Mario and I arrived to Buenos Aires the evening of January 2nd. We found a nice hotel in a central location and had a good night of sleep. Our bus to Iguazu Falls wasn’t scheduled to leave until about five that afternoon so we had most of the day to explore Buenos Aires. We went to the Plaza de Mayo, the historic government center, saw the balcony the Peron’s and others delivered their speeches to the public, and found our way over to a huge Sunday street craft market. We walked through the stalls and bought a few items, had some lunch, and got our things together for the bus. Luckily, the hotel let us store some bags for free so we wouldn’t have to haul them all around the country with us.
The bus ride is about 17 hours long from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu. Parts of the drive were quite scenic with large swampy wetlands that stretched out in either direction. We were served dinner (not as good as you might think…but edible anyhow) and breakfast. The seats reclined pretty far back so I was able to sleep, but not comfortably. The bus was air-conditioned, to the point of being too cold for me, so when we arrived the next day around 10:30 am and they opened the door the heat was shocking. We had left the temperate zone that encompasses Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires and were now into the Sub-tropics. It was the kind of heat that just sits on you like a weight. It soon becomes an effort to blink, much less schlep around our bags to find a hotel that isn’t full, expensive or gross. At last, we found a great place that was quiet with a kitchen, cable, and air-conditioning. We showered and rested for about an hour and then got ready to go to the park.
That day we walked the upper falls trails. We didn’t cover much ground because Mario was busy birding and because I was tired and cranky. Never the less, the vistas were breathtaking and we saw some great wildlife: monkeys, butterflies, coatis, guinea pig-like animals called,capybaras, and numerous species of bird, including a coveted species of toucan.
It felt great to have a kitchen to cook in for a change. So we cooked a nice dinner and went to bed early, since we didn’t have to stay up late just to make it to dinner on Argentine time.
Mario woke before me the next morning and hit the park when it opened at 8 to try to see more birds. I came along a little later and brought us a lunch. I arrived at the park entrance just as pretty much everyone else did that day so I had to wait in a very hot line to get into the park. Mario was supposed to meet me at 11. He didn’t come along until 12, claiming to have been lost, which I think refers more to his sense of time than direction. So we had our lunch, filled our water bottles, and headed back to the falls. I didn’t wear sunscreen that day because I knew it would be sprayed or sweated off but I did carry an umbrella for shade, which was a huge relief.
We took the little train that runs through the park up to La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat). This takes you to the part of the falls where the two rivers come together and roar over the precipice. Once we got off the train we walked with the thousands of other tourists over the boardwalk that goes across the river to the falls. Along the way butterflies lighted on our shoulders and fluttered around through the crowds. Between the butterflies, the heat, and the mist from the falls everything felt very dream-like.
The boardwalk takes you all the way to the edge of the cliff so that you can feel the full power of the falls all around you. Rainbows formed in the spray and whenever the wind shifted everyone would get soaked, which was a welcome respite from the heat. The sheer immensity of it was beyond words. It was all worth it for this moment.
We also walked down to the lower falls trails, stood at the bottom of one of the smaller of the giant falls and got soaked again. By now my skin was turning distinctly red, despite my best efforts with the umbrella, so I decided it was time to head back. Mario stayed another hour or so to find more birds.
On our last day there, arguably the hottest, or maybe just the most humid, Mario had heard of a hummingbird garden in town he wanted to visit before we left. We got lost finding it and every extra block that we walked was excruciating in the heat, but just as I was about to give up we found it. It was only someone’s backyard but it was an oasis. There were dozens of hummingbirds of at least six different species buzzing around. I sat in a shady spot (still pouring sweat) amongst the frenetic little birds zipping to and fro and watched a couple of turtles lounging on a log. The contrast between the lifestyles of these animals living in the same place amused me. On this day I was the turtle, but Mario, constantly and endearingly, was the hummingbird.
