South America and Antarctica

We were up just before 4 am to get ready to head to the airport. Our driver met us at 4:45 am for a speedy, no traffic drive to the airport. We were checked in by 5:11 am for our 7:55 am flight. Our take off was delayed about 20 minutes while waiting for a last minute crew change.   It was an uneventful flight, but the problems started after we landed. We were seated in row 1 so we arrived quickly to the baggage area. It was weird that there were very few other passengers arriving and very few bags. One suitcase came and we waited and waited and the other did not show up.  We went to the counter and using Google Translate, our new best friend, we explained that one bag was missing. They told us to go back and wait. We did and still nothing. We have AirTags in our bags so we could see that is was at the airport, just not where it was supposed to be. Half an hour later, it finally arrived.  We went to our meeting point for the driver, but he was stuck in traffic. He sh...

Today was the first day in a month that we didn’t have to be up early for a tour or a talk or a flight. Of course we were awake by 6 so we had breakfast and were on the beach by 8. It was fairly cloudy but 25C feeling like 30C.  We spent the morning people watching from the shade of an umbrella and walking the beach. For such a hot country, the ocean water was quite cold. The waves were really crashing into the shore and bringing a fair bit of garbage with it.  By noon we decided to go back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. That water was quite warm, slightly less than a comfortable bath but it did feel good. A nap was the next order of business.  After we got up and showered, we went for a walk to find the girl from Ipanema. We found her and thousands of her friends. There was a festival celebrating the Afro-Brazilian sea goddess taking place on the beach between Copacabana and Ipanema. Women in white dresses entered the ocean carrying bouquets of flowers to offer to ...

Today we joined a city highlights tour of Rio. The skies were quite overcast so we packed our rain gear. The van picked us up at 7:15 and it was 8 am before all the passengers had been collected.  Our first stop was one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, Christ the Redeemer, at the top of Corcovado Mountain. The mountain is one of many in Rio and has a height of 700 metres. To get to the statue we drove through the Tijuca National Forest to the visitor centre. There we boarded a park van to get almost to the top of the mountain. From the parking area you can take an elevator or climb around 200 steps to the monument.  Christ the Redeemer was completed in 1931 and stands 30 metres tall. The span from finger tip to finger tip is 28 metres. It is made of reinforced concrete and covered in soapstone. It is beautiful and the largest art deco sculpture in the world.  Even though we were there early, there were hundreds of people there, most of whom wanted to take a selfie or...

It was 28C when Flavio picked us up to take us to the airport. I was a little apprehensive about our pick up time that would only get us to the airport 2 hours before departure. Then Flavio wanted to take Lawrie for a coffee so we only had an hour and a half before departure. There was a huge queue at the checkin counter but Flavio worked his magic and got us into the priority line. It was moving very slowly but we did get checked in just before the deadline.  We had arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us to our hotel on Copacabana Beach. The ride took just over half an hour. The city of over 6 million is divided by numerous craggy mountains. The houses appear to be cut high up into the sides of the mountains.  Our hotel is located right across from Copacabana Beach. After we got settled, we decided to walk along the beach. We headed east towards the fort and Ipanema Beach. We went into the fort and toured the original fortification with its armoury. We spent a lot of...

Partly cloudy, high 36C 74% humidity   Today was all about the Argentinian side of the falls. The challenge was in getting there. We had to check out at Brazilian immigration, drive a kilometre and then go through Argentinian immigration. Then Flavio had to check in with the tourism office and pay the tourist tax for us. It took an hour and three quarters to get to the park. Part of that was also due to the 40 kph speed limit in the park.  No private vehicles are allowed beyond the visitor centre so we boarded a narrow gauge train with open air cars to get to the falls. We were crammed in 4 to a bench with benches facing each other. It was not a particularly comfortable ride in the heat and humidity. We went right to the end of the line to walk out to the Devil’s Throat. From Brazil, we viewed the Devil’s Throat from the bottom, today we saw it from the top after a kilometre walk on raised walkways over the river.   What we first noticed as we approached were the hundreds...

Our guide Flavio told us yesterday that we were going to be joined by a lady travelling on her own. When we went down to breakfast, I set my water thermos on the table and went to the buffet. I came back with my orange juice and Lawrie had put his food and on the table and gone to get a coffee. While I went back to get my food, I could hear Lawrie talking to someone. A lady was accusing him of taking her table. She had put her orange juice there. He invited her to join us, but she just scowled and walked away. Guess who joined us on the tour? She scowled a lot but at times was very pleasant.  Today we visited the falls from the Brazilian side. The Iguazu falls National Park is on both the Argentinian side (67720 hectares) and on the Brazilian side (185262 hectares). We arrived at around 8:30 am to walk through the rainforest along the river. The views of the falls on the Argentinian side just kept getting better and better. There are 275 waterfalls covering a length of 2700 metres....