Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to the fabulous city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the ninth largest city in the world. After a brief day in Punta del Este, Uruguay, we arrived in this bustling city of 8.5 million people with its rich Spanish and Italian heritage. Buenos Aires is the home of the Tango, a music and dance that is elegant, robust, athletic and sensual all at the same time. But more on that later.

Buenos Aires is a collection of over 140 different districts, each with its own unique ambiance and charm. Bohemian San Telmo with its 19th century colonial buildings, Feria de San Pedro Telmo with its busy market, the vibrant working class neighborhood and port area of La Boca, Recoleta with its palatial mansions, boutiques and cafes, and the Tigre (Tiger) River delta area with its multiple restoration shanty river front homes all combine to make Buenos Aires one of the most interesting cities in the world.

At the center of the old city, just a few blocks from the port area is where many of the country’s most significant historical events transpired around the axis of the Plaza de Mayo. Once the home of the city council, the Cabildo dates from 1765 and is the only colonial building on the Plaza. The epicenter of the May Revolution of 1810, where patriotic citizens gathered to vote against Spanish rule, the hall is one of Argentina’s national shrines. At the other end of the Plaza de Mayo is the eclectic Casa de Gobierno, better known as the Casa Rosada, or Pink House. It houses the government’s executive branch…the President works there but lives elsewhere. The pink hue is the work of past President Domingo Sarmiento, who ordered it painted pink as a symbol of unification between two warring political factions, the Federales, whose color was red, and the Unitarios, whose color was white. And it worked! Think this would work in America? Let’s see…what color comes from mixing red and blue…ugh! Look at the balcony above the arched entrance on the Casa Rosada. That is the balcony where hardnosed and controversial President Juan D. Peron and his flamboyant wife, Eva, (the famous Evita) addressed the populous in the Plaza and where she pleaded with Argentina not to cry for her…..just kidding. Eva Peron’s resting place is in the Recoleta and is the most visited memorial in the city by adoring locals and tourists alike.

Argentine men are mostly handsome and mostly fit, despite their diet which is heavy in beef and wine. Strangely, there is a low incident of heart disease amongst the Argentines. Go figure. Argentine woman are mostly lovely and definitely fit. Victoria Secret and Maidenform would have a difficult time making it in Buenos Aires as an informal research study I conducted personally indicated at least 56.4% of all women observed do not wear bras in this warm and sunny city. Not to put too fine a point on it but points are everywhere.

We took a tour the first day in Buenos Aires down to the Tigre River and boarded a catamaran for a cruise through the river delta where we saw all of the houses along the banks of the various islands. These homes ranged from run down shanties to upscale shanties to decent bungalows to small mansions, most built up on stilts to avoid the flooding which is a regular event on this river. The people are virtually isolated on these islands. They work on the islands at the paper manufacturing plants or sugar cane plantations which are hidden in the middle of each island and don’t often leave nor do they need to. There are even floating markets that come to their individual homes to provide everything from groceries to clothing to drinking water to propane to medical supplies. These “grocery boats” cruise up and down the river delivering their orders to the riverside villas with their Victorian docks and English gardens interspersed with traditional rowing and boating clubs in a world which has changed little since the 1920’s.

Now, about the Tango. Tango, both the music and the dance is an integral part of Argentine culture. In many ways, it defines the culture of these fiery and passionate people. Tango was first performed in the brothels of La Boca, which is the colorful district down by the mouth of the river at the port. Men would frequent these houses of ill repute and while waiting their turns to go upstairs would spend their time creating artistic and athletic dance steps. The music came in via an instrument called a “squeeze box”, a kind of mini-accordion which has become the standard instrument in all Tango trios or quartets, which now might include violins, bass fiddles and an occasional piano. At first the men began dancing the Tango with each other not in a sensual way but as a form of competition, each man challenging the other to come up with more complex and forceful dance steps. Later on, the ladies would come down from upstairs and Tango morphed into the graceful, athletic and sensual dance it is today. Tango professionals fling their bodies and legs around with such abandon it is a wonder sensitive body parts are not more frequently injured or lost all together.

Originally Tango was outwardly shunned by polite society, but gained rapid popularity as men and women snuck (or is it sneaked) down to La Boca to watch and participate in this exciting music and dance. Tango spilled out of the brothels and into the clubs which began to spring up all over the district. Businessmen, with briefcases still in hand, would don masks so they could not be identified and steal into the clubs at siesta time or after work. Finally, Tango spread throughout the city as well as the entire country and permeated every aspect society. We went to La Ventana, one of the most famous Tango venues for a show and my photos cannot capture the passion of this dance and certainly not the magic of this music, but trust me, it is a magical experience and a delight to hear and see.

