We Start Our Antarctic Adventure by Traveling to Buenos Aires

Nine days after returning from our trip to Hawaii and a Christmas weekend with the family, we are ready to head to South America and Antarctica. We arose at 0200 so that we could travel to New Orleans, park the car, and pass through security to make a 0600 flight to Miami. Fortunately we had packed the car the previous night, because as we stumbled around the house getting ready to leave, we both forgot to brush our teeth. This would haunt us all day long. No telling what we might have left behind had we delayed packing the car. The flight to Miami was smooth and on time, and we had a 2 hour layover before boarding a wide-body for the 9 hour flight to Buenos Aires. It was going to be a long day with the added irritation of filmy teeth.

Nice digs!

Our flight to Argentina was smooth until we got over the Amazon rainforest where we encountered thermals. A little further south we witnessed some highly elevated, black, flat-topped clouds that are indicative of intense storm cells. Our pilot detoured around the clouds, but it was surreal to be so seemingly close and watch the discharges of lightning flash through them. After we passed this area the sky cleared and we watched a beautiful sunset before giving way to nighttime stars and a 98-cent moon which helped us cope with the long flight. After touching down at the aeropuerto (see how fast we learn!) we were told to follow the yellow line that shepherded us to immigración registrales (we’re rolling),

Jane's happy

an area with no fewer than 30 cubicles staffed with immigration officers. Here we had to show proof that we paid an Argentine tax to get into the country. Without the proof, you don’t enter and it has to be paid in advance online. Some were calling this a visa, but we learned from one of the flight stewards that it’s a retaliatory tax paid by U.S., Australian, and Canadian citizens only, because these countries started to charge fees for Argentinians to enter their country. And America must either charge a lower fee or Argentina really wants U.S. dineros, because it’s good for 10 years for Americans, but Canadians and Australians have to pay on each entry. The tax was $160 pp. It was a little unnerving because all foreigners had to be photographed and have their thumbprint digitized before getting their passports stamped.

View from our room

We're off to baggage claim, and of course our bags were among the last to find their way onto the carousel. Next came customs and a new experience. Everyone had to have their bags x-rayed for prohibited items. Everywhere else we’ve traveled a simple declaration and a possible bag search if you looked shifty, but in Argentina all bags coming off the plane are x-rayed.

The mini-bar's in there

And of the seven lines in which bags were being checked, only one, naturally, was dedicated to foreigners. Now another new experience, we pass through a gauntlet of waiting friends and family members looking for our ride to the hotel. Low and behold we spot a man holding a sign with Capt. Larry’s name on it (no it didn’t say Capt. Larry).

His (right, no seat) and hers

We never had that experience before. He grabs our bags, but it’s immediately obvious that he doesn’t speak a lick of English. We estimate the distance from the airport to the central district of Buenos Aires to be about 30-35 mile, because it took 30 minutes to travel that distance at very-light-traffic speeds of 60-70 mph. We arrive at our hotel, Park Towers, dog-tired, and are in our room around midnight. Our travel agent was gawking at the room rates when she booked. This hotel is used by the cruise line and she wouldn’t let us pay the exorbitant rates they wanted to charge to fly us down, but we did want to stay here to make it easier to connect with the line. Without a doubt it is one of the swankiest places we’ve stayed at and is definitely a cut above Motel 6. In our room Jane finds a book which describes the bucket list idea of staying in the world’s top 100 hotels- and our hotel is in it. So, we scratch one down and 99 to go.

The next morning we get up and have the breakfast buffet before heading out for some exercise and exploration. Our hotel is conveniently located in the heart of the government district, so many landmark buildings, monuments, and museums are within walking distance.

Old clock tower

The trouble for us is that all of the describing plaques and signs are in Spanish, so we have little or no idea what the landmark’s significance is.

Motorcycles everywhere

All we can surmise is that there was an awful lot of fighting throughout Argentina’s history and there are statues, portraits, and memorials to many military bigwigs, many of whom were the country’s rulers.

Plaza de Mayo with Christmas tree!

We make our way to the Plaza de Mayo which was bordered by what we assumed to be the U.S.’s equivalent of the White House. T

Mmmmm...triple bacon!

he entire compound was surrounded by a heavy wrought iron fence, with many military guards watching us take pictures.

