I have three weeks off for Christmas/New Years holiday every year. Neither of us had ever been to South America, so why not this year. There are many issues and complications for my wife to get visas in many South American countries, but Argentina was most amenable . . . and number one on my list of places to see was Tierra del Fuego and the high dessert passes of the Andes mountain range . . . Argentina had both! So we set off from Aberdeen International Airport one cold December morning bound for Buenos Aires, via Frankfurt, Germany! 23 hours later we landed in Argentina!
Our trip plan was to spend equal amounts of time exploring the city of Buenos Aires, experiencing adventures in nature around the Patagonian town of Ushuaia, and the wine producing area around Mendoza, which also served as a gateway to the high Andes.
We arrived late in Buenos Aires and made our way to our boutique hotel in the Palermo district. It was wonderfully warm in the evening, as Argentina was in their summer months.
The next day was a Sunday, so we took the underground to the famous Sunday Street market. I loved the street art in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires is a very colorful city. Now I know why the police wear the bright orange vests - urban camouflage!
There were many street performers out, like this puppeteer.
The street market was in a part of town that had many antique and knick-knack shops.
This [embossing?] machine was just waiting for a collector.
We spent the next three days exploring the vast city by foot . . . and shopping. I discovered this sculpture 'grave yard' for old statuary . . . and perhaps some new ones. Very photogenic. I took many, many photos in Buenos Aires and will, in the near future post the rest of the good ones here. BE PATIENT!
Ushuaia - The End of The World!
From the lovely warmth of Buenos Aires, we arrived back in the cold again in Ushuaia - fin del mundo.
The views of the southern Andes were breathtaking.
Ushuaia harbour, where cruise ships stop for supplies, and specialized ships depart for Antarctica. The city of Ushuaia is the furthest south of any city on earth.
The sunsets from our hotel room in Ushuaia were magnificent.
We had several meals of Patagonian King Crab. Extraordinarily yummy!
It was mid-summer in Ushuaia and the flowers were all in bloom.
The poppies were especially beautiful.
Unfortunately, all the small over night cruise ships to the local glaciers were booked even before we decided to go to Patagonia (we tried to book in September), however, good guide books suggested hiring a taxi for the day in front of the ship passenger terminal, which we did one day. We went out to the Tierra del Fuego National Park which is adjacent to Ushuaia. We saw a lot there, and I will post more photos soon. This is a beaver dam.
One of our days in Ushuaia was wet, so we took a half-day bus tour north up into the southern Andes. Marvelous views all the way. We stopped often at all the points of interest. We were glad we took the tour . . . we saw so much beauty.
We had an excellent and informative bus tour guide.
The bus tour went as far north as Fagnano Lake.
It was hard to believe that this was a lake! Lake Fagnano is fed by high Andean glaciers which give it the distinctive green color.
We drove back to Ushuaia through the high pass of the south Andes.
The following day we took another tour, this time to a science center that finds and preserves whale bones for display in museums around the world . . . whales that have dies a natural death. The tour also would take us to see PENGUINS!
It was summer in Patagonia and the place was alive with flowers. Our penguin expedition left from an old homestead.
It was a grey and damp day when we headed off to see the penguins.
We took an inflatable boat out to an island . . . .
The island was full of hundreds of penguins . . . of different varieties.
Our eco guides taught us how to act and react to penguins (move slowly and do not reach out to them or give them anything).
There were penguins everywhere!
Penguins are not shy. I guess they thought we were just really tall penguins.
There were many pairs of penguins.
Because penguins are not shy, I could go right up to them and take close-up photographs. Fantastic!
A mother penguin protecting her little gosling.
We returned to Ushuaia after a quick stop at this vintage Patagonian out house.
Patagonia was wonderful, but we said good-bye . . . and flew off to Mendoza in the far airid northwest of Argentina.
MENDOZA
Our time in Mendoza was split in three (3) parts, with a return to the city each evening. 1) The desert road and winding dirt road up the mountains on Argentina Highway 52; 2) The Uco Valley wine growing region an hour out of the city (and a surprise!); and 3) The drive up Argentina Highway 7 to the Chilean boarder through the magnificent high Andes arid pass.
Central Mendoza was a tree-lined and charming old provincial town.
The city is built around Independence Park, where people congregate in the evenings.
As Highway 52 left the city of Mendoza, the houses became older and made of adobe.
A cactus in the sky.
As is often the case in a desert environment, there are different zones created by differences in elevation, moisture, and soil . . each with its own unique flora and fauna: I passed through a zone of cacti.
Driving through the high desert scrub brush towards the Andes on Highway 52 . . . one of my favorite things to do is drive on small desert roads with the horizon far off at the end of a ribbon . . and the windows all open with the radio loud. I hadn't done that in a long tome. Too long.
Such a lovely place!
A white Catholic altar . . . in the middle of nowhere . . . made it somewhere.
The weather alternated between cloudy with a light sprinkle and bright sunshine.
As I neared the base of the Andean foothills, I came upon a zone inhabited by Alpacas, a relative of the Llama.
The group of Alpacas stopped to check me out. They are ridiculous with cuteness!
This is what I had come to see . . .
. . the secret valleys up along the twisting gravel mountain road. Astonishing! This is my favorite topology and geography.
And by 'Twisty Road' I mean very twisty road!
Just me, my rent-a-car, and a winding mountain track. I loved driving up into the hills on this road.
I ran out of time before I ran out of wonder - I didn't want to drive back in the dark. The view from the top was vast.
I had to chuckle at this sign . . . . talk about understatement!
I saw one other Alpaca high up on the mountain side.
I got out of the car and took a short walk to a promontory overlooking the big plain, the Pampas, of Argentina. There were beautiful plants in bloom . . . and hungry wasps.
I took in one last grand view and drove back down the mountain to Mendoza. The next day, New Years Day, we would go to the Uco Valley vineyards.
We got up early, even though we had celebrated New Years Eve at a fun party with a bunch of vacationing Brazilians at the Hilton the night before. The Uco Valley also had beautiful old adobe vineyard structures.
I love the character, like a face, of old doors and windows, I was in photographers' heaven with these examples.
Old doors . . . what is the enticement for me?
It was a beautiful day for a drive around the vineyards of Uco Valley. If you have ever had Argentine wine it probibly came from this valley.
We found a gourmet restaurant out in the vineyards and had a fabulous lunch. The owner made some nice art with his empty wine bottles.
This old wall, something out of the 19th century, gave me the feeling of an era gone by.
We saw many of these roadside shrines along the hilly road back to Mendoza from the Uco Vally. They were either 'Lets hope the Virgin Mary can assure good brakes' shrines, or were shrines to someone who lost their life on the highway nearby. I stopped at a couple of them. The next day my wonderful wife booked a surprise!!!
The surprise was a day spent at a mountain hot springs spa! Win Win!
A natural hot spring has fed the spa for over a hundred years.
A little cold glacial water from the river is added to each pool so that they become progressively less hot the further down you go. You start at the bottom and work your way up until you arrive at the pool that is cooking you. I got cooked . . . turned lobster red and had to be told to get out and get in the cooling shed! We spent a wonderfully relaxing day at the spa. The price included a "buffet lunch" . . . which turned out to be a feast of every kind of food know to mankind . . . from Japanese to Indian, to health food, to Argentine delicacies, all of it delicious. We stuffed ourselves!
More to come!