The Story of our trip to Rio, Iguazu, and the Antarctica with the MV FRAM, Feb. 09

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

and the ships log:

 

 

 

 

They also explained to us that the most important machine on the bridge is the coffee machine!

 

The rest of the day we spent relaxing, reading a book in the observation lounge, lunchtime, and writing notes for this story.

 

 

In the evening there was a charity auction and the money received was for the Albatross Fund. They auctioned one of the ships jackets but as we all already had one, the only bidder was the generous Mr. Antoine Braastad (the owner of the Braastad Cognac), and they also actioned 4 sketches drawn by one of the expedition team, a bottle of the Braastad Cognac and the navigation chart for this trip.

 

[caramelo]

Tuesday, 3rd of March.

 

 

 

 

We had another day of navigation through the Drake Passage and we still had a very calm sea. We had a quiet relaxing day just preparing the suitcases etc.

 

We had a Swiss professional photographer, Sandra Walser, aboard for this trip and in the afternoon she gave a presentation of her work and we went to see it. She had taken some very good photos and all the passengers would receive a free CD with this collection of photos as a token from Hurtigruten. The only pity is that the photos are in the PDF format so I can not use any of them for my digital photo album.

 

 

 

There also was a photo taken by one of the passengers which was published in the ship´s blog of the trip, which is of a whale, which is the following one:

 

 

 

and the other photo which was not in the PDF format was the one of the expedition team, who were all very profesional, really a great team:

 

 

 

also on the CD was the break-down of the amount of passengers aboard and their different nationalities:

 

 

 

 

In the evening we had the Captain´s Farewell Dinner:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

Once again the expedition team:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

It is a little blurred but this was the dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving the ship...... here are a few general images,

 

 

Of the ice & fruit carvings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

Wednesday, 4th of March.

 

We got up early as we had to depart from the ship at 8am in Ushuaia.

 

We were very sad when the time came to say goodbye to the MV FRAM........it had been an unforgettable trip and experience.

 

 

In Ushuaia some of the passengers had excursions organised as their flights were later, but our group had the early flight so at 8am we were collected by bus just outsider the ship. It parked near to the Port and we could leave our hand luggage inside the bus and we had one hours free time in Ushuaia from 8 until 9am befote the transfer to the airport.

 

The last images of the ship in Ushuaia..... this time with no obstacles or other big ships in front of or behind it:

 

 

 

 

 

At 8am there is very little that one can do in Ushuaia as naturally everything is closed at that time, so we just had a small walk through the town.

 

We could see from closer up the murals where they have painted on the wall “Ushuaia .....End of the World, Beginning of Everything – Fin del Mundo, Principio de Todo”, and the pity is that even the graffiti reaches the End of the World!!!

 

 

 

We had a coffee to wake us up a little ......... and then we continued our walk.

 

We passed by the old jail which today is a museum, but....... logically it was closed!!!:

 

[caramelo]

and we couldn´t leave Ushuaia without seeing penguins...... they even go to the local gymnasium:

 

 

 

At 9am we went back to the bus and were transferred to the airport and took the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires.

 

 

 

If you look closely at the next photo, up at the top in the centre, just below the cloud, there is a straight line in a grey colour....... well I think that this is the runway at Ushuaia:

 

 

 

We arrived at Buenos Aires at 3:15pm.

 

TO BE CONTINUED.................

[MMDown Under]

What a delight to wake up to your continuing story. Thank you so much for all the interesting details, which you provide, in addition to your beautiful photos.

[caramelo]

Thanks Marion and Barry.

 

Here´s the rest:

 

Wednesday, the 4th of March.

 

When we arrived at 3:15pm in Buenos Aires it was absolutely pouring rain. We could not complain as we had had fantastic weather right throughout the whole trip. We were determined to make the most of it regardless.

 

We had reserved in advance a city tour of Buenos Aires, but as we arrived at the hotel later than expected and some of the places closed early, we had to chose between seeing the area of “La Boca” or the cemetery of La Recoleta where Eva Peron rests. We had previously read on internet that La Boca is sometimes not totally safe and especially in the evenings so we thought it would be better to go there with our guide and I didn´t want to miss seeing the colourful houses there. We calculated that we would have time the next day before taking the ferry to Uruguay to first see the cemetery of La Recoleta and that we could do on our own.

 

It was really torrential rain and we didn´t want to lose time looking for our umbrellas in the suitcases so we just put on our two waterproof jackets from the ship and started our tour.

 

We had two guides...... or more specifically one was the driver and the second was our guide, and they drove us through all the different areas of Buenos Aires, where we saw the different streets, buildings, Embassies and we could see that, even in the pouring rain, it is a beautiful city. I don´t have photos of the city tour as it was impossible to take any through the car Windows in the rain.

 

We arrived at Boca where we got out of the car to see it a little. I loved the “el Caminito” street with its multicoloured houses. Here are some images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

After we left La Boca we continued driving around in the car seeing the centre of Buenos Aires in general. Once we had finished, we thought it would be better to inside somewhere rather than out walking in the rain, so we suddenly thought of visiting the famous Cafe Tortoni which luckily turned out to be very close to our hotel. It really was nice and interesting to see and I was glad that we had decided to go there:

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

Esta última foto arriba es la explicación del siguiente imagen abajo:

 

 

Adjoining the café and the bar area there were rooms for private meetings and also small theatre rooms where they also do a tango show:

 

 

That evening we decided not to go far away as we had been up very early that morning and we were tired after our flight and alter the city tour and also with the bad weather so we just had dinner at the hotel.

 

An aperitif which they brought us:

 

 

and being in Buenos Aires, one feels like having their meat:

 

[caramelo]

Although it looks good in the photos, but it really was not good. We were the only clients in the restaurant so there was no atmosphere, and then my food arrived totally cold, but as we were so tired it was the most convenient option.