Protest banners in the plaza

Nearby we found the Ministries of Defense and Education buildings. The center of the plaza was barricaded and a score of police officers monitored the flow of people into and out of the area.

Interesting architecture

G.I. Jane

The iron fence around the center was plastered with lettered banners which we couldn’t decipher, but we were pretty sure they carried a message of protest. And the beat goes on with generally young people getting disturbed over something the older people have done.

We returned to our hotel and got ready to go to dinner and a tango show that we had purchased through our travel agent. Our voucher said the show started at 1945 and that we would be picked up from our hotel at 1945.

Let's tango!

We had checked with earlier in the day with the concierge about this discrepancy, and were told not to worry since most of the shows didn’t start until around 2200. So, thinking that we had all kinds of time, we decided to have a drink in the hotel’s lounge.

The tango club

We went to the concierge’s desk at 1915, thirty minutes before our printed departure time to find out where the pickup point was, only to be told that the driver had already come and gone, and since we weren’t in our room, there was nothing the hotel could do but get us a cab.

Christmas tango

We were upset and let the concierge know that we had confirmed this reservation with the tour company, and when we earlier prevailed upon their experience to clarify our pickup, were essentially brushed off and told ‘not to worry.’ The best laid plans… So, we end up taking a cab to the hall and were entertained by our cab driver who used to live in New York City. She told us more stuff about downtown Buenos Aires in 20 minutes then we could have learned in 6 months on our own. We met a cute couple from England ‘on holiday’ who sat at the table next to ours, and we enjoyed trading stories with them.

Killer tango shoes...a MUST!

Our dinner was unremarkable, except for the never ending bottle of red wine, but the show was very good. There was a cast of several dancers who performed wild dance moves which caused Capt. Larry to decide not to add learning the tango to the bucket list. Now if he had good legs and knees… Upon leaving we found a tour bus that would take us back to our hotel, but the ride turned out to be a wild affair with the driver displaying his talents for squeezing the bus through very narrow passages at very high rates of speed. We enjoyed the evening even though our cabbie had told us it was not the best venue and wasn’t in a very good part of town. New York-style frankness!

Beating traffic

On our morning walk the next morning, Jane decided that we should venture off the main thoroughfare we had explored and see some of the side streets. The city streets of Buenos Aires lack defined lanes. The larger boulevards are about 3 lanes wide, but the drivers tend to weave between two and three lanes of traffic at a moment’s notice. It is akin to watching NASCAR drivers jockeying for position.

A pregnant tree

And the numerous motorcyclists seem to risk their lives by creating a special lane for themselves that is usually a small slice of roadway taken from the lane of oncoming traffic.

Famous monument at far end

This allows them skirt around the slower automobile traffic, but we have no idea how they avoid being hit.

The days are longer here!

Sometimes they even leave the road and travel on the berm or median, if it gets them through traffic faster.

A Zanella 150

Sidewalk repair is ubiquitous, and our walks took us over some pretty rough patches of sidewalks being repaired, but with no barricades or anything to keep pedestrians from stumbling over a patch that was torn up by the repair process.

Repair in progress

We guess that unlike Americans who would sue over and injury caused by such a site, Argentineans must figure that if you stumble and hurt yourself, you should pay more attention to where you are walking! As we were walking, we happened upon a movie set in the street where filming was about to occur. We watched the crews setting things up then headed on until Capt. Larry told Jane it was time to head back toward the more ‘refined’ part of the city.

Our hotel entrance

Da’ hood was changin’ real fast! The side streets we were on did give us a chance to see some interesting buildings, and we noted the city has very old and modern buildings almost equally mixed together in any given block. We meandered back to our hotel and checked in with the cruise line’s courtesy desk about the charter flight down to the ship tomorrow. We were told that a breakfast would be served at 0430 and the buses would leave around 0530 for our two-hour flight to Ushuaia (oo SCHWHY uh) departing at 0730. It sounded like we were in store for another long day.

Mmmm...Cuban rum!

Tango stage

We Do the Hawaiian Islands

After touring Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, we were to start our cruise the following day. We got up early to have breakfast with some of the group members, then lounged around the room until our ground transportation picked us up at noon. Being among the first of the group to be picked up, we considered ourselves lucky to breeze through the check-in process and not have extensive waiting in line like some did.

