Still Travelling

Hi friends, We have just been informed that the sailing trip to Antarctica has been cancelled. Mike, from Ninth Wave Global informed us. Mike came to Ushuaia about 18 days back trying to organizing things of the trip. The Ninth Wave Global's 50ft sail boat that we were to sail on, was delayed in Brazil due to bad weather and they knew it would not reach for a 01-Dec departure. Ninth Wave then looked for another boat to accommodate us, and FERDINANDE has assigned. Unfortunately the FERDINANDE will only reach Ushuaia from Uruguay on 01-Dec. She has been delayed by the awful weather off the east coast of Argentina (the same weather that hampered the search for the Argentine Submarine.  We were left on the shore with no boat to hop across to the Antarctica. We were offered accommodation on a number of Cruise ships by the organizer but politely declined. Yes, disappointed, but pleased to reach so far, and to have a great travel mate like David. Over the past month and a ...

PUNTA ARENAS (Do read the section on Puerto Madryn. I have uploaded a number of pictures. The video of the whales have not come through, but I am still checking) We reached Punta Arenas after a 4 hours (our shortest bus trip so far) journey. We had to trudge about 2 km to our home for a week. Much to my dislike the 'home' was on top of the hill. One could see the harbour below and that brought a smile to my place once we reached.  The accommodation as usual was basic, two small rooms, a small dining area. It was centrally heated, and that warmed our souls as the night temperatures drop to 5C and the wind could blow upto 30 knots.  Not much was planned for Punta Arenas. The constant travelling has slowed me down, although David like a ravaging bull continued with the same steam. We did rest and get back our energy, with some good homemade food, and visit to the local sea food places.  Daylight is from 5 to 10pm so one is like a wide-eyed owl all day. ...

Back online even though I am freezing. Had to recheck the term "wind chill factor". It has been terribly windy out here in Puerto Natales. The landscape does not seem to fascinate me. After Cordoba it was been virtually the same The Pampas is one of the largest fertile grassland plains in the world, covering almost one third of Argentina’s land area. Pampa is in fact a Quechua word meaning “flat plain”. The Pampas extends for 750,000 square kilometres from the Atlantic to the Andes and continues into Uruguay. This is the home of cattle ranches, sheep estancia and the gaucho! Patagonia, vast steppe (windswept plains), covers more than one million square kilometers (400,000 square miles) and plays host to an incredible variety of landscapes and wildlife. Stretching across South America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, this region straddles two countries divided by the Andes Mountains: Chile and Argentina. We arrived after a 6 hour...

We have arrived at El Calafate a town near the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz. It’s mainly known as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park, home to the massive Perito Moreno Glacier. The journey from Puerto Madryn was indeed a long one. A seen (7) hour bus journey from Puerto Madryn to Comodoro Rivadavia where we thought we could board a bus to El Calafate. However, we were wrong, but much to out luck we had a bus going out to Ros Gallegos and another one from there to El Calafate. So it would be an overnight drive to Gallegos and another 4 hours to El Calfate. 30 hours in all. We departed Sunday 0800 and reached El Calafate 1400 on Monday morning. Staying at a (Distance 1545km) nice pleasant, eat and clean hostel called Los Pinos which is close to the Centro. TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED  FLIGHT:  18685km BUS: 6060  km We did not travel down to El Calafate without a reason. Ever since I looked at the ...