Author: bdmarsha

On our own in Buenos Aires

Yesterday was a long travel day; nothing worth describing. But here is a diagrammatic representation of the flights.

Today, our first impression of Buenos Aires was tall, bland, blocky buildings with no ornamentation, some even bordering on ugly. The taxi driver that brought us to the hotel was friendly, happily answering all our questions. His driving was an educational adventure! He did not pay attention to lane markers, even when the road was ten lanes wide. Weaving in and out of traffic into nonexistent lanes while reading his phone to answer our questions, he got us to the hotel without a scratch. Whew!

What do you do when arriving in a new place? Walk around! We wandered on our own for a bit, then followed a walking tour provided by our OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) guide that we had printed at home. Brian and I looked for parks or green spaces first, as we people-watched on the crowded streets. At Plaza Lavalle, an interesting bird, a raptor, swooped down from a light post and landed near us.

The walking tour led us to tall monuments and statues.

Obelisk erected in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the city.

Some of the architecture was European looking; one place even sported gargoyles. Overall, however, the feel is corridors of tall block buildings, shops on the lowest floor with residences above. Many buildings blocked the sunlight. Some of the balconies were filled with plants, but overall, the upper parts of the towering structures were barren. One of the streets we encountered was known as Buenos Aires Broadway, like New York. Theaters and bookstores abound. Buenos Aires has more bookstores per capita than any other major city.

Many trees were new to us. We first noticed large whitish balls on a green leafed tree, that turned out to be seed balls. This one had long sharp spikes on the trunk, a sure squirrel deterrent. Although we did not see any squirrels. Actually, the most common life form other than human was pigeon.

Floss silk tree with the cotton ball seeds

Another leafy tree was dressed in vivid red flowers.

People watching was a full day endeavor. A large percentage were young and childless, but those with kids were also very young. Everyone, even our age, walked fast. While we, as tourists, were looking at all the new sights walking slowly. People had to go around us on the sidewalk.

For lunch, we ate at the recommended pizza restaurant. Argentine pizza crust is thick and light. The vegetables on it tasted garden fresh. A popular local eatery.

As we continued on the walking tour, we found two statues of famous Argentine comedians. Brian posed with them, holding our leftover pizza.

We visited a chocolate shop to finish our tour for the day.

Chile & Argentina

Beginning in late October, us two geeks will be joined by some members of our hiking club and friends for a tour with Overseas Adventure Travel: Chile & Argentina: The Andes to Patagonia.

Here is a map of the tour route.

The tour begins and ends in Buenos Aires.

Because of the large distances between places of interest, the tour includes two flights within Argentina and one flight within Chile.

It will be Spring when we arrive in a couple of weeks and begin blogging.

In Seattle at the end of our journey

We stayed with the cruise people until Wednesday morning. The hotel where we stayed was deep downtown, so that morning we wandered around the piers and Pike Street Market. After a delicious lunch featuring crab, we went back to that hotel and walked to another for the rest of our Seattle stay, visiting with friends and family. That night, we shared dinner with Clare’s sister.

Mural on the Queen Anne Beerhall, where we ate dinner

Although we have visited Seattle a few times, we had never seen the Chihuly Garden & Glass Museum. Spectacular!

We were happy that so many friends and family members made time to visit with us. We shared dinner with geo-buddies from graduate school days, an entire day with a high school friend, and met with two nieces, three grand children of one of Clare’s sisters and a different sister, for an enjoyable evening of hotdogs, hamburgers, and S’mores. A perfect end to our Alaska adventures.

Southern Puget Sound and Mount Rainier from the plane as we left for Denver

Debarkation Day, July 8

There’s No Place Like Nome

Packing for leaving the ship can be complicated. They need your luggage the night before, but you have to sleep, and know what you need to wear the next day. No changes.

Our group was leaving Nome late for the flight to Seattle. We wanted to see Nome – no place like it – and we had a half a day. But what was the weather going to be like? Since we were landing in Seattle that night, where we have both friends and family, choosing the correct gear for the time we would be in Nome and the later flight was challenging.

A bit rougher as we go farther north in the Bering Sea

Nome is at the end of the Iditarod dogsled race in winter

All the locals were friendly on the streets. We received lots of smiles, hellos and welcomes as we wandered around. The 3500 humans and 2500 musk oxen seemed to want us there.

Don’t go near the musk ox. They are large and their horns very sharp.

Flowers, wild and otherwise, on the streets

One of the locals told us that the Fish and Game department had to kill a young grizzly that morning. It had been rummaging through the garbage at an apartment complex near the town’s museum, which many cruise passengers would visit. She didn’t know who would get the meat or fur.

In the parts of Alaska where we met people who lived there, the desire to use every part of everything they had was strong. In general, everyone ate the meats of the local animals. When asked about musk ox, one said that they taste like beef, but more tender.