Travel with Dale & Margaret

I call this “sheepish” but it is really “llama-ish” or, to be more zoologically correct “Guanaco-ish”!  But I did spend much of my day with sheep – so I thought the title appropriate…

Last night Margaret’s pesky post-bronchitis cough came back so she ended up having to use the codeine cough syrup.  It worked so well that she was conked out this morning and decided to stay in bed and rest.  I got up and got on the bus for the 8 am Puerto Madryn Sea Lion, Sheep Shearing and Eco-museum tour.  It was a beautiful morning with a bit of a brisk breeze blowing but the day ended at about 64 degrees.  Gorgeous blue skies and spectacular white puffy clouds gave me the best photo day since our first arrival in Cusco.  It is amazing to see what the D700 does with conditions like that!

Puerto Madryn was originally founded by a group of Welsh settlers in the late 1800’s.  They tried out the US, then Canada but they felt strongly that they needed somewhere that was unpopulated so they could build their community while maintaining the Welsh language and traditions.  They came here and stayed because it turns out this part of the Pantagonia is a desert with only 8 inches of rain a year. Because of this, no one had ever built a true settlement here.  They found a river South of the city (Chubut) and started their settlement in that area.  They ended up moving closer to the ocean (near where the ship is docked), and pipe their water in from the river (about 60 miles away).  The city is quite modern with no signs of 3rd-worldness here.  Only one building under construction had rebar sticking out the top! In fact, property is rather expensive and the cost of living high.  Modern hotels, nice paved streets with curbs, very clean neighborhoods and decent retail stores abound.

First we went to see the sea lions at a rocky cove.  We got there by heading to the South end of town, turning off onto a dirt but quite wide and well maintained road and drove about 15 minutes.  Not a bad ride and the buses, although advertised as being 3rd-world style were very nice, modern buses with perfectly clean windows (I love to clean windows!).  The water at the cove was a beautiful shade of blue and sure enough, there were about 100 sea lions swimming or perched on brownish rocks.  Some cormorant (birds indigenous to this area) were perched on the steep sides of what looked like sandstone cliffs.  It was high tide so there was virtually no rocky beach for the sea lions.  There was a fenced off viewing area well above the cove and we all took turns taking pictures.

Next we drove another 15 minutes to a remote sheep ranch.  The terrain was very similar to Southern California deserts with scrub brush and very little grass.  The ranches are limited to one sheep for every 4 acres or something like that.  Otherwise the desert would be even more arid.  In dry seasons the ranchers have to thin their sheep to meet this requirement.  This ranch, which is on the order of 10,000 acres and currently home to 500 sheep was nothing fancy but it was well maintained with a nice dining area, a room with stands for viewing the shearing demonstration, a small retail store and decent restrooms.  There were a number of llama-like animals called Guanacos (the photo at the top of this page shows how friendly they are…or maybe they are just sentimental…it is Valentine’s Day after all!  Come over here and give me a kiss!).  They behave much like a family dog here and are seemingly housebroken, quite tame and very curious.

An Argentinian cowboy (or are they sheepboys?) called a gaucho arrived to drive the sheep into a pen and then he posed for pictures and endured several jokes about their behavior as Argentine playboys.  They had a few sheep ready to shear so we headed into the viewing area, took our seats and got a very thorough and enjoyable show that told us about the ranch, the sheep, the wool and some miscellaneous related subjects.  Even the ranches owner came out and participated in the event.  Following the discussion, their shearer, a stout guy, hauled in four sheep, sometimes on his head, and proceeded to shear two of them.  He managed to get all the wool of the sheep in one piece.  The pile of wool, when thrown on a table covered the entire table which was about 4 feet by 8 feet.  We got an education on wool quality, how they test it, etc.  Pretty interesting.  These sheep produce Merino wool, which is very high quality.  However, they get very little for wool these days, something on the order of $3/kilo.  The sheep shearers get only $1/sheep and it is very hard work.  However, that cost alone is 30% of the total sales price!

We then went into the dining area and had nice time drinking tea and eating three different types of appetizers.  Very well done as well!  At the end, they let two of the baby llama dogs into the dining room where we were able to feed them with baby bottles.  Fun!