For the trip back we decided to pay a bit extra for the bus that has seats that will recline all the way flat into a bed. It was luxurious. We even had individual tv screens! But as we may have suspected, it was too good to be true. The bus pulled over after only ten minutes and we heard clanging and banging from below. Mario asked our bus attendant what the problem was. “Engine trouble”, he said. After another 15 minutes of banging and clanging Mario overheard them say we would have to change buses and also ascertained that not everyone would get to be the same type of bus (ie. no bed seats.). Mario, the hummingbird, thought quickly and before I could even think to protest he had told the attendant that I was pregnant and we were rushed onto another bus that had space for just a couple people. It had the reclining chairs but no individual tv’s. I felt guilty but grateful and I slept great.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Mar del Plata, Argentina
I think the 3 part thing is irrelevant now that I'm so far behind, but for the sake of consistency, here's part 3:
Mar del Plata is a resort city on the beach where Argentines come to spend the holidays to get away from hot and humid Buenos Aires. Ocean Watch was docked at the smaller marina owned by the Yacht Club Argentino. The marina was very shallow and with the full moon, everyone was holding their breath hoping we wouldn't run aground at low tide. Never the less, it was a beautiful spot. We had mostly sunshine but it rained here and there too. We were even treated to a few rainbows.
Mario and I, as well as David and Herb, stayed at a hotel along the beach. Apparently it was one of the few remaining available hotels over the holiday (it seemed more expensive than necessary to me, but it was beautiful). Our room had a balcony with a view of the ocean and the promenade, which made it great for people watching too. The others stayed on the boat.
On New Year's Eve I was finally able to accomplish some more official outreach education. We erected our informational tent on the lawn of the Yacht Club (we'd hoped for the public beach, turned out we needed permits for that) and we conducted interviews of some local fisheries experts and by a local tv news station. I stayed at the tent on and off most of the day. It generated a good level of interest and it was fun to talk to people about the project and get them interested in ocean conservation issues. I'm still hoping we can get more of the website translated into Spanish so that I can refer people on to the website if they are Spanish speakers too.
I was also able to get my hands on some of the science equipment with the new onboard scientist from UW, Warren Buck. We did some recordings of underwater sounds in the marina using the hydrophone, a tool used to record sounds underwater. Apparently, there is a lot of interest by many of the scientists connected to the project about these sounds, especially in harbors.
That night all of us went to a New Year's celebration at the Yacht Club. Things were nice but, frankly, a little awkward. There was no official fireworks show but plenty of people lit them at midnight. I think the Christmas show in Punta was better though. As I've said before people here eat dinner late, so we'd only just finished dinner at midnight and then there was dancing. The vibe reminded me a lot of a wedding reception, old and young couples and children and singles. Mario and I made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves. Then there was dessert and then...more dancing. We were trying to wait for some kind of door prize but by 3am we were exhausted (as were the children still being forced to stay awake at dance at that hour...it was nuts) so we went back to the hotel to sleep. The party supposedly continued on until 5 or 6 am.
The next day we rested and explored the city and the beach a bit. I discovered that someone had been charging things to our account so I spent some of the day on Skype with the bank. I'm glad I caught it though, they only managed to get about $85 and I'll get it all back. Only annoying part was that had to cancel my debit/ATM card. Luckily, Mario had his so we were ok and a friend of ours is coming for a tour with Mario this week and he kindly offered to bring me a new card.
We checked out on the 2nd. I said see you later to the crew and wished them well on their journey around Cape Horn. I'll see them again in early February in Puerto Montt, Chile. Then Mario and I took off for Buenos Aires for our own adventures in Argentina.
Mar del Plata is a resort city on the beach where Argentines come to spend the holidays to get away from hot and humid Buenos Aires. Ocean Watch was docked at the smaller marina owned by the Yacht Club Argentino. The marina was very shallow and with the full moon, everyone was holding their breath hoping we wouldn't run aground at low tide. Never the less, it was a beautiful spot. We had mostly sunshine but it rained here and there too. We were even treated to a few rainbows.
Mario and I, as well as David and Herb, stayed at a hotel along the beach. Apparently it was one of the few remaining available hotels over the holiday (it seemed more expensive than necessary to me, but it was beautiful). Our room had a balcony with a view of the ocean and the promenade, which made it great for people watching too. The others stayed on the boat.
On New Year's Eve I was finally able to accomplish some more official outreach education. We erected our informational tent on the lawn of the Yacht Club (we'd hoped for the public beach, turned out we needed permits for that) and we conducted interviews of some local fisheries experts and by a local tv news station. I stayed at the tent on and off most of the day. It generated a good level of interest and it was fun to talk to people about the project and get them interested in ocean conservation issues. I'm still hoping we can get more of the website translated into Spanish so that I can refer people on to the website if they are Spanish speakers too.
