We docked at Ushuaia, the southernmost city on earth. It was pretty spectacular, surrounded by mountains with a glacier perched above the town. A couple of Argentine frigates were across the harbour.
Not that far to the Antarctic from here, there were several Antarctic ships in port.
Another hero of Latin America, Admiral William Brown, who established the Argentine navy.
Ushuaia is the administrative capital for Las Islas Malvinas. The sign (helpfully in English as well as Spanish) notes that the isands are currently under illegal occupation.
Another Argentine warship lined up to enter a floating dry dock. The sea in the harbour looks a bit choppy, that was because the storm caught up with us again. 50 knot winds hit the ship broadside on at 6am and for the next seven hours the engines ran at full power to stop the mooring lines breaking and us drifting into the Frigates moored across the way and the port was closed. Feeling a 35,000 ton ship heel over was quite exciting. We were confined to the ship as it was too dangerous to be outside, but eventually the winds abated and the port reopened.
Sadly the wind was too strong and the sea was too rough to visit the Falklands, so instead we diverted to Puerto Madryn in Patagonia.
There were a number of nature reserves and penguin colonies up and down the coast, so we got to spend they day with these chaps. Who knew penguins lived in deserts.
The pampa was astonishingly arid, essentially desert steppe. I was expecting it to be lush grass covering in roaming cattle. Instead there were odd flocks of sheep, wild Llamas (Guanacos) and even a flock/herd of Rheas (related to Ostriches). I gather further north there is more rainfall and it is much more lush.
This guanaco was pretty tame (it was an orphan being cared for at the penguin colony).
There were quite a few penguins down on the beach. Evidently the Orcas prefer to eat the seals further up the coast, but there were some eagles hanging around hopefully.
We eventually arrived in Buenos Aires which was really very grand and quite European in feel, unlike Santiago. It could have been Bilbao or Milan.
Our hotel was was close to the La Recoleta cemetary, where Eva Peron is interred.
General San Martin in the main square outside the presidential palace. San Martin was a hero of Argentinian Independance,
Peron used to make speeches from the central balcony.
William Brown once again, down in La Boca, the original port area. He looks a bit more heroic than in Ushuaia. The naval college was just up the road from here.
There were a few gems in the Museum of Modern Latin American Art.
There was a special exhibition covering Diego Suarez. This is his take on the Falklands War.
I really liked Suarez's strange picture/sculpture combinations.
This one is quite famous.
An interesting feature was the number of monumental squares dedicated by various countries to commemorate Argentine independance. Here is a statue of Louis Braille.
And the rather grander monument on the Plaza de France.
General San Martin in Plaza San Martin.
The Torres Ingles, donated by the UK. It is now just called the monumental tower.
As it is directly opposite the Argentine monument to the Falklands War.
There was rather a grand naval base close to our hotel with a Skyhawk, LVTP and bizarrely, a Gloster Meteor as gate guards. Sadly there were a lot of no photograph signs and a number of heavily armed soldiers so I didn't take a chance. I didn't fancy being arrested as an espia inglesa!
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