We make our way to Punta del Este, Uruguay for a short day prior to a two day sail to Brazil and the exciting city of Rio de Janeiro! Until then, God Bless you all.

Jud and Vicki

Monetvideo Photos

Here are some of the photos that relate to my previous blog. Hope you enjoy. Jud

Montevideo, Uruguay

Dear Family and Friends,

The Portuguese explorer Juan Diaz de Solis was cruising the eastern bank of the Rio de la Plata (Silver River) when he first saw the hill near the mouth of the harbor and exclaimed, “Monte vide eu” or “I see a hill” and that is supposedly how Montevideo, Uruguay got its name. Once a very rich country, Uruguay is a shadow of its former colonial times but the sumptuous architecture still exists, albeit in somewhat less than its original glory. Montevideo is Uruguay’s only major metropolis with approximately 3 million residents or about one-sixth of the total population of this once again emerging country.

The largest exports for this country are agriculturally based with the most prominent one being beef with an up and coming segment being wine. Twenty-three miles outside of Montevideo we visited the Juanico wine region of Uruguay and a family-owned winery which has been in continual production since 1835. We toured the vineyards, leaning about the various varieties which have gained international recognition and gold medals at some of the most prestigious wine competitions worldwide. In addition to all of the usual white and red varieties (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), Uruguay’s flagship variety is Tannat, which produces, we were told, a full-bodied red. Perhaps it is just my unsophisticated palette but I found it to be full of color and scent but less than full on flavor; a very dry wine with high tannins.

The winery was beautiful and full of rustic elegance and the wine cellar, built in 1840, with its hundreds of French oak barrels and musky walls was charming. We sampled various wines with cold meats, cheese, homemade breads and stuffed pastries then watched a demonstration of Tango dancing performed by the runner up of last year’s national Uruguay competition. My photos do not do the grace and athleticism (not to mention sensuality) of this couple justice. They were fabulous!

Back in Montevideo Vicki and I headed for the quintessential lunch experience at the Mercado del Puerto, a restored building of vaulted iron beams and colored glass. It houses multiple stalls and eateries where, over large fires, the best “parrillas” or grilled beef is cooked. It is a mix of casual lunch counters (where Vicki and I sat) or sit-down restaurants all under one roof. The place was packed and locals and tourists mixed in this friendly, if not chaotic setting. They say you have not been to Uruguay if you have not eaten their beef and I must say it is wonderful. On the grill were steaks of all cuts, chops, lamb, sausages, ribs, peppers and onions, and grilled mozzarella, the cooking of which was being orchestrated by a grill chef who was a great show all by himself. The smell of roasting meats permeated the entire building and the noise and commotion created by these dozen (or more) open fire grills and their ravenous patrons were intoxicating. We had brochette de loma and a grande cerveza (bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin with grilled red peppers and onions and a big beer) that was simply marvelous.

We will reverse our course this evening and proceed back south to latitude 34° 35’ 13” S to Buenos Aires, Argentina; the ninth largest city in the world with a population of 7 million people and birthplace of The Tango! Until then, God Bless you all.

Jud and Vicki
trong>PS having trouble uploading my photos with the exception of this rather cute Uruguayan girl, but will send in other posts tomorrow morning. J.

Puerto Madryn - Even More Photos

Here are just a few more from Puerto Madryn. Jud and Vicki

Puerto Madryn - More Photos

HERE ARE SOME MORE PHOTOS FROM THE ESTANCIA AT PUERTO MADRYN, ARGENTINA. ENJOY. Jud and Vicki PS - Check our the hangers on that ram. Whew!

Puerto Madryn - Argentina

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Valentine’s Day!
The entire southern tip of South America is known as Patagonia and it is split between Chilean Patagonia on the Pacific side and Argentine Patagonia on the Atlantic side. It is like a separate region of both countries with their own unique cultural diversity. Citizens in both countries consider themselves as superior to their northern neighbors, much like the Catalonians of eastern Spain…..bigger, stronger, more hardy, more industrious and, in some cases, more intelligent. If left up to most Patagonians, on both sides of the border, they would split off from their respective countries and form more perfect unions. Not, however, with each other. Chilean Patagonians and Argentine Patagonians are at constant odds with each other, squabbling over territory, lakes, and each other’s attitude.

