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South America 2024
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South America 2024

Seven weeks — Mendoza, Salta, Northwest Argentina, the ATACAMA Desert, cruise around the Horn and Buenos Aires. Read more
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  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler

    Puerto Madryn, Argentina

    March 1, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Our port for the day, Puerto Madryn, is famous for whales, dinosaurs and penguins. It is the wrong season for whales but we learned that in July there were thousands in the harbor, easily seen and heard from shore. This is also where they discovered, in 2016, the largest dinosaur skeleton found to date, the Titanosaur Patagotitan.
    But we came to see the penguins. They have one of the largest known colonies of Magellanic penguins, hundreds of thousands of penguins. Nesting season has just ended so most nests are bare, the adults starting to molt. The juvenile penguins are out learning to fish for the first time.    Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler
    So many kinds of icecream treatsThe butcherMore esoteric cuts of beef, like tongueBIMBO!The market was a rehabbed sectionFamous ox cart sculpture

    Montevideo, Uruguay

    March 3, 2024 in Uruguay ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    A ship-sponsored tour today of city highlights and a beer tasting. The city was pleasant, the beer excellent. We visited a food market, statuary, and public buildings. The proprietor of the brewery explained his process for making 20 different beers. He gets his hops from Oregon! John especially enjoyed the New England IPA.Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler
    Coatimundi

    Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Day 1

    March 7, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ 🌧 84 °F

    Today we had a slow morning and a 1:30 flight to Iguazu Falls. The falls are the widest in the world, with 250 distinct falls and second only to Angel Falls in height. They are in the Parana River, which separates Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Over the next 48 hours we will visit both sides of the falls in Argentina and Brazil.

    We are staying at the Gran Malia, the only hotel from which you can see the falls. It is by far the most expensive place we have stayed our entire vacation, warranted by its location not its amenities! Upon arrival we walked the Upper Trail, about a mile through the jungle on metal grates occasionally shifting to views of the falls. Beautiful. Coming back to the hotel, we settled on the fourth floor cocktail deck to be entertained by macaque monkeys jumping over the railings and sliding down rain spouts to steal cocktail peanuts, potato chips and tip over drinks. Even the moms with babies became less cute and more pesky as the evening approached.    Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler
    Wild begonias. Tiny pink flowersWhite orchidsThe infinity poolTarantula on our walk. The size of my hand.

    Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Day 2

    March 8, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ 🌧 88 °F

    This morning we got up and out to walk the Lower Trail before it got too hot. It was fun to see the falls from a different perspective. We were joined by all sorts of birds, more coatis and even a tarantula. John did an additional four or five mile walk in the afternoon through the jungle with another waterfall and a swimming hole. Later in the afternoon we enjoyed the beautiful infinity pool and a delicious Argentinian barbecue dinner outdoors.Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler

    Iguazu Falls, Brazil

    March 9, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 90 °F

    This morning after breakfast we went looking for the toucan John had seen near the gym the day before. No luck! But we did see a beautiful large green hummingbird. Then we were off with our driver from the hotel, Marcello, to the Brazilian side of the falls.
    A traffic jam at the border held us up a bit but we made the falls by 10:30 and had two hours to explore. We took the trail going a mile or so along the falls until it descended deeply to the base of Devil’s Throat. The cool mist from the falls was welcome as the temp had reached 87 with a “feels like” temp of 97. A welcome elevator speeded us back up to the top and we were off with Marcello to the airport and back to Buenos Aires.
    A birthday dinner at a Peruvian restaurant near our hotel in Palermo completed the day.    Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mar 10–12, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    Two quiet days to catch up and move to a rented apartment in the Recoleta neighborhood of BA.

    The apartment is not quite what we expected but the good surprise is it has a washing machine available on another floor of the building. It also has a great view of the famous cemetery, The decor is modern, the bed is like a rock. The shower works but it’s a trickle. The building is shabby and a bit scary on nights and weekends as it appears this is one of only two apartments in the building. The remaining space over six floors is office space and the place is deserted.

    On Sunday, we went for a walk around the park next to the cemetery where there was a very large craft fair. We bought a unique shawl for mom. Dinner was pizza (or pixca as they sometimes call it) followed by watching the Oscars on tv,

    On Monday, John did a whirlwind job on laundry and we headed out to fly to El Calafate. Our 4:30 flight became an 8:30 flight because of the bad thunder storms and strong rains in BA all afternoon. We arrived in Calafate about 11:30. Fortunately,n the very nice little pizza shop across from the hotel stayed open and fed us and many other hungry travelers (it’s a small town)!    Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler

    El Calafate, Argentina -Day 1

    March 12, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    Today we spent the entire day seeing the Perito Merino glacier n Argentina’s Glacier National Park. We took a guided group tour as it was 1-1/2 hours from the town of Calafate. We first saw the south face from a tour boat, it loomed massively in front of us. The south face is about 2k long and 150 meters high. The glacier’s entire face is 5k long and the glacier extends about 800 meters below the surface of the lake, scraping the bottom.
    The bus then took us to the National Park information center where we walked the boardwalks built down the face of the mountain across from the glacier. There were awesome views of the glacier and Lago Argentina (the largest lake in Argentina). John walked further than out to better see the north face, the sheer number of steps down were daunting and the return even more so,
    We returned to MadreTierra and had a great dinner out at Kau K. Corn soup with blue cheese, a green salad with a lavender based dressing, braised lamb, a bottle of Mendoza Merlot, and scrumptious desserts of lavender ice cream and bread pudding. One of the best meals we have had in Argentina.    Read more

  • WhorledTravelersSouth America 2024Traveler

    El Calafate, Argentina - Day 2

    March 13, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ 🌬 48 °F

    It was our great luck to meet Manolo this morning, owner of Madré Tierra hotel and of a private guide business. Abby, the daytime manager, had given us a delicious breakfast and we were discussing what to do with the day. John and Manolo’s ideas jibed, and so off we went to the Municipal Bird Reserve, less than a mile from our hotel. A small entrance fee put us on a 3k trail around two lagoons and out to a bay of Lake Argentina. We saw lots of different water birds, hawks and a pair of foxes in the first hour but by the time we reached the flamingos at the end of the trail the wind was blowing at 40-50 knots and they had all gone into hiding in the reeds.
    After a quick snack and a short walk in town, Manolo took us to Punta Walichu, a privately owned archeological site featuring a walk to see about ten rock paintings that were created by Paleolithic people (pre- Tehuelche) about 4000 years ago. They were dim and hard to see but it was still an interesting trip. Then off to a late night flight back to Buenos Aires.    Read more

  • Trip end
    March 18, 2024
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