I was also able to get my hands on some of the science equipment with the new onboard scientist from UW, Warren Buck. We did some recordings of underwater sounds in the marina using the hydrophone, a tool used to record sounds underwater. Apparently, there is a lot of interest by many of the scientists connected to the project about these sounds, especially in harbors.
That night all of us went to a New Year's celebration at the Yacht Club. Things were nice but, frankly, a little awkward. There was no official fireworks show but plenty of people lit them at midnight. I think the Christmas show in Punta was better though. As I've said before people here eat dinner late, so we'd only just finished dinner at midnight and then there was dancing. The vibe reminded me a lot of a wedding reception, old and young couples and children and singles. Mario and I made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves. Then there was dessert and then...more dancing. We were trying to wait for some kind of door prize but by 3am we were exhausted (as were the children still being forced to stay awake at dance at that hour...it was nuts) so we went back to the hotel to sleep. The party supposedly continued on until 5 or 6 am.
The next day we rested and explored the city and the beach a bit. I discovered that someone had been charging things to our account so I spent some of the day on Skype with the bank. I'm glad I caught it though, they only managed to get about $85 and I'll get it all back. Only annoying part was that had to cancel my debit/ATM card. Luckily, Mario had his so we were ok and a friend of ours is coming for a tour with Mario this week and he kindly offered to bring me a new card.
We checked out on the 2nd. I said see you later to the crew and wished them well on their journey around Cape Horn. I'll see them again in early February in Puerto Montt, Chile. Then Mario and I took off for Buenos Aires for our own adventures in Argentina.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Life at Sea
Here is part 2:
We were scheduled to leave Punta del Este at 10am on December 27th. Mario and I gathered up my things and brought it down to the boat. After Mario nearly dropped all my things into the water I got everything down to my bunk and settled in.
Mario and Pablo saw us off from the dock that morning. I was very nervous. We left the marina in the clouds but as soon as we got past the break water the clouds parted into brilliant sunshine. The main sail was hoisted and we were off.
The whole first day was glorious. Sunshine and flat water. I took a little nap on the bow and got burnt. We had a lovely lunch and dinner thanks to Carole Gluck, who was riding along with us on that leg along with her husband, Peter. We watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean and prepared for the 3 hour night shift watches.
Once night fell the weather began to change. The winds picked up considerably and a steady swell began to rise on the sea. At this point I still hadn’t slept but I was too afraid of getting sick to want to go down to my bunk. I tried once but thought I felt woozy (could have been true but could have also just have been my nerves) so I was determined to spend the night above deck. I made it for quite a while and then I hit a wall and became overwhelmingly tired. I managed to sleep for an hour on the bench above deck, actually during my watch, but as the weather continued to worsen into the next watch I was awake again. The clouds had gathered to cover the full moon and there was an eerie glow on the very numerous white caps. It was the strange phenomenon of bioluminescence that created the glow. The distant glow from Buenos Aires also loomed on the horizon as we came towards the end of the mouth of Rio de la Plata.
I helped where I could, pulling and coiling ropes, wrapping the wenches, checking info on the navigator…But by about 4:30 David and Mark told me quite seriously that I couldn’t spend my life on board above deck and that I needed to brave it below. I decided I would take my anti-nausea meds just in case.
The mission was to get below deck and laying flat as fast as possible. Problem was, I still had a whole bunch of crap strewn across my bunk. David was kind enough to offer to help me get over my fears and try to sleep. At 5 am I took a deep breath and dashed down to the bow where my bunk was. I jumped into my bunk, on top of my books and everything and poor David helped me to get them put away. He set up the fan so there would be some air for me and told me I could leave the red night light on, on my headlamp. Of course the joke after that night came…Roxanne in bed…red light on…the joke is too obvious.
After an anxious half hour I finally slept. I slept well for at least two hours. I woke up for a bit of breakfast and then slept an hour more. My watch schedule was all off and I ended up being on watch with everyone at different times, which was nice really because it gave me a chance to get to know all of them more.
My efforts were rewarded just about an hour after I woke up. When we set out the day before I’d said that the only thing I really wanted out of this sail was to see some dolphins. No one thought it was very likely but I remember seeing the IMAX movie at the Science Center this last fall, Dolphins, and they had footage of dolphins off the coast of Argentina, so I know they were out there. We spotted a big clump of something on the radar, which we assumed to be fish, and shortly afterwards we saw one dolphin jump off the starboard side! David grabbed his camera and he and Mark and I ran to the bow. Soon a whole school of dolphins (still trying to identify the species) were surrounding Ocean Watch. I leaned out over the bow and watched as the dolphins skipped and glided through the water just a foot or two away. I will keep this memory as one of my happiest.