So how did the region get its name? When this region was discovered by the explorer Hernando de Magallanes (Magellan), he and his men saw no indigenous people, but they did see their footprints in the snow. These indigenous people were perhaps a bit larger than the average height for European men of their time (about 5’6”) but because they wrapped their feet in animal furs to walk through the snow, their footprints looked huge to the explorers. Consequently, they named the region Patagonia, which literally means “land of people with big feet”.

We arrived at Puerto Madryn, Argentina at 7:00 AM. This beautiful gulf and the Peninsula Valdes were also discovered by Magellan in 1520; however, unlike Chilean Patagonia, which was settled initially by the Germans, Argentine Patagonia was settled by the Welsh, who fled religious persecution in Great Britain, and came here around 1865, often through the United States. While all of Patagonia also has significant Spanish and Italian influence (they say the populous speaks Spanish with an Italian accent), the Welsh farming culture still thrives.

The Pampas is a broad desert, much like the Falkland Islands appeared to us, just with lest rocks and more sand and gravel. The countryside is a treeless, low scrub flatland that stretches as far as the eye can see from the sea. The city of Puerto Madryn, with its 85,000 friendly people, is a green jewel on the coast but only because they irrigate it like crazy during the summer. They are an eco friendly bunch, recycle everything and conserve as much of their 8” of annual rainfall as possible. For you Map Heads, Puerto Madryn is at 42° 45’ 42” S latitude and 65° 81’ 38” W, or about the same latitude south as Chicago is north.

The land in this area is all privately owned and is divided up into huge parcels of about 24,000 acres each. This is the average size farm or ranch. Many of them are cattle ranches, but most of them are sheep farms, used for the production of wool and lamb meat. These animals are not fed, they graze. The water they drink is from wells that produce only brackish water, which is thought to be why their meat has such an unusual taste. It is hard to imagine how these healthy, hardy animals can survive on what looks like so little natural foliage and, in fact, it is not easy. Each animal is allotted about 10 acres to survive.

We took a tour this morning which took us out to Punta Loma to see a permanent “resting” colony of sea lions….an outcropping of rocks in the gulf where they rest up after they leave their breeding colony. These elegant mammals are separated into a group of females, who are the harem for a dominant male, and assorted “puppies” or newborns as well as young males called “teenagers” even though they are only four years old. Our tour guide, Mary, told us the dominant males “copulate” up to 10 females at a time (no wonder they need to rest) and they all get pregnant. After calving their single pup, they nurse them for up to four months while the dominant males leave to go out to sea to feed, leaving the females to rear the pups. However, the females are ready for breeding again after only NINETEEN DAYS! Consequently, adult female sea lions are, for all practical purposes, permanently pregnant for their entire 25 to 30 year lives. No wonder there are 500,000 Southern sea lions in this area with a southern hemisphere population of 1.4 million.

Mary also told us one of the big problems is the “teenage” males who are trying to become dominant males. They will rush the rocks trying to “copulate” a female and they are so aggressive they will trample the pups who might accidentally get in their way, killing or severely injuring them. While that is sad, it kind of sounds like teenage males in other mammal species.

From the sea lion colony we went to a working sheep ranch, known as an estancia. We visited Estancia San Guillermo, where the owner and his staff gave us a real treat. They performed a sheep shearing demonstration with a real gaucho shearing two sheep, a yew and a huge ram, for our group. It was incredible how calm and non-confrontational these docile animals were as this really buff gaucho carried them around and wrangled them into complex positions a yoga instructor would admire. I hope the pictures explain the process but when finished he ended up with a pile of wool the size of a large bean bag chair and when he cast it out across a 6’ x 10’ sorting table, it was amazing to see the wool was in one piece.
The ranches keep breeding rams as a ratio of about 1 ram to every 15 to 20 yews. The rest of the males they castrate so their energy goes into producing better wool. How they do this is unbelievable but if anyone is interested I will tell you. This estancia is really close to town, about five miles away and they have been plagued with lower than normal rain and packs of stray dogs from town who wander across their land killing the sheep, not for food, but for entertainment as they do not eat their kill. To survive they have reduced their herds from the normal 1500 to only 500. They sell the wool and also lamb meat but their biggest source of income is from tourism today. We loved the demonstration, drinking the local green tea called Mate (pronounced MA ta), and petting their guanacos (part of the Llama family) and horses and watching the gauchos work.