We took some more pictures with dog llamas and a few horses outside, loaded into the buses for our next stop at the EcoMuseum.  This is a very modern and quite new building that has many professional displays about marine related subjects.  Many include audio visual presentations.  There is an outlook cupola on the third floor that had a glorious (really, not Ray’s glorious…the real thing) view of the ocean on a dazzling day.  You could even see the Mariner in the distance (see pictures I took in the Gallery).  After an hour we loaded back on the buses and went back to the pier.

In the end, I think we would all agree that it was a very well done tour that we enjoyed.  And, Puerto Madryn is a modern city that has a lot to offer tourists.  Their main industry besides tourism is processing bauxite ore that they import from Brazil and process into aluminum.  They also do quite a bit of fishing.  The city is growing quickly and currently has about 85,000 people.

It’s Valentine’s Day and nearly kissing a Gaunaco isn’t my idea of an ideal romantic day…  I’d much rather take my honey out to dinner at Prime 7.  So, that’s what we did.  We both had bought Valentine’s Day cards BEFORE we left on the trip!  After another beautiful sunset (see the upcoming Sunset Gallery) at Horizon Lounge with a Grey Goose Martini, we passed by a fantastic ice sculpture (creatively edited above), had a great filet and king crab dinner with 2004 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages.  You really can’t beat having dinner with the Patagonian sunset right outside the window! Happy Valentine’s Day!

There are two Picture Galleries for Puerto Madryn.  They are:

Puerto Madryn Gallery 1: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Puerto-Madryn-Feb-14-2010/25172393_QfxgBr#!i=2064475726&k=DZhhvVT

Today we are at sea – we departed the Falkland Islands and are now heading towards Argentina marking the half-way point of our journey.  I thought it appropriate to jot down some thoughts about taking a longer cruise and what we like about it and things we find ourselves missing…

First, things we like!

–       We are meeting some very nice and interesting people!  It seems every time we turn around there is another great couple with interesting stories with similar backgrounds and interests to our own.

–       I don’t have to clean anything:

• No laundry (Dale is doing that, which is strange because I do it at home…but for some reason he takes on this responsibility when we are at sea!)  Side note:  Dale would do the laundry at home…but I don’t let him!
• The bathroom is cleaned 2x a day (a little excessive I think, but that’s what they do – I do like having clean towels ALL the TIME!)
• No bed making (they make it in the morning and they turn it down in the evening!).  Of course, Dale makes the bed at home…so this one isn’t a big stretch for me!

–       The ports we’ve visited have been interesting…although we are looking forward to the places we will visit on the 2^nd half of the cruise (including Buenos Aires, the Iguaza Falls, Rio, the Amazon, etc.).  To summarize our ports of call thus far, we’ve been to:

Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel (Mexico), Belize City (Belize), Santo Tomas (Guatemala), Roatan (Honduras) and Puerto Limon (Costa Rica).

We then transited the Panama Canal before visiting Manta (Ecuador), Salaverry/Trujillo and Callao/Lima (Peru) – where we got off the ship and took our side trip/adventure to Cusco/Aguas Caliente/Machu Picchu…which resulted in us missing the ports of Pisco (Peru) and Valparaiso (Chile)

We were back on the ship just before we left Valparaiso as we headed to Puerto Montt,  Puerto Chacabuco, Laguna San Rafael and Punta Arenas all in Chile.

We also cruised the Chilean Fjoyds and the Avenue of the Glaciers.  Then we were off to Ushuaia (Argentina) before heading to the Drake Passage on route to Antarctica where we cruised around Deception and Elephant Islands before heading to Port Stanley in the Falklands.

Things we miss…

–       Our dog and our kitty cat…they are a daily part of our lives and it’s “weird” after a while that they aren’t “here”…

–       Regular communication with our kids, family and friends.  You take it for granted when you are in your regular life that you can just pick up the phone and have a conversation!  We hope to use our blog as a way to keep in touch…

–       Cooking!  I love to cook and it feels strange not having to prepare lunch and dinner (which I do daily back home) while we are on the ship.  While I love the food on the ship – and we have a good time enjoying it, I miss planning for and preparing our food!  I found out about a week ago, while dining with our Food & Beverage Manager Florian, that the last leg of our journey includes a Le Cordon Bleu Workshop!  I had no idea…and I asked Florian if there was a chance I could participate.  He phoned today and told me they had a cancellation so I am in!  Thanks Florian! I will report more on that later once the classes start up.

