Adventures in Photography and Travel

After arriving in Rio Gallegos my primary concerns were to: find a room, arrange for transportation to Ushuaia and find an ATM machine to get some cash.

Finding a room was a relatively easy task, arranging travel would prove more difficulty and I was forced to return to the bus terminal and go the long-haul route (another 12 hours by bus).

Finding an ATM machine was not tough; getting cash out an ATM was a different matter.  I tried three a different machines at three different banks; all with the same negative results.

In desperation I went to casino (common place in Argentina); not to gamble, but to see if they would honor my credit card and give me some cash.  I felt like a winner!  They honored the card and restored cash to my wallet.

It was now approaching dusk, but still time to try and catch a glimpse of the Patagonia sunset that I heard so much about.  Ihailed down a taxi had him take me to edge town; if you followed my last post you have already seen the results posted on that blog (if you would like to see more, click on the link to Photo Gallery at the top of this page).

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In the morning I caught the bus for Ushuaia.  We left the bus terminal and drove directly to the bus repair depot – this was not good.

Whatever the problem was, they deemed it unnecessary to repair; we left the garage without so much as ever shutting off the engine (we would soon regret this folly).

Hours later we pulled to the side of road, and would wait more than hour before being rescued by another passing bus.  Despite their new, modern appearance; these buses are proving less reliable than would be expected (Just a quirk?).

As we approached the Chilean border we went through two separate customs inspection (one an agricultural inspection and the second the normal customs checkpoint).

Inspections completed we crossed the Straits of Magellan by ferry, to the island of Tierra del Fuego; but, we were in now in Chili.  The island is shared jointly by Chili and Argentina (a quasi Haiti/Dominican Republic relationship).  We traveled for miles before once again crossing the border back into Argentina.

Along the way passed many herds of sheep, but were also treated to frequent sightings of guanaco the wild, brownish colored, woolly llama similar to the vicuña (the national animal of Peru) and a friendly fox at the Straits of Magellan.

Here are few brief comments for those of you looking to travel in Argentina.

Number one, it isn’t cheap.  A hostel with a private room and shared bath will cost you from 250-400 pesos ($50-$80).  It’s about half that if you don’t require a private room (personally, I want the security and comfort of leaving my pack in the locked room).  A beer will cost you $6.00 and a cup of coffee $3.oo (with no refills, of course).

Secondly, if you don’t speak Spanish – you (and I)  have a problem!  Almost no one speaks English; Buenos Aires is a little better, but still a problem.

Next, is the issue of money; as the accountants say, “Cash is king!”  In Buenos Aires I didn’t experience problems; once I accepted the fact that only way to get cash from a credit card is via the ATM (strangely, the banks will not accept your credit card – you must use the ATM).  One further note; I was unable to get cash from my credit card anywhere in Tierra del Fuego (so make sure you plan ahead).

I don’t know what significance the fourth point has, it’s just an observation. Dogs roam unattended everywhere; they are mostly unkempt appear to homeless and (even for a dog lover) are a bit of nuisance.

In the way of general  comments, the Argentineans are friendly, helpful, clean and a seemingly resourceful lot, but one criticism; they litter the streets “ruthlessly”. The resort town like Ushuaia and El Calafate fare better, but it’s a huge problem in Buenos Aires.  The problem is magnified in Buenos Aires by the ubiquitous construction (just the price of progress I guess).

Finally, plan on walking A LOT! In Buenos Aires I very quickly “earned” blisters on both feet, and it doesn’t get any better from here on out. In the Ushuaia National Park the trekked was over six miles (very nice, but it’s no Yosemite!).

The bus out of Junin was two hours late (the buses that are always on time – or so I was told) and we were left with little daylight to see the rest of the La Pampa’s.

The following day as I awoke it was apparent that Mother Nature had played a trick on me; gone were the grassy plains and fields of grain.  The La Pampa’s had given way to the sparsely populated (save the for the resort havens of Atlantic coast) barren land and sage brush of what is eastern plains of Patagonia.

The highway is a smooth two lane paved road, but there was little see; the desolation was “rampant”.  And so, for many miles I lost myself in the wisdom of John Grisham.

I would have like to have been traveling by car and had the luxury of stopping along way to explore these coastal cities; which even in the dark of night were unable to hide their beauty.

The entire region south of Las Pampas is known as Patagonia; in the east it begins as flat desolate plains and transcends into slightly rolling hills of continued desolation, before in Tierra del Fuego (“The End of the World”) it meets where the tail-end of the Andes surrenders itself to the sea.