Finally, we visited the Ecocentro Puerto Madryn Museum, the first center in Argentina exclusively devoted to studying marine ecosystems. It was quite fascinating and we learned a lot.

We are at sea today, sailing north along the coast of Argentina for Montevideo, Uruguay where we will drive up to the Juanico Region where over a million gallons of wine is produced each year. I am sure Vicki and I will partake of a sip or two while there. The next day we will be back in Argentina in Buenos Aires for two days so you will not hear from me again until we are at sea on Friday. Until then, God Bless you all.

Jud and Vicki

The Falkland Islands

Dear Family and Friends,

Just 300 miles northeast of Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, the Falkland Islands (also known as Islas Malvinas) are an archipelago with two main islands, East and West Falkland, and 778 smaller islets and rocks….emphasis on the rock part. The total land area is 4,700 square miles, or about the same size as Connecticut. Three east-west trending mountain ranges, with the highest peak being only the 2,312 foot Mt. Usborne, form the back bone of this desert-like, treeless land with low scrub brush, tall grass and peaty moss moors being the only vegetation. Stanley is the capital and is home to some 1,900 people which is three-fourths the population of the entire island chain. To put that in perspective, Graham, TX has over 8,000 friendly folks. The Falkland Islanders are friendly too, in fact, very much so. Probably because they are just so glad to see anyone from the outside world during the two months that a stray cruise ship or two comes to visit. Our 32 year-old driver, who was from England, came to visit his grandmother, a Falkland native, at age 18 and never returned home. He loves it here and Lord knows you would have to, given the nine month long inhospitable environment of this place.

Don’t get me wrong. The Falklands have their own kind of beauty, but doesn’t it kinda beg the question, why would Great Britain go to war with Argentina for sovereignty over this pile of rocks back in 1982 at the cost of over 400 lives? Could it have been because of the abundant marine wildlife? There are hoards of Peale’s and Commerson’s dolphins, fur seals, and sea lions. Homeward-bound king, gentoo, rockhopper, and Magellanic penguins call the Falklands “home” for a portion of the year. And who could forget the sight of huge black-browed albatross, their eight foot wing span spread, soaring majestically two feet above the waves.

The Argentine military junta, in an effort to distract their citizens from their discontent over domestic economic crisis, invaded based on a claim which dated to Spanish colonial times when all they had in “The Malvinas” was a penal colony and a cattle ranch. Great Britain responded because the British subjects, who made up 95 % of the population of the Falklands at the time, asked the Queen to protect them from the invading Argentines and their bellicose military dictatorship. Margaret Thatcher, equally eager to distract a population beset by their own set of domestic woes, declared war to protect Great Britain’s claim of sovereignty which dates to 1592 when Elizabethan navigator John Davis first sighted the islands. The Argentines had no particular presence in the islands, but they did not want the British to control this area right in the back yard of Argentine Patagonia. Obviously, Great Britain won, but remnants of this bloody war are still evident. We saw orange-suited men with heavy body protection and face shields still out in the fields clearing land mines, buried by the Argentine soldiers to keep the British from re-taking Stanley by land. These stray mines continue to wreak havoc with people and cattle who wander unawares into remote areas surrounding the city.

We took a tour out to one of these remote locations and boarded 4X4 Land Rovers for the most bumpy, harsh, bone-jarring , albeit mine-less, off-road adventure down to a penguin reserve at Bluff Cove Lagoon. There over 1,000 breeding pairs of Gentoo penguins and a growing colony of King penguins occupy this rocky point. They are beautiful, gentle-looking animals and we were able to get up close and personal with them. Sharing the cove with all those penguins were over 100 breeding pairs of Ruddy headed geese, Upland geese, Snowy sheathbills and skuas. We got up close and personal with them too. A little too personal, actually. It took us 15 minutes to get the geese poop and penguin down off our sneakers, but it was worth it. We didn’t see any breeding going on, but I hope you like the all G-rated pictures anyway.

Not much going on in Port Stanley itself, but the town does have a New England flavor or might even remind you of a Scottish fishing village with its houses built from wood salvaged from storm damaged ships and their brightly painted corrugated metal roofs as well as gardens full of summer flowers.

Next, a day at sea will bring us to the Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn (pronounced ma’DREEN), Argentina at the back of Golfo Nuevo, a huge gulf protected by the Peninsula Valdes, at the Atlantic edge of the vast Pampas, land of the Gaucho.

Until then, God bless you all,

Jud and Vicki