 

Thursday, the 5th of March.

 

When we got up is was a wonderful sunny day, totally the opposite of the previous day.

 

After breakfast we took a taxi and headed for the cemetery of La Recoleta.

 

 

 

 

Normally I do not like cemeteries but I have to say that this place was very special and very interesting to see it. It is nearly like a small village where the mausoleums are the size like small houses.

 

 

 

 

Here is the explanation of the history of the cemetery:

 

 

 

 

And as it is so big there is a map of the different streets showing the location of the different mausoleums:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And some of my photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And this is Eva Peron & her family, Duarte´s mausoleum:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finished in the Recoleta, we went to Puerto Madera with a taxi to take the ferry to Colonia in Uruguay.

 

TO BE CONTINUED ……………………..

[caramelo]

Thursday, the 5th of March.

 

We went in a taxi to the Buquebus station in Puerto Madera, Buenos Aires.

 

 

 

 

We had made a reservation for a day trip by Internet from Spain directly with the company Buquebus. The day trip included the return ferry fare plus an excursión to show us Colonia and with lunch included.

 

In the Buquebus station everything worked perfectly. We handed in our ticket printed from internet with our passports and within a couple of minutes we had our boarding pass for the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

The ferry:

 

 

and inside:

 

 

 

[caramelo]

The crossing between Buenos Aires and Colonia, Uruguay only takes one hour, so we arrived in Colonia at 12 o´clock midday. The guides from Buquebus were waiting at the terminal when we arrived and they organised the people onto different buses according to their nationalities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the following photo we had very good weather:

 

 

 

It didn´t take us long to realise that we were in Uruguay, we only had to look at the car registration number plates:

 

 

 

 

As we had taken some time until all the passengers were on the bus and time was getting on, we were brought first to the restaurant for lunch and would do the excursion afterwards. On the way to the restaurant we saw the first images of Colonia and its typical streets from the bus:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

The restaurant was called:

 

 

 

It has its history:

 

 

 

 

It was really very good. We were positively surprised as we expected it to be much more simple and basic being a lunch included in an excursion.

 

 

The starters were a buffet buffet:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And the main course was a choice from the barbeque, followed by a dessert:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the weather was good and warm we sat outside on the terrace and after a short while some musicians came and started to play, although the music was the style from the Andes, Peru with the pan-flute and was not music from Uruguay!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from our table was interesting, this was the street:

 

 

 

 

There were many old cars and the majority were the models SEAT 600 or FIAT 500, like the red one in the photo above.

 

Or this model which I can not remember which one it is:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

Even the mopeds and motorbikes were old………… and absolutely nobody used safety helmets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

But on the other hand we also saw modern vehicles, and we were surprised to see so many people driving around with golf buggies, but they are nice and cool and very conveniente for driving around the town:

 

 

 

 

 

Or this blue one:

 

 

[caramelo]

and this one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

and several classical cars like these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We thought that we had seen nice classical cars and then we saw these ones:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

But when we got closer we realised that these were not normal cars ................. as this one even had a table set up for food inside it!!!! :

 

 

 

 

And this one with the plants and trees inside:

 

 

 

 

It turned out that they belong to, as decoration and publicity for a bar-restaurant:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the bus took us for a general tour of Colonia………….

 

 

We went towards the beach, and on the way saw several things,

 

 

The Bull Ring with an Arabic style:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

The guide explained that there were only 8 bull fights held there and then bull fighting was banned in the country so the ring was closed down and today only the ruins remain.

 

The majority of houses that we passed on the way to the beach are holiday homes for people in Argentina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked this last one with the built in garage:

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the beach:

 

 

[caramelo]

It was a nice and natural beach as it is not exploited:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The views from the Beach in Colonia:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then returned by bus to the centre of Colonia where we had approximately 30 minutes of free time.

 

 

 

We started directly in the centre where we saw many typical cobble stone streets.

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

and the old doorway arch, the city walls and the bridge:

 

 

 

 

The ruins of the San Francisco Convent and the Lighthouse. The convent was built in 1694 and destroyed by a fire in 1704 and they started building the lighthouse in 1845. The work was interrupted by the war and then were restarted and eventually finished in 1857:

 

 

 

 

 

We walked along the typical streets and I found them very colourful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was obvious that we were in Uruguay, we were constantly reminded..... by the souvenirs that we saw in all the ships, like these Pictures etc.:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

We arrived back at the Buquebus Terminal and our ferry left puntually at 5:30pm, arriving back in Buenos Aires at 6:30pm.

 

We had just enough time to go back to our hotel and change clothes and freshen up to be back downstairs ready in the reception at 8pm to go to the Opera Pampa dinner show

 

 

 

 

This is an explanation of the show from a publicity leaflet:

 

Be entertained on an exciting evening on the town in Buenos Aires. You'll experience the drama and equestrian displays of the Opera Pampa gaucho show, enjoy a typical gaucho barbecue and visit a winery to sample Argentina's finest wines.

Pampa Opera's sound and light spectacular includes fireworks and thrilling equestrian displays. The brilliantly choreographed epic show is a dynamic and entertaining introduction to Argentina's history, from the arrival of the horse to the birth of the nation. Argentina's gaucho history comes alive in a succession of scenes featuring 50 folkloric dances, musicians, singers and brilliant horsemanship.

After the show, you'll feast on Argentina's famous beef, grilled in a typical gaucho barbecue pit.

 

We were collected in a minibus from our hotel and we picked up the other clients from their different Hotels on the way, and we arrived at the premises, which was situated in the middle of the Palermo district, at 9pm.