–       Driving a car.  Yes, this one is sort of weird…but I like to drive and I miss it.  Maybe the Captain will give me some time behind the wheel!

So that’s about it – we are looking forward to the next half of our adventure!
Margaret

Last night we had dinner at Prime 7 with a delightful couple, Franco and Judy.  They live in the UK and have cruised over 250 days on Regent having recently undertaken the World Cruise and now taking the entire 65 days along with us.  Franco has been awarded the title of “Cavileri Ufficial” which is the Italian equivalent to being knighted to the second level.  There is one more level that he will likely receive over the years.  He moved to the UK from Italy when he was 18 and never looked back as he built a very successful hotel business.  Quite a story and we had a fantastic time, finishing up in the Stars Lounge until midnight!  Margaret’s BACK!!!

We arrived safely at the Falkland Islands early this morning.  They are operating two tenders to take us to the shore.  Most people are doing a visit to a penguin colony and that’s what we are doing as well.  So, with all of our laundry done (that’s a whole other story — how we have to line up to use the three washers and dryers on our floor…) we’re looking forward to seeing the funny little black and white birds!

After boarding the tender we took a 10 minute ride to a small dock a couple miles down the beach in a secluded cove.  We exited the tender and loaded up in a Land Rover 4 wheel drive vehicle with 6 people in each of the two cars.    Our driver was a stout local Falklander whose parents bought 10,000 acres about 12 years ago on the island and now operates this tour (as well as raise sheep and some cattle).

We took a VERY bumpy ride over bog-like terrain, up and down steep hills, onto the beach then back on marshy area, past sheep, past land mines (on the other side of a fence of course) and, after about 3 miles that took 25 minutes we arrived at a penguin colony and a small building with an outhouse (don’t underestimate the value of this asset when you are riding in a bumpy Land Rover!).

There were ropes laid on the ground and the wardens told us to stay on our side (the penguins were on the other!) but otherwise we could go anywhere we wanted.  There were hundreds of Gentoo penguins and we were told that there was one King penguin somewhere among the group but it turns out he was laying down in the muck.  I took a lot of pictures and then walked away from where everyone else was and sat down on my camera bag (first checking to make sure there were no sheep, penguin or cow droppings which, as it turns out, was not an easy task) and started taking pictures.

After a few minutes I noticed one penguin who seemed to be taking a liking to the sound of my D700’s shutter and he ended up waddling over to see me (maybe he was curious what kind of camera I was using) and stopped just a couple feet away.  The more I shot the closer he came, hamming it up for me and making it clear that he prefers Nikons!  Great fun.

It was pretty windy and a bit cold so Margaret took some videos and then went into the outbuilding to get some coffee.  We found out AFTER we had sampled the coffee that the water came off the roof , went into a barrel and then was piped into the building.  Oops!  We’ll see how that works out, so to speak (Update on that: no problems encountered).

I took a walk to try to get some pictures of some vultures that were snacking on something but, despite not looking too closely…turns out it wasn’t a pretty picture.  I also took some panoramas and some general nature shots of orange lichens, a cool rock formation that looked like a leopard (see photo above) and so on.

There is a photo contest for whomever takes the best Falkland Island pictures and I figured I’d give it a try!

http://falklandislands.com/sections/view/fiexposed-welcome/theme:photo09

We boarded the Land Rover again and headed back over the bumpy terrain. No roads here, just freestyle 4 wheel off-road driving.  There were a few sheep here and there and I got some pictures of them…and let me tell you….that was no easy task!  We’ll see how that worked out when I get my photos uploaded…  When we got to the little pier we noticed there were 5 or 6 dolphins hanging around — they followed the tender and seemed to enjoy “chasing” it as it came and went.  These white bellied showoffs were an unexpected surprise!

Back on the Mariner we ate lunch at Compass Rose and oh what a lunch it was.  Smoked Chilean trout appetizer, butternut squash and ginger soup, local white fish filet and three Australian lobster tails.  Margaret MADE me get desert which was totally unnecessary but nonetheless a quite tasty coconut cream cake.  We decided to take the tender into Stanley so Margaret could do some shopping and I could take some photos for the contest  and that’s what we did.  The 25 minute tender ride into town was quite beautiful (see the gallery) with the bright multi-colored roofs, the hillside cemetery and the beautiful clouds overhead.  It turned out to be a perfect day and that’s quite an accomplishment in the Falklands.

