelling of deep water bring substantial amount of nutrients and nurtures abundant Krill, which results in food chains supporting fish, whales, seals, seabirds and other species.

The Captain

The first day on the Drake was quiet and eventless. The whole day was dedicated to lectures. In the morning, Jolande spoke about the Race to the Pole, the competition between Scott and Amundsen to be the first to reach the South Pole. I learned their stories when I was in the middle school; sailing at the Antarctic and listening to their heroic story, I couldn’t help felting inspired again. I believe a lot of people felt the same way, because the whole lecture room was filled by the passengers. After Jolande’s lecture, Lex talked about the whales and dolphins of the area where we had been sailing. After lunch, Jolande gave another talk about the general introduction to Antarctica, including both its geographic features and political status.

The sea was smooth, we were visited only by some Cape Petrels. Petrel and Albatross spend most of their life in flight. Once they grow up, the often fly for several years without returning to the land. Gliding is the most energy-efficient for them to cover the long distance to locate patchy food sources. In fact, their wings are so adapted to glide, when the sea is calm, they are forced to rest on the ocean’s surface and wait for the wind to pick up. We saw this happen several times with these Cape Petrels.

Cape Petrels

The second days saw a totally different weather. The wind was getting stronger and the sea was rough. Only a few people showed up in Jolande’s presentation on the life of Edward Wilson. He was a naturalist and artist who went to the South Pole and lost his life together with Captain Scott. Although the lecture room is at the bottom of the ship, we couldn’t stay in our seats because of the rolling sea. Even for me who were never too sensitive to anything started feeling uncomfortable for a while. Lying on the bed soon calmed me down, then I was literally thrown out of the bed by a huge wave.

Huge Waves in Drake Passage

The wind speed reached 60 knots. Not everyone made to the breakfast and lunch. We had to take care of our forks and plates, otherwise, they might fly off the table. One French girl was pushed to the floor and the chain to secure the chair to the floor got broken. The afternoon lecture was cancelled, instead, the film “Around Cape Horn” was shown in the library. The following are two videos I shot on the rough sea. It’s Lex who was making announcement about the film in the first video.

It was foggy outside. We sailed past Cape Horn without actually seeing it. At the afternoon, the wind was still strong but as we closed to the land, Tierra del Fuego, the waves slowed down. We settled our bills on the ship, returned boots and parkas and got our passports back with stamps of Antarctica. Every passengers received an Antarctic Dream’s jacket and a certificate reads,

We hereby certify that while travelling aboard the M/V Antarctic Dream,

XXXX XXXX

has set foot on the Antarctic continent, just as the original explorers that came before him/here. This event took place on,

Brown Bluff 30-12-2011
Neko Harbour 31-12-2011

Captain: Ernesto Barria Expedition Leader: Stefan Kindberg

After dinner, we had a farewell cocktail party. Stefan urged us to come back and revisit this fascinating continent in the future; then, he held an auction of the captain signed navigation chart of this voyage. After a heated bidding war, the Russian family living in the most expensive suite eventually beat the Spanish family living in the second most expensive suite at $2100.

The sun returned by the late afternoon, I finally saw a sunset after several days. We’ve reached Beagle Channel. The captain stopped the engine. We would wait there until the next day morning to get to the port of Ushuaia.

Beagle Channel

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July 16, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – Deception Island

2012.1.2We got a very early wake up call this morning. By 5am, we were approaching Deception Island.

Day 4 Route

Deception Island is the caldera of an active volcano. It is called Deception Island because, looking from the outside, it just appears to be a normal island; but it has a narrow opening that leads to the inner water, the island is actually a ring. The narrow opening is called Neptune’s Bellows, which is only 230 meters wide. The wind was strong. It took a bit of caution to navigate through.

$Neptune\'s Bellows, Deception Island$

Neptune\'s Bellows, Deception Island

Our landing spot is at Whalers Bay. Up the hill is called Neptune’s Window. It is a gap in the volcano rim. It’s about 100-meter high and most of us walked up and had a look of the outside of the caldera. Some Cape Petrels with their chicks nested on the cliff.

$Neptune\'s Window at Whalers Bay, Deception Island$

Neptune\'s Window at Whalers Bay, Deception Island

$Look out from Neptune\'s Window, Deception Island$

Look out from Neptune\'s Window, Deception Island

Deception Island has several Chinstrap Penguin colonies. As we walked down from the hill, several of them just swam back to the beach from the sea. With a black band under their heads, they are by far the most cute-looking penguin we’ve seen.

