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Unable to post photos to previous entries so here is a selection from our adventure.

The Adventure Ends

Pedro picked us up at the hotel and took us to the airport, where we apprehensively approached check-in and the luggage hassle.  They wouldn't allow our carry on.  It had to be checked.  They piled it all on the scales and we thought, here we go again. Then we saw Pedro give a head nod and make a subtle comment to the airline staff.  Sudenly, our baggage disappeared down the conveyer belt without any weight overcharge, just "Have a nice flight."  Check-in also only took about 2 minutes. When we boarded the plane, it was a brand new jet-large seats, leg room and a wonderful flight crew.  What a great way to end our flying experience with Aerolineas.  Certainly, a great deal different than all our other airport and flights via Aerolineas in Argentina.  When we originally saw our flight schedules and the long layovers between flights in Argentina, we asked the agent why?  He just said, you'll need the time.  As it turned out, a 3-4 hour space between flights when using the domestic airport is just about right.  So, should any of you one day have to travel within Argentina using Aerolineas, make sure you have hours to check-in and make your flight.  Our flight home via American went without a hitch and we got back to BWI at 12:00 noon, only to find the temperature in Baltimore, colder than in Antarctica.  We were picked-up by our friend and neighbor Joe, with a welcoming cold nose and prolific licks from Maxie, his long haired minature daschund and also our "god dog."  Thus ended the vacation adventure of a lifetime.  It's always nice to come home, but we have been left with thoughts of wonderful new friends and experiences of which we could only have dreamed.  Should any of you decide one day to venture into the polar regions, make your first call to Quark Expeditions.  Without a doubt, they are the class in this category.

Post Script:  While on board ship we only had access to email.  We would send our entries to our nephew, Ian, and he would post them to our blog.  This meant we were unable to include any photos.  So, we are going back to our previous entries and include some photos from the approximately 2000 we took to give you a flavor for our experience.  Hope you can take the time to reread and view the photos.

Iguazu Falls

The ride from the Lodge through the jungle back to the strip shopping center was quite different.  The owner personally took us in the new long cab Nissan pick-up-comfortable.  The road was also significantly improved.  When we arrived at the center, the owner called the car service to pick us up for the ride to the Sheraton.  We were booked into a room that overlooked the Falls-what an incredible view.  We spent the day touring the Falls with our guide, Pedro. We ended the experience by taking the boat ride that put us under the flow.  When we finished, we were soaked.  After an open truck ride through more jungle back to the hotel, we met up with our Aussie friends from the cruise who were also at the hotel.  We ended the day with good food and good company.  Brent and Jayne are great folks.

The Day From Hell Ending in Shangri-la

We were to be picked up at our hotel by 7:20 AM for a flight departing from Buenos Aires (BA) domestic airport at 9:30 A.M.  At 7:35 the car had not shown so we (fortunately) asked the bellhop to call the service.  They had forgotten us.  Luckily the bellhop had lived in the USA for several years and was fluent in English, since our Spanish is nil.  The car arrived at 7:50 and got us to the airport around 8:10.  The lines were all from 200-400 people long.  We had our boarding passes and only had to check our luggage.  To make a long story short we ended up in 5 different lines and got our luggage checked at 9:35 (yes, 5 minutes after our flight was to have departed).  Then a hitch-we were informed our luggage was overweight and we had to pay $100.  They took our boarding passes and we had to go to another place (and line) to pay the charge at which time we got new boarding passes.  We then ran to our gate (other end of the airport, upstairs, through security-Tom's artificial joints always require a pat down).  The only person at the gate was a woman who looked at our passes and told us to head to the bus for gate 7.  We ran to the bus only to have to wait.  When it arrived, 12 others had joined us and we were taken to the plane.  They had had to hold the flight for 45 minutes for us.  Then the big question-did our luggage make it?  Much to our relief, after a 2 hour flight to Iguazu our luggage showed up and the car service rep. was their with a name card waiting to take us to our next destination, a small strip shopping center in the middle of nowhere (Raices, Argentina).  It was 12:00 noon and we were told to wait and we'd be picked up at 2:00 or 2:30 for the trip to our lodge in the rainforest.  2:00 came and no one.  Finally at 2:30 this beat up rusted hulk of a 4 wheel drive sport ute pulled into the lot and out jumps a "jungle bandito"-fatigues, head scarf, combat vest, beard.  As it turned out a Flemish couple were also there waiting as was a young 6'5" German guy.  We craweled in the rear seat and the other three crawled into the middle seat.  The slider windows next to us were rusted open as were the roll down windows for the others.  We then headed off for a 2 hour ride over a red clay mud road into the jungle.  As we rode, red clay mud chunks were flying in the windows and hitting us.  We just looked at each other and whispered, "My god, what have we gotten ourselves into?"  We knew at any point the driver and the "bandido" were going to whip out a machete, cut our throats and take our money and luggage.  Tena looked over and whispered, remember the scene in "Romancing the Stone" where Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were in his vehicle driving through the jungle?  That is exactly what it was like, only on steroids.  The driver was doing 40-50 mph and the vehichle was fishtailing and sliding side ways for the entire drive.  After 2 hours of holding on for dear life we pull into this absolutely beautiful setting in the Yacutinga Rainforest.  The Yacutinga Lodge was designed to blend into the environment and was built to be eco friendly.  As it turns out, the area had had a hundred year rain the day before we arrived and the Lodge's new fancy vehicles wouldn't handle the road in its current condition.  So, they had to rent on short notice the 4X4 vehicle that picked us up.  As for the "bandido," his name was Corino.  He was one of the most interesting characters we have ever met.  The German kid, Daniel, described him as being fluent in 4 different people languages, 3 monkey languages and untold number of bird languages.  He could literally call monkeys and birds who would come where we could see them.  He knew the rainforest environment, flora and fauna, like no other.  That day and the next day were filled with a morning jungle walk, kayaking on the Iguazu and a 3 hour evening/night hike back to the Lodge.  When we approached a swamp near dusk, he managed to attract a Cayman to us-right up to us.   After we returned to the Lodge for our last night a very unique dinner awaited us.  The perfect end to a perfect day.