Within an hour of the dolphins’ appearance the weather changed again. A full on storm was now upon us, with wind coming from directly in front. This meant we had to take down all the sails and pitch and roll our way into Mar del Plata by motor.
Mario, Horacio, and the sunshine came out to greet us as we pulled into the marina in Mar del Plata. I was relieved to be back on land, though it didn’t feel like it for most of the rest of that day, and even though parts of the journey were frightening, stressful or boring I found myself wanting to do it again. But I’m ok with that being a little while from now!
We were scheduled to leave Punta del Este at 10am on December 27th. Mario and I gathered up my things and brought it down to the boat. After Mario nearly dropped all my things into the water I got everything down to my bunk and settled in.
Mario and Pablo saw us off from the dock that morning. I was very nervous. We left the marina in the clouds but as soon as we got past the break water the clouds parted into brilliant sunshine. The main sail was hoisted and we were off.
The whole first day was glorious. Sunshine and flat water. I took a little nap on the bow and got burnt. We had a lovely lunch and dinner thanks to Carole Gluck, who was riding along with us on that leg along with her husband, Peter. We watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean and prepared for the 3 hour night shift watches.
Once night fell the weather began to change. The winds picked up considerably and a steady swell began to rise on the sea. At this point I still hadn’t slept but I was too afraid of getting sick to want to go down to my bunk. I tried once but thought I felt woozy (could have been true but could have also just have been my nerves) so I was determined to spend the night above deck. I made it for quite a while and then I hit a wall and became overwhelmingly tired. I managed to sleep for an hour on the bench above deck, actually during my watch, but as the weather continued to worsen into the next watch I was awake again. The clouds had gathered to cover the full moon and there was an eerie glow on the very numerous white caps. It was the strange phenomenon of bioluminescence that created the glow. The distant glow from Buenos Aires also loomed on the horizon as we came towards the end of the mouth of Rio de la Plata.
I helped where I could, pulling and coiling ropes, wrapping the wenches, checking info on the navigator…But by about 4:30 David and Mark told me quite seriously that I couldn’t spend my life on board above deck and that I needed to brave it below. I decided I would take my anti-nausea meds just in case.
The mission was to get below deck and laying flat as fast as possible. Problem was, I still had a whole bunch of crap strewn across my bunk. David was kind enough to offer to help me get over my fears and try to sleep. At 5 am I took a deep breath and dashed down to the bow where my bunk was. I jumped into my bunk, on top of my books and everything and poor David helped me to get them put away. He set up the fan so there would be some air for me and told me I could leave the red night light on, on my headlamp. Of course the joke after that night came…Roxanne in bed…red light on…the joke is too obvious.
After an anxious half hour I finally slept. I slept well for at least two hours. I woke up for a bit of breakfast and then slept an hour more. My watch schedule was all off and I ended up being on watch with everyone at different times, which was nice really because it gave me a chance to get to know all of them more.
My efforts were rewarded just about an hour after I woke up. When we set out the day before I’d said that the only thing I really wanted out of this sail was to see some dolphins. No one thought it was very likely but I remember seeing the IMAX movie at the Science Center this last fall, Dolphins, and they had footage of dolphins off the coast of Argentina, so I know they were out there. We spotted a big clump of something on the radar, which we assumed to be fish, and shortly afterwards we saw one dolphin jump off the starboard side! David grabbed his camera and he and Mark and I ran to the bow. Soon a whole school of dolphins (still trying to identify the species) were surrounding Ocean Watch. I leaned out over the bow and watched as the dolphins skipped and glided through the water just a foot or two away. I will keep this memory as one of my happiest.
Within an hour of the dolphins’ appearance the weather changed again. A full on storm was now upon us, with wind coming from directly in front. This meant we had to take down all the sails and pitch and roll our way into Mar del Plata by motor.
Mario, Horacio, and the sunshine came out to greet us as we pulled into the marina in Mar del Plata. I was relieved to be back on land, though it didn’t feel like it for most of the rest of that day, and even though parts of the journey were frightening, stressful or boring I found myself wanting to do it again. But I’m ok with that being a little while from now!
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