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All buses are new and in excellent condition (or so I thought).  As we rolled into the night all was well, until we pulled to side of the road, still running, but this was not good.

It was cold, I was tired and so, undaunted by are present condition; I fell asleep.

I don’t know what woke me up (for sure no one bothered!), but when I woke up the bus was empty.  From my seat in the first row of the upper deck I could see another bus in front of us; with passengers busily scrambling aboard.  I rushed out of the bus and ran for the “salvation” of the rescuing bus – TOO LATE!  The bus was full!

“Calmly” I rushed to find the bus driver.  Again, I was told the bus full; after a moderate explosion, I realized that –  “#%*^ Happens” there was nothing left to do – and so, I laughed!

I was told that a mechanic was on his way.  Still doubtful, I nonetheless returned to the (somewhat) warmth of the bus.

They were correct, in less than thirty minutes we were on the road.

Laughter is great medicine!

Oh, what a beautiful day!

Today I left Buenos Aires after seven days and took a bus to Junin in La Pampa (a Quechua Indian name meaning “plain”); La Pampa is both a province and the name an area that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, Chubut, most of Uruguay.

This area of la Pampa is virtually flat and mostly devoid of trees; boundless fields of grain and corn and grasslands – beauty of a different sort.  I was struck with how few cities there were; we seemed to drive for miles without seeing even ranch house. Its fall here and the fields are mostly yet to be harvested; although there was evidence of a few small ranches, I was surprised at how few.

My original plan was to purchase a ticket for Mendoza (the wine) region and then, perhaps, proceed on to Santiago, Chile; but, I only purchased a ticket to Junin (mostly out a romanticized idea I might find a, sort of “dude ranch” of gauchos and cowboy-up).

If a dude ranch of gauchos exists in Junin, I never found it, and almost became stranded in Junin. It seems that Easter in Argentina begins on Thursday and ends on Tuesday. As a result the tickets for Junin to Mendoza were sold out. As it has turned out, it’s kind of neat thing; Junin is centrally located to be the perfect starting point to north, south, east or west (which was another reason to stop in Junin in the first place).

Forced to look at other options, I chose Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego province (the southern most city in the world).

It’s a thirty six hour bus trip from Junin to Rio Gallegos (as close as I could to Ushuaia from Junin) and doesn’t leave until 3:00 PM tomorrow. In the meantime, Junin (with a population of 120,000) is clean, very pleasant and relaxing place to be “stranded” – kind of a mini-Paris with all of its sidewalk cafes.

They always warn you to be very careful were you go and to be especially careful with your camera.

A few days ago (I hesitated to say anything); pick-pockets relieved me of about $160 cash and one credit card).  They were “very compassionate though”, and return my wallet to my pocket (minus the cash and card).

I was able to cancel the card within an hour, but not before they made four transactions for over $200 (Visa has since voided the transactions and restored the cash).

Since that incident I’ve purchased a small backpack to keep camera my out of the sight of would be thieves and I guard my remaining credit card with extra precaution.

In an effort to experience the Buenos Aires, I found myself in the shopping district of Puerto Madero; setting at a bar conversing (as best I could in my “Swahili-like” Spanish) with a documentary filmmaker named Sebastian.  We exchanged emails, he advised me of where to go in Argentina and even invited me to stay sometime at his home with him and his girl-friend (at least that’s what I heard!).

During the course of the conversation, he recommended that I visit San Telmo in an effort to get a taste of Argentina’s legendary night life.      The music was great, but other a little impromptu dancing in the street there were no rollicking dance halls.  I left at 3:00 AM with the music still going and feeling as if I was yet to experience the “heartbeat” of Buenos Aires.

One final note of explanation regarding the Pink House is generally regarded to be the executive mansion although it is not and the current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is seldom there.

My first full day in Buenos Aires was a bust, at least in terms of accomplishing anything significant.  I don’t want to sound too negative; nothing happened badly, but I just felt that more should have been accomplished.

Buenos Aires is my mind still very Latin American in my despite all the obvious European influence.

The strength of the Argentine economy is evident, it’s a shopping Mecca!  I started out in the Palermo Hostel in Palermo, which was clean, safe and quite nice, but still a bit removed from the “heart beat” of Buenos Aires. After two days, I move to the Colonial Hostel in the downtown area, which was cheaper and nicer (still not the “Marriott” by any stretch of the imagination).  One obvious improvement was that the “stool” was no longer in the shower (that was a “first” – see photo).