Dinner with the "group"

We were in our stateroom, unpacked, and enjoying a late lunch as some of our group were just boarding the ship. The ship set sail as we were enjoying a sailing away party on the lido deck, and all 7 couples enjoyed a late seating together for dinner.

Our first destination was Maui which we arrived at early the next morning. The itinerary noted that we would be here almost two full days. For us, this port would allow us to visit one of Hawaii’s two national parks (after all, that’s why we’re here!), specifically Haleakala National Park.

At Haleakala

Normally we would walk off the ship and find a local vendor to show us the park and perhaps some other sites, but Capt. Larry panicked at the last minute, fearful that we wouldn’t easily find a local vendor, and bought a tour through the ship. We reassured ourselves that we had done the right thing, because as we disembarked we did not find a bevy of tour operators offering their services.

View from the summit

We boarded our tour bus and headed for the park. The main feature of this park, and Maui’s main natural attraction, is viewing the crater of the world’s largest dormant volcano (even though the volcano is still considered active but has not erupted since 1790).

A silversword plant

On our ride to the summit, we stopped at one of the park’s visitor’s centers and collected the stamp. Here we saw some splendid beds of silversword plants that are unique to this area, along with some other interesting foliage.

The Haleakala "caldera"

The summit of this volcano is at 10,023 feet, which you climb from sea level over a distance of 37 miles in 2 hours time. This rapid ascent often causes motion sickness due to the switchbacks on the road, and fortunately, everyone on our bus endured the trip well (it was a different matter coming down!). After we arrived we were informed that it is not actually a crater, but an erosional depression that resulted when one side of the mountain washed away.

At the summit

At that altitude it was cold and very windy, so we spent most of our time inside the visitor’s center looking at the exhibits and photographing the surroundings. After about 1 hour on the summit, our group headed down, and the weaving and descent caused some to become sick. We returned to our ship and gathered with the other group members for drinks and dinner. Everyone had done something slightly different, but we accomplished one of our Hawaii goals and were happy. We remained in port at Maui the next day, but decided not to venture off the ship, as none of the nearby offerings sounded very appealing.

Our next stop was Hilo on the big island of Hawaii where we were hoping to see the active Kilauea volcano in Volcanoes National Park.

At the museum

The big island is also home to Mauna Loa which is the largest mountain on Earth, standing 56,000 feet above the depressed sea floor and making it more than 27,000 feet higher than Mt. Everest. After our ship docked, we headed out for another ship’s tour of the park, having learned our lesson from the previous port. After a bus ride into the park, we stopped at the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum where we collected the park stamp, viewed the center’s exhibits, and learned that Pele, the goddess of volcanoes lives here.

Pele lives here!

We also saw the rim of the Kilauea caldera. The views were spectacular, but we could not view any lava flows which could only be seen from a helicopter tour.

The Kilauea caldera

Leaving the caldera, we came to a couple of fields of steam vents where we got to see another side of volcanic activity.

At the steam vents

This we thoroughly enjoyed as we witnessed the ferocity of the vents and the delicate vegetation that grows in this inhospitable environment.

Steam ventw

Our bus tour then took us to Lua Manu which was a gigantic lava flow that crossed the main highway a few years ago.

Lua Manu

We also saw the Nikki Kilauea caldera which was part of the main system. We returned to the ship where Jane and group member Gail Sanders had time to attend a lei making class to round out the day’s activities.

Gail and Jane at lei class

We enjoyed dinner with some of the group members and retired while the ship repositioned to the western side of the island at the port of Kailua-Kona.

We awoke the next morning just as the ship was preparing to dock.

The Kona post office

After breakfast, we thought we would go ashore and walk and walk around the town to explore and exercise. We had not planned any excursions for this port, as we had already accomplished what we came here for, seeing Hawaii’s two national parks, found the offerings here to not be very appealing. After we tendered to shore, Jane wanted to find the post office to mail some postcards.

By the tender docks

The post office wasn’t too far from the tender docks, but it was a steep climb that left us puffing by the time we arrived. With the cards mailed, we started to head for  shopping mall we had spotted that was further up the hill, but after climbing a couple hundred yards more, we realized that street we were on would not take us directly to where we wanted to go.

