Always have to See Both Sides of the Story

Iguassu, Brazil
Thursday, March 13, 2014

Today I would visit the Brazilian side of the falls. I was on my own today as Shondra, Venice and Anvi had already visited and were getting set to head to other places. Eduardo picked me up nice and early again and we headed off. It did not take long to realize that the Brazil side is visited a lot less often than the Argentinian side and at my early hour I got some good views without a lot of people.

Standing in Brazil, looking at Argentina. This is where I was yesterday. Looks so amazing from here.

A closer look. I was right underneath that in the speed boat yesterday.

I pretty much had the place to myself.....except for this little guy. Pretty friendly. They probably get fed a lot. Was not concerned at all when I got nice and close.

This is a ring-tailed coatis. They live both in the trees and on the ground. Females travel in family groups, where as males are usually solitary. So pretty good bet this one was a boy, however, yesterday we saw a whole family of girls running around.

A beautiful morning in Brazil.

The Brazilian side is not nearly as developed as the Argentinian side of the falls. With the smaller crowds and the design of the park you really do have the opportunity to get closer to the water and really spend some time enjoying it. The park itself is well controlled. No personal vehicles are allowed, so you must enter via a tourist van or bus. They run shuttles from the parking lot however, I was dropped off and picked up right at the start and end of the path to the falls. Also the only houses you will see belong to park officials, and there is only one hotel, which was built in the 1950's, when the area was controlled by the military. No other commercial buildings are allowed inside the park.

Wonderful view from Brazil to Argentina.

As you can imagine all