Buenos Aires is a city of contrasts; there broad “walking mall” streets like Avenida Florida with cavernous and ubiquitous Galleria’s (shopping malls) such as the Pacifica and yet the streets suffer from the all to present malady of “constructionitous”. There are beautiful and well preserved historical edifices, graffiti pocked buildings not deserving of such disgrace and subway cars which both applaud and shame the “talents” of the artists.

I am, of course, now in Buenos Aires, but it’s kind of necessary (in my mind at least) to regress a bit, recount in more detail the past few days leading up this date and then to try to keep abreast of the situation in a more timely fashion in the future.

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Everything is not always as it should be, or should I say things are seldom as they should be.

I left a week ago today with the expectation of being in Buenos Aires the following day with no further costs or problems; it was not to be on both accounts.

At Detroit Metro, when I went to get my boarding pass they told me that while Argentina did not require passengers to have a visa to enter the country, they did require the payment of a $160 “reciprocity fee” and the documentation to prove that the fee had been paid.

I was told to go to the Westin Hotel Business Center and ask them to help me get the necessary documentation.

When I arrived at the Westin, they seemed to know nothing about what I was trying to get accomplished; however, they directed to a computer and assisted me as best they could (a sincere to thanks Westin).

In the end I was able to pay the reciprocity fee, get the required documentation and return to the terminal in time to make my flight – actually, plenty of time.  My United flight was delayed (ostensibly due to weather conditions out of Atlanta which was delaying the essential paperwork required by the airlines).

I was told, however, that the flight would still arrive at Dulles Airport in Washington DC in time to make my 10:10 PM connection to Buenos Aires (but I would have to hurry).  The plane did, in fact, arrive in time; but it sat on the tarmac waiting for United to clear other aircraft out of the way so that they could park the plane (a not so, sincere thanks to United).

In the end, the delay and inability to make my connection was kind of a gift.  I was given a free night at the Westin, 3 meal vouchers (to be used either at the Westin or Dulles Airport) and it was a beautiful day in Washington DC.  I took the bus to the Washington Mall, was entertained by a couple exhibiting their talents throwing the frisbee and spent most of the day at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (thanks, United).

As I mentioned in the previous blog my camera mount was broken during transport; but, fortunately, there was a Nikon repair center in Buenos Aires, and all is well now.  The $60 repair bill was totally agreeable and it’s time to explore Buenos Aires.

Just a quick update.  I arrived in Buenos Aires today a full 24 hours late (my United  10:10 PM  flight had already departed).

Despite my late arrival  in Buenos Aires, I was told that luggage was still in Washington DC.

Undeterred (well, maybe a “little deterred) I nonetheless took a cab to my hotel.  Later that evening my luggage was delivered to  my hotel (that despite the fact that their we’re no more Buenos Aires flights scheduled for the day).

Clearly, eaither someone getteng bad information or flat out lying! (I favor the former, but fear the latter more closely represents the truth).

After inspecting my luggage I discovered that the lens on my Nikon camera had somehow become dislodged and now would no longer mount on the camera.

The challenge now would be to find a camera repair show in Buenos Aires and hope that it could be repaired.

It seems that “Murphy” is in full control of the situation.  I’ll you keep you posted as to how it’s going, but in the mean time there will, obviously, be NO PICTURES (YUK!).

Continue reading →

Welcome to my newest, latest and greatest blog site.

The intent of this blog is to offer as best I can my insight and perspective on places of interest throughout the world, tell of my experience and take some pictures (even videos) along the way.

Some of you may have followed me on past adventures as a caravan driver for the MichCanSka (4000 mile snowmobile excursion from Sioux City, Michigan to Tok, Alaska) or my 30,000 mile solo motorcycle trek from Michigan to Key West, Florida to Coldfoot, Alaska and back.   That may represent more reading than you want to tackle, but the pictures are themselves worth the effort (see archives 2010 for pictures from both trips).

At the present time I’m in “limbo” while trying to decide on a new direction after my aborted attempt to fly to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  I was turned away at the airport with my ticket, passport, camera and backpack in hand; but without a visa I was told that I wasn’t going anywhere (at least not in Brazil).

As soon as I figure out a new plan of attack, I’ll let you know.  In the meantime, understand that this is a new site in development; my hope is to add some insightful and affordable travel info and other photography and travel related products.  Hey, this is an expensive habit which needs to be funded (perhaps, I can provide some products and insight to help us both along the way).