John and I set off on a big adventure this week! Wednesday afternoon we checked into the Palacio Duhau to join our A&K vacation heading to Antarctica. Thursday we joined a group tour in Buenos Aires and saw an interesting old tenement home in San Telmo that had been restored, as well as the cathedral and Casa Rosada. We had dinner at the hotel after welcome cocktails, then got a few hours sleep before heading to the airport well before the sun came up.
We landed in Ushuaia — the end of the world — three hours later. We went to a hillside resort for lunch, then boarded Le Lyrial. After security and welcome briefings, we had dinner as the ship sailed away.
We arrived in the Falklands this morning (or The Malvinas, if you are Argentine) and went by tenders to shore. We were in a small group of early birds, and went first to Gypsy Cove to see the Magellan penguins and did a short nature hike overlooking the beach where many of them were hanging out and playing in the water. We saw some up close near their burrows, as well — these are the same kind of penguins we saw in Peninsula Valdez in October. The wind was intense but the temperature was around 50 — not too bad until it started raining on us toward the end of the hike.
The rest of the time we walked around the tiny town of Stanley, going to the museum and a couple of shops. Before we went back to the ship we walked down to the hillside cemetery.
We’ve gotten friendly with a few folks on board, the most surprising of which is Robin Cook who writes medical thrillers. I read several of his books when I was younger, but haven’t read much of his work since then. He gave me a hot-off-the-presses copy of his latest book to read and I’m enjoying it. The ship is beautiful and comfortable. We have a small balcony and big picture window. We’re excited about the next stops!