Margaret picked up a stainless martini shaker (in the shape of a penguin!), a Falklands Christmas tree ornament and a small stuffed penguin for our dog, Spencer.  I finished my picture taking and we jumped on the next tender and got out of town and back to the Mariner.  Well worth the trip.

After finishing up the picture editing we decided to cancel our scheduled dinner at Signatures (French restaurant….too much after that big lunch…) and the following dinner show and got a hold of Nick and Sherrie and scheduled dinner with them at Compass Rose.  We had a great time and followed it up with the Beatles show in the Horizon Lounge.  Sherrie is now hooked on milkshakes and Margaret and I had a couple of Green Teanies.  A full day for sure!

You can check out the Picture Galleries for the Falklands at: http://gallery.me.com/travelwithdmcontent/100306

Bonus Section:  History on the 1982 Falklands War

One of the things that everyone seemed interested in was the 1982 Falkands War.  Here is a brief history of Falkland Island War taken from Wikipedia.  For the entire article click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War.

The Falklands War was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom (UK) over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Falkland Islands consist of two large and many small islands in the South Atlantic Ocean east of Argentina; their name and sovereignty over themhave long been disputed.

The Falklands War started on Friday, 2 April 1982 with the Argentine invasion and occupation of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. The war lasted 74 days, and resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders. It is the most recent conflict to be fought by the UK without any allied states and the only Argentine warsince the 1880s.

The conflict was the result of a protracted diplomatic confrontation regarding the sovereignty of the islands. Neither state officially declared war and the fighting was largely limited to the territories under dispute and the South Atlantic. The initial invasion was characterised by Argentina as the re-occupation of its own territory, and by the UK as an invasion of a British dependent territory.

Britain launched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Argentine Air Force, and retake the islands by amphibious assault. The British eventually prevailed and at the end of combat operations on 14 June the islands remained under British control. However, as of 2010^[6] and as it has since the 19th century, Argentina shows no sign of relinquishing its claim. The claim remains in the Argentine constitution after its reformation in 1994.

The political effects of the war were strong in both countries. A wave of patriotic sentiment swept through both: the Argentine loss prompted even larger protests against the ruling military government, which hastened its downfall; in the United Kingdom, the government of Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher was bolstered. It helped Thatcher’s government to victory in the 1983 general election, which prior to the war was seen as by no means certain. The war has played an important role in the culture of both countries, and has been the subject of several books, films, and songs. The cultural and political weight of the conflict has had less effect on the British public than on that of Argentina, where the war is still a topic of discussion.

Falkland Island Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Falkland-Islands-Feb-12-2010/25170295_NF8FgN#!i=2064319178&k=ZRvwXcj

Yesterday afternoon, the Captain finally gave up on Antarctica and headed North towards the Falkland Islands.  No sooner than he got the ship up to speed when the fog set in and we had to slow down and sound our horn every two minutes….for the rest of the day. It was really socked in and, when you are in the land of icebergs, you can sound your horn all you want but those darn icebergs just don’t seem to hear it.  Fortunately, we didn’t hit anything and we are all safe and enjoying a blue sky day.

While the fog has lifted outside this morning I awoke with a foggy head at 8:45 am.  That is much later than my normal 6:30 am awakenings and the reason was Margaret taking us to the Connoisseur Lounge last night and plying us with Green Teanies (2 parts Grey Goose vodka, 1 part brewed green tea, simple syrup to taste — garnish with a mint sprig or orange wedge!) while she taught Sherrie how to smoke Capri 120 Menthols.  Of course, it didn’t help at all that I drank two milkshakes (milk, Kahlua and Brandy) after we shared a magnum of 2003 Provenance Merlot at dinner with Sherrie and her husband Nick at the Compass Rose restaurant.  Good times that I am paying for 10x over today!

I decided to skip the 9 am workout class and shoot for the 10 am spinning session.  After a quick dose of Advil I ran downstairs to get bring some muesli (cereal) and fruit back to the room, ordered Margaret some breakfast and took off to the fitness center to sweat.  The boat was really rolling around and I just had to close my eyes on the bike to avoid getting sick.  But, I survived and came back to the room and crashed on the bed.

It’s a sea day today and that means more picture editing and uploading and possibly even a nap.  That’s about all I can handle today!