Chinstrap Penguins, Deception Island

Strange creature on the beach, Deception Island

Further down on the beach, it’s the remnants of the old whaling station. The station was closed in 1930s’ as the supply of whales was almost exhausted. A serials of volcano eruptions in 1960s’ destroyed most of the station. Now a day, Deception Island has become a popular landing site of the Antarctic cruise. One of the activities is to make a warm bath by digging into the sands. In a better day, some water temperature can be very hot near volcanic area. It was a cold and gloomy day with a cutting wind, but there were still a few brave ones dare to dashing into the sea.

Gloomy weather at Deception Island

Whaling Station, Deception Island

We went back to the ship at 8am. After the breakfast, Lex gave us a presentation about the history of the whaling industry. Blue Whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. Especially in the Antarctic region, at the time of 1966, when whale hunting was banned, the number of Blue Whales has been reduced to 10% of its original population in 1900. Without the industry killing so many whales before the ban, whale watching wouldn’t be a tourist program as whales would be much easier to be seen in the sea.

After the lecture, most people went back to the room to get some rest. A Northern Giant Petrel followed our ship very closely. The way to distinguish it from the Southern Giant Petrel is that it has a red bill, while the Southern one is in green. Only people in the dinner room got chance to see it. Against the wind, gliding through the snow, sometimes it flew high above the ship, sometimes almost touched the wave. Its wings spanned 2 meters and never flapped. Watching it fly, I saw calm and determination.

Northern Giant Petrel

After lunch, Stefan and the captain decided that our second planned landing of the day, Fort Point, had to be cancelled because of the weather condition. The wind is strong around the coast of Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands. Lex gave another talk about the seabirds of the Drake Passage. He is an active supporter of the Save The Albatross campaign. By the dinner time, we sailed into the Drake. We were now out in the open sea.

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July 11, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – The Southernmost Post Office

2012.1.1“Good morning! Good morning! Good morning!”. This is the third time that Stefan woke us up in the trip.

Day 3 Route

It’s 6am. Although it’s still quite cloudy at where we were, at the horizon where the mountains pierced through the cloud, we could already see the blue sky. We were sailing towards Lemaire Channel. Suddenly, the ship shook with clashing sound. “Did we hit the iceberg?” Yes, we did, but small ones. Disc-shaped ice floes covered the sea as far as the eye could see. With the strengthened hull, the ship crashed through the pack ice.

Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

At 7am, we sailed into the Lemaire Channel. The channel is about seven miles long and one mile wide. We had not seen the blue sky for 3 days but we were so lucky that we had a beautify day when we were sailing at the most beautify route of our voyage. No one on the deck made any sound. We just watched these breathtaking mountains and their reflections over the tranquil sea gliding through our eyes.

Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

Our first intended landing site was Peterman Island, this would be our southernmost landing site of the trip, and the southernmost Gentoo Penguin colony. However, after we sailed out the Lemaire Channel, the Captain and Stefan decided to turn around because there were too much ice in the sea and it’s very unlikely we could reach the islands. As the ship was making the turn, we spotted a Leopard Seal at starboard. We got a quite good look at it but the seal was not impressed by the ship. It looked up, turned and went back to sleep. Don’t be fooled by its innocent look and lazy moves, Leopard Seals are the top predators in the Antarctic water.

A Leopard Seal at Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

We arrived at our next landing site before lunch. Port Lockroy small harbour that was used as whaling station after it was discovered in 1904 and later used as a military base for British government during WWII. The station was renovated and converted to a museum by the United Kingdom in 1996.

Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Volunteers from UK come here and spend the summer in the station. At the time we visited the harbour, there were 4 ladies living in the station. Our zodiac took them to the ship and had a lunch with us. We were all very curious about what they do for their everyday lives. In fact, telegraph is the only way for them to communicate with the outer world, no radio, let alone TV. There is no running water and no boat for them to even reach the nearest island, so they must melt snow and reserve water. The only chance they can have a shower is to get on the tourist ship like ours. I guess during the summer time, tourist ships visit the harbour quite often so at least they can have decent meals occasionally. When asked why she chose this job, the lady at our table answered, “I wish to make some deference.” I don’t know how much this is from her heart and how much it is because of the politically correctness, but it is a respectful task she is taking as an individual.

Port Lockroy, Antarctica

After lunch, we were first taken over to Jougla Point to see some Gentoo Penguins and Blue-eyed Shags – their backs are also in black and underparts are white, look quite similar to Penguins. The beach has a reconstructed whale skeleton and offers a perfect view of the harbour and surrounding mountains.

Port Lockroy, Antarctica

A Gentoo Penguin, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Blue-eyed Shags, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

The Whale Skeleton on the beach of Jougla Point, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

From Jougla Point, the zodiacs took us to Goudier Island, where the British base is operated. Besides a museum and a souvenirs store, the base also has a post office in operation. Many people bought, wrote and posts cards from the southernmost post office of the world. The sun was shining. It’s a gorgeous day.

