Puerto Madryn
We had signed up for yet another (and the last) penguin tour of the trip and were considering cancelling it as it involved quite a few hours travelling to and fro on a tour bus. We stuck with it and were not disappointed. Punta Tombo is a natural fauna reserve, home to the most important magellan penguin colony in Patagonia - almost a million of them!
The penguins are of course the main attraction and you get to "walk among them". The landscape is of such rugged beauty and the diversity of the fauna so unexpected, that this tour was a real highlight of the trip. Guanacos and ostriches, guinea pigs and exotic birds all coexist in this well managed sanctuary.
Puerto Madryn, a town of Welsh origins in the Argentinian Patagonia is a pleasant, sleepy port town. We went for an enjoyable walk in the mid-afternoon.
Dinners with our tablemates have been thoroughly entertaining and we have enjoyed getting to know such nice, fun, diverse group. We miss you Anne, Tere, Suzie and Jim - hope we'll see you again on another wonderful Crystal adventure. We have continued to enjoy the shows, evenings dancing at the Starlight or listening to Martin Orbidans at the Avenue Saloon. It has been so nice to be on a longer itinerary such that you can always choose to do as little or as much as you want. Afternoon tea in the Palm Court will be sorely missed.
We've also had fabulous dinners at Prego and Silk Road and I can't say enough of the oustanding service we've received from our Lido guys always anticipating our every wish, the wait staff in the main dining room (yes Renjith, it will be the light menu option tonight too) and Djanna our stewardess.
Montevideo and Punta del Este
Sometimes we do crazy things and this port stop was one of them. We were to spend the one day we had in Uruguay pursuing an idea: go to Punta del Este and find out if it's the kind of place we would one day want to retire to. It was a Sunday and this presented some logistical challenges; for example, where is a rental car agency that's open on Sundays? the answer was: at the airport. So we disembarked in Montevideo (more on this later), took a cab straight to the airport about a half hour away and made good use of my Spanish to get us a rental car that would make my Honda Fit look like a luxury vehicle. I must say the drive to Punta del Este, about 90 minutes on a very good and picturesque highway, made a very nice first impression.
We had made an appointment (weeks in advance) with a local realtor to go see a few houses. In my very Canadian, punctual manner, I drove like a maniac to make the agreed upon time. I, of course, had forgotten that we were in South America. Our realtor (a lovely woman with whom we ended up having a great time) had gone off for a "yerba mate" with some old clients/friends and was about an hour late for our appointment. The time was well spent with the help of one of her colleagues who filled us in on a lot of important information.
She took the wheel (thank God) and drove (like an even bigger maniac) from one end of Punta to the other showing us a few houses that would fit the "retirement house" bill, all within two and a half hours. It was great! we particularly loved the Punta Ballena area with its magnificent views of the Peninsula and the Atlantic Ocean. It's not in the "thick of things" but that's precisely what we liked most - the rest of Punta is a crazy busy beach town for two months of the year.
We finally made our way back to Montevideo (had to be on board by no later than 5:30), returned the car and hopped on a taxi (same nice guy who had taken us to the airport that morning). The cab driver was a very nice fellow who regaled us with a leisurely "private tour" of Montevideo on the way to the port, showing us every building and monument of importance, despite being told several times that we were in a big hurry. He told us about the government, the economy, the price of gas, etc., all while Blake was having a double heart attack thinking we'd not make it back to the ship on time. We did (I guess the old guy knew better) and enjoyed a magnificent sail away. We loved Uruguay; whether we'd ever consider making a home base there, time will tell.
Buenos Aires, the end of the adventure
We disembarked on Monday morning and spent three days in Buenos Aires. I had no great expectations of this big, cosmopolitan city and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The architecture is beautiful (I now understand why they call it the Paris of South America), the traffic is daunting, the food is good and the people are friendly. Petty crime is rampant but can be avoided by being vigilant and not wearing jewellery or carrying tempting items. We walked and walked, shopped some, met our friends from the cruise Tere and Suzie for lunch, and Anne for dinner. Blake enjoyed many a medialunas (sweet, small croissants which are a staple of Argentinian food) and developed a taste for Quilmes (the local beer). We felt welcome and quite at home in what turned out to be a city I would gladly return to.
We thus ended our Antarctic adveture on a high note, truly enriched by our experiences and the lovely people we had the privilege to meet.
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