Along the harbor shore

We would have to travel a much longer distance to get around to the mall’s entrance, and this was something we decided against. After all, we rationalized that the stores were probably the same ones we could shop at home. Heading back down the way we came, we thought that it would be fun to explore the historical area next to the tender docks which. This turned out to be a good choice as there were lots of older businesses and places of interest, and they were all provided a splendid view of the Kona Harbor.

Historical area

Walking along the shoreline we came to a touristy mall featuring a variety of specialty shops. Jane shopped for clothes and jewelry, while Capt. Larry found a coconut bra and grass skirt outfit for daughter Milana.

At the church

On our way back to the docks, we stopped at the Mo Kauai Kaua Congregational Church, the first church established in the islands. We went into a convenience store opposite the docks, bought a couple of beers, and sat next to a kayak/outrigger canoe rental shop and people watched while we took the sights in.

The oldest church

We returned to the ship and Jane decided to take some hula lessons while Capt. Larry took a nap. The ship left port around dinnertime and headed for our next stop, the port of Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai. 

Capt. Larry was up early the next morning to a beautiful sunrise and an acrobatic display of ship piloting.

Sunrise over the Pacific

As the ship was coming into port, he saw the channel ahead narrow and couldn’t believe that the pilot was actually going to attempt a passage.

Approaching the narrows

Not only that, but halfway through the narrows the channel formed a tight S-shape with a tight turn to port and immediately followed by a sharp turn to starboard- all in a distance that didn’t seem any longer than the ship’s length.

How'd we get through that?

After getting into the inner harbor, the ship was then eased broadside into her berth at the dock. It was the coolest docking he had ever witnessed.

We're here!

Kauai is the oldest of the larger islands and the least developed with only 3% of the land developed for commercial and residential use. It is also the only island with navigable rivers, and its lush rain forests, majestic mountains and stretches of white sandy beaches have made it a Hollywood setting in over 60 movies and TV productions. After Jane rolled out of bed, we had breakfast and lounged around our stateroom until mid-morning when most of the passengers doing excursions and the bit-chompers had left. We disembarked and caught a trolley that took us to a shopping mall in town. The mall was old, rundown, and had mostly low-rent businesses, so we went across the street to a newer mall and did our shopping there. The mall was next to the Nawiliwili Beach and we wandered over to watch the surfers do their thing. Jane had purchased some postcards so we sauntered into the Nawiliwili Tavern, ordered a couple of beers, and sat and wrote the cards to family and friends. We headed back to the ship around lunchtime. In the afternoon, Jane went to her second hula class and then joined Gail for another class in lei making.

We did not have dinner aboard the ship during our night in Kauai. Instead, we and most of our group opted to go to an authentic luau that was highly rated as one of the best in the islands.

Lawn games

A short bus ride and we were at historic Kilohana Plantation for the Luau Kalamaku. After some picture taking with the local celebrities, we got a couple of complimentary drinks and viewed the plantation grounds which were absolutely beautiful.

At the luau

There were a number of children and adults demonstrating the island’s cultural heritage as well as a bevy of vendors hawking their goods. Jane bought Capt. Larry a baseball cap with a cap bill made of bola wood.

The guys with their "woodies"

When some of the other guys in the group saw it, they had to have one too.

Gail and Jane

After a few more of those complimentary drinks, dinner was served and we staggered over to the buffet line. The offerings were definitely local, cultural, and interesting. Capt. Larry was game, Jane not so much. During dessert, members of the audience were invited to participate in a group hula.

It's what's for dinner

Jane bolted to the stage to show her stuff, and she did quite well and seemed to know the moves without further instruction. When the hula segment was over the luau show began.

Jane shows her hula skills

The story and interpretation by the dancers and musicians was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When the show was over, we boarded our bus and headed back to the ship. We spent the next day aboard doing a number of ship activities and just chilling out.

Too much luau fun!

The luau show

Around dinnertime we were eased out of our berth and wrestled through the harbor’s entrance on our way back to Honolulu.

The last supper

Our last group dinner aboard was rather raucous and boisterous and we’re not sure the dining room staff appreciated our rowdiness. But that’s what party people from the south do. We said our goodbyes and turned in for the night.