The Southernmost Post Office, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

The British base at Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Port Lockroy, Antarctica

We left Port Lockroy at 4pm and sailed north through Neumayer Channel and then entered Gerlache Strait for our next destination, Deception Island.

Mountain Range around Gerlache Strait, Antarctica

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June 20, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – An Evening Climb

2011.12.31The next day morning, we have cruised around Trinity Peninsula, the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, and we were sailing south in Gerlache Strait.

Day 2 Route

The heavy cloud that took the sky for two days now opened up a bit. The mountain range at the continental side looked mysteriously beautiful.

Mountain range in Antarctica

At the breakfast time, there were two Humpback Whales appearing at the right side of the ship. Many of us rushed to the deck to watch them. The captain turned off the engine and tried to stay close to them. Their surface lasted for 10 minutes. They didn’t jump but at least we saw their tails several times.

Humpback Whales, Antarctica

Morning time was devoted two lectures. Jolande talked about different penguin species and their behaviors, and Lex gave a talk about seals of the Antarctic.

Icebergs, Antarctica

We had our first landing of the day at Cuverville Island after lunch. This is a small island that hosts the largest Gentoo Penguin colony in the peninsula. As we have sailed south more, the weather were getting warm later than the place we visited the previous day. There were no chicks on the island – they were still on the eggs. However, it was a very warm day. I took off my parka, left it on the shore and wander around the island with just a fleece.

Gentoo Penguins, Cuverville Island

A Gentoo Penguin, Cuverville Island

Gentoo Penguins, Cuverville Island

An interesting phenomenon we found was penguins’ highway system. It’s very difficult for penguins to walk on the soft snow. Sometimes, it’s actually dangerous. Our guides told us not to walk on the untouched snow because our boots could make deep poles. If a smaller penguin fall into the pole, it’s almost impossible to get out. We could see these tracks that stretched from the beach to the hill and there were some parallel ones across the hill as well. Penguins use them to get up to the hill faster and safer.

Gentoo Penguins and their highway system, Cuverville Island

Cuverville Island is at the entrance of the Errera Channel. On our zodiac ride back to the ship, we had a detour to cruise through the maze of icebergs in the channel. Back on board, as we kept sailing south, we saw several more whales at afar.

Icebergs, Cuverville Island

Dinner was early today because we would have the second landing after the dinner. The place is called Neko Harbour. It’s another continental landing. At one side of the harbour is Rupert Glacier. After we landed on the pebble beach, our expedition leader, Stefan, told us if we heard loud cracking sound, “don’t stay at the beach, run to the higher land”. We did see some calvings of the glacier, but they were all small pieces.

Rupert Glacier, Neko Harbour

There were some Gentoo Penguin on the beach, but we just passed them by and started climbing the hill. After half an hour, most of people had reached a huge boulder at the hillside. Lex asked everyone to keep quiet for 3 minutes, no talking, no photo shooting, just listen to the nature surrounded us. View the harbour from the top, we were immersed in the sound of silence.

An evening climb, Neko Harbour

At the hillside, Neko Harbour

View Neko Harbour from the top

At 9:30pm, we started walking back. The hill was covered by knee-deep snow. We could totally indulge ourselves, running, sliding or rolling down the hill. (Penguins don’t come to the slope). At the beach, there was a Weddell Seal hauled out on the far side.

A Weddell Seal on the beach, Neko Harbour

We returned to the ship at 10pm. It is the last day of 2011. The crew hosted a celebration party and we counted down the new year.

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June 8, 2012

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The Last Place on Earth – The First Landing

2011.12.30When I got up on the next day morning at 6:30am, we were stilling sailing through the Antarctic Sound.

Day 1 Route

There were many icebergs in this region but not extremely huge in size. Penguins stood on top of the flat ice and jumped out of the sea from time to time.

Iceberge at Antarctic Sound

Adélies jump out of the sea

Our first landing would take place at Paulet Island. It has a very large Adélie penguin colony, 100,000 pairs, living on the island. As we were close to the island, we got our first scent of the massive Adelie colony. They smelled awful! When the ship finally stopped and we had a clearer view of the island, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Paulet Island is a young volcano. I thought I saw the the rocky surface from afar. However, they were not rocks – they are penguins, stretching from the beach to 100 meter up to the hill and covers almost entire volcanic cone.

Adélie penguins standing on the flat ice, near Paulet Island

This was our first landing. At 8am, everyone dressed up and couldn’t wait to get on to the zodiacs. The first boat departed with just guides. After they located the best landing site, they gave the green light to the rest of zodiacs to go. Every zodiac can carry 10 passengers each time. With 3 zodiacs in use, it took less than 15 minutes to take all our 60 passengers to the beach.