Last Night Aboard & Debarking

After our Rounding of Cape Horn everyone adjourned to the dining room for our "Final Supper."  When dinner was over and the tables cleared a group of us, mostly crazy Aussies, but also a couple of Americans, Canadians and Russians got into a singing contest of national songs.  We definitely got an interesting presentation of "Waltzing Matilda," the "National Anthem" (and other US songs) and the "Russian Anthem."  Tom ended up doing the Cossack dance with one of the Russians while the Russian crew stood around and sang.  He probably shortened the life of his one last remaining knee by several years.  The crew finally chased us from the dining room and we moved onto the lounge to continue the cruise wind down.  We headed to our cabin around midnight to finish packing for an early morneing debarking in Ushuaia.  Others continued 'til about 3:00 PM.  Saying good-bye to everyone the following morning was sad.  We were leaving fellow adventurers who had become good friends.  Tom got a hearty Russian good-bye (Hugs and kisses on both cheeks from both Valeri and Natalya).  We stored our luggage for several hours and knocked around Ushuaia (Fin del Mondo-End of the World) one last time before heading for a mid afternood flight to Buenos Aires.  Many of those on the Expedition with us were on the plane, so we had a final good-bye when we got to BA.  We got to our beautiful/classic hotel (The Savoy) at 9:30, so had no chance to check out BA.  

Drake Lake

Wow!  Where to begin the ending of this incredible adventure.  The infamous
Drake Passage, known for its extreme weather and raging storms, was very
kind to us.  Crossing it was more like Drake Lake.  We had minimal winds and
calm seas.  As a result the captain headed west into Chilean waters and then
turned East so we could round Cape Horn.  As we headed East a small sailboat
flying a French flag was heading West around the Horn.  This is our last
night on the boat.  We just finished viewing a DVD we will all receive that
is composed of the photos people took on the trip and then downloaded.  One
of the crew screened over 3000 photos to come up with the final version.
The slide show was a recap of our trip and really captured the experience.
We debark in Ushuaia in the morning and people will be heading off to the 4
corners of the earth.  We will be heading for Buenos Aires to spend the
night before heading into the rainforest and Iguazu Falls for 4 days.  We
will be staying at the Yucatinga Lodge and get there by flying and then 4
wheel drive vehicle.  Don't know if we'll have access to internet in the
jungle so this may be our last blog entry before we return to Baltimore on
Jan. 22.  If so, good-bye and hope all of you had a wonderful New Year.

Gale Force Conditions

Sailed through the night to the South Shetland Islands for two possible
landings, but no luck.  The wind is howling at a constant 45+ knots, which
are gale force conditions.  The captain has done everything possible to find
us a safe landing beach, but the anchor keeps dragging.  Even with the
thrusters at full power to help hold the ship in position, he is not able to
do so.  In about 2 hours we will leave Antarctica and head across the Drake
Passage for Ushuaia.  We have two days sail ahead of us across what could be
some rough weather.  We won't know for sure 'til we get in the passage.  The
passengers who have previously suffered from seasickness are all dreading
the voyage.  So far, we continue to be some of the lucky few who have been
unaffected.  Can't believe we will soon be on the homeward leg and our
unique adventure will be over.