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About two years ago, Winnie and I began to think about the continents that we had not set foot upon, Asia (Southeast), Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. \u00a0We easily decided that the answer would most certainly have to be: \u00a0Antarctica.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Hands down.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Why? \u00a0Well, it’s been said that there are two types of people in the world. \u00a0Those who ask “Why?” and those who say “Why the hell not?” \u00a0(Guess which group that I’m drawn to?) \u00a0And besides, we rationalized, Antarctica was the place most likely to dramatically change in the future… and probably not for the better. \u00a0Of course there were other reasons, too, like personal challenge, to photograph the scenery and wildlife, and because relatively few tourists have been there. \u00a0By “relatively”, I mean how many tourists have been to Disneyland versus the number of tourists who have been to… oh, I donno… maybe hiking across the (currently active) volcanic caldera on Deception Island, Antarctica in 50kt winds?<\/p>\n

Bottom line, ADVENTURE.<\/p>\n

It’s not easy to get from Portland, Oregon to the Antarctic Circle at\u00a066.33.44. south of the equator. \u00a0It’s a long way. \u00a0But it doesn’t necessarily have to be painful. \u00a0We ponied up for round trip chairs in Business First class from PDX to Buenos Aires,\u00a0thence\u00a0scheduling coach travel from BA to Ushuaia, Argentina, after a day of rest. \u00a0Problem is, that when we got to BA, we didn’t rest that much.<\/p>\n

Buenos Aires
\nBuenos Aires has two airports, domestico, and internacional. \u00a0Both are equally inefficient. \u00a0They run on an Argentine schedule. \u00a0Casual. \u00a0If you ever venture there, you’ll need to set your watch back a few years and try to run on that schedule too. \u00a0If you’re instructed to show up an hour early for a domestico flight or two hours prior to an internacional departure… add at least two extra hours to each of those rather optimistic plans. \u00a0It’ll keep you sane. \u00a0We added an extra three extra hours por internacional. \u00a0Kept us, well, you know.<\/p>\n

The ride from the aeropuerto to the Claridge Hotel had me pondering life there. \u00a0On one side of the road were modern high-rise\u00a0luxury\u00a0apartments filled with well-to-do people who earned plenty of money and dressed well. \u00a0On the other side of the road was a shanty town made of concrete block buildings from one to three stories high. \u00a0Most had glass in the windows. \u00a0Many did not. \u00a0Laundry swayed gently in the soft, but oppressively warm and humid breeze, from make-shift lines strung across practically every other balcony. \u00a0There are no washer\/dryers in this barrio. \u00a0Many of the balconies did not even have guard rails or other barriers at their edges… their concrete floors just extended from the wall out into mid-air, and stopped there, with a junk filled roof or the dirty street below. \u00a0It appeared that 2 X 6’s had been placed between some of the buildings second or third floors for passage. \u00a0I imagined the people who lived there to be mostly hard-working, earning very few pesos, and with far too many children to support. \u00a0In the distance, I could see the spires of two magnificent cathedrals. \u00a0The gap between the haves and have nots here is immense. Wider than the Rio Uruguay’s delta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0The Claridge Hotel, Buenos Aires \u00a0is a great little hotel in the middle of a huge concrete jungle. \u00a0By South American standards, I’d have to classify the\u00a0neighborhood\u00a0as “good”. \u00a0It has a great old bar inside, dark, wood with many coats of varnish, and many\u00a0more\u00a0coats of wax.. \u00a0It’s quiet, has a nice respectable clientele. \u00a0Nobody speaks English. \u00a0I decided that it would be a great place to find a nice quiet corner, stake a claim on it, set up the recording device and laptop. \u00a0Sit and write for a few weeks. Have the single-malt sent out on a\u00a0conveyor\u00a0belt at the appropriate tempo.<\/div>\n

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It has a super convenient next door neighbor,\u00a0Vinos Argentinos<\/i>. \u00a0They specialize in Argentine malbecs. \u00a0And they do it really well, at buen precios. \u00a0Winnie, I think that they’re gonna miss us when we’re gone.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Across the street from the Claridge and the Vinos is the ubiquitous Argentine Sex Shop.<\/div>\n

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We weren’t in a tenderloin district, at all. \u00a0Seems that Argentinians just like sex. \u00a0And sex shops, apparently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Next, we’re going to have a brief visit to a cemetery. \u00a0One that is as \u00a0interesting as Paris’ Pere Lachaise (Oscar Wilde, Alice B. Toklas, Jim Morrison), or New Orleans’ St. Louis #1 (Easy Rider<\/i>). \u00a0There is but one grave that drew me to Recoleta Cemetery. \u00a0That of Eva Peron. \u00a0 \u00a0But as it turned out, the trek through this beautiful cemetery to the Duarte-Peron crypt was the best part.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sunday, January 22, 2012 About two years ago, Winnie and I began to think about the continents that we had not set foot upon, Asia (Southeast), Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. \u00a0We easily decided that the answer would most certainly have to be: \u00a0Antarctica. \u00a0Hands down. Why? \u00a0Well, it’s been said that there are two types … <\/p>\n

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