We arrived at our Honolulu port as the sun was rising. We had another red-eye (2330) flight out of Honolulu and nothing to do but sit with our luggage, so we were in no hurry to leave the ship. We had a late, leisurely breakfast and disembarked around 1100. We didn’t have transportation to the airport already arranged, so we waited in the crowd for the bus that brought us in to get us back. After waiting for over an hour, Capt. Larry contacted another vendor who had immediate availability. We headed over to that line and were at the airport about an hour later. We still had a long wait, but by the time we checked our bags and pass through security, it was down to a few hours. Jane did some last minute shopping, we had a light supper, and it was time to be at the gate for boarding. The overnight flight seemed interminable, but we arrived back in Baton Rouge via Houston and were home in time to see the New Orleans Saints in their first playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. They won and we had had a great vacation “out west.”

This post is really late in relation to our actual travels, and we apologize for the late posting as many are waiting for posts about our travels to Antarctica. We had a very hectic travel schedule, limited internet service to update the blog, and just weariness over getting everything out there. Bear with us, Antarctica is coming!

Our red-eye flight from American Samoa returned us to Honolulu early the next morning. We arrived at our hotel around 0800 and were hoping to be able to have an early check-in.

Sunrise over Waikiki

Our luck was running well as we found the same receptionist that took care of us and our checked luggage when we departed for American Samoa, and he was able to give us a room that another party did not use the prior evening.

At the beach!

We know this, because there was a box of candy and a card thanking some person for their loyal patronage, and we knew this was not us. However, the candy was delicious!

At Duke's Canoe Club

Drinks at Duke's

After a shower and a nap we decided to roam the commercial area adjacent to Waikiki Beach so Jane could start her souvenir procurement. Lunchtime found us at the famous Duke’s Canoe Club where we extended our lunch almost into happy hour. The memorabilia adorning the walls (and the drinks) were delightful. We returned to our hotel, donned our swimming suits, and headed for the beach where we rented a beach set to take in the last few hours of daylight and do some people watching. We had a light dinner and turned in early for to get fully caught up on our sleep.

Early the next morning we awoke when our cell phones started to announce text messages that our motorcycle group was at the airport and were heading our way.

After breakfast at Jimmy Buffet’s Beachcomber restaurant, the hotel’s restaurant, we headed out for our morning walk and exercise and went in the direction of Diamondhead, hoping to catch a glimpse of this landmark.

Diamondhead

After walking about 2 miles, we found ourselves in a large park along the beach that provided us with a nice view of Diamondhead. In the afternoon Jane found an international mall that conveniently had a tiki bar. She shopped while Capt. Larry knocked back a few beers.

Oh, yeah!

We returned to our hotel and ran into two couples from the club that had finally arrived and were checking in. After a flurry of text messages, most of the group decided on a restaurant and we enjoyed a nice meal with our friends.

The next day a subset of club members wanted to do a motorcycle ride and had reserved Harleys for the day. To us, this didn’t seem to be a terribly relaxing way to see Honolulu and the surrounding area, so we opted out with a few other couples.

At the treel

Instead, we spent our day doing pretty much what we had been doing- walking around, shopping, and visiting the tiki bar.

At the high court building

Part of our cruise package included tours of historic Honolulu and the king’s palace, Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial, and the Punchbowl Cemetery, and these we did the next day. The king’s palace was in the process of being restored and closed to the public, but the grounds and building were magnificent.

The King's Palace

Many might recognize the palace steps from the original Hawaii 5-0 series, because at the end of each segment Jack Lord would stand on these steps and say: ‘Book’em Danno.’ The new 5-0 series uses the supreme court building across the street as a backdrop. Our next stop was the Punchbowl Cemetery. This memorial contains the graves of those killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Punchbowl Cemetery

Our driver pointed out the grave of Ernie Pyle, the journalist and roving correspondent who was killed in combat in 1945.

USS Arizona Memorial

We also learned that the Obama family visits an unidentified grave here each time they return to Hawaii. We moved on to the USS Arizona Memorial and were deeply moved by this experience.

Tribute to those who sacrificed

Fuel from the Arizona

It is eerie to see this sunken ship which serves as a grave for many who perished aboard when she was attacked, and see and smell the fuel that leaks from her tanks and appears on the water’s surface.

At the memorial we were also able to talk to some Pearl Harbor veterans which was a really inspiring experience.

With Pearl Harbor vets

We visited the memorial the week before the anniversary of the attack. There are so few veterans remaining, that it is a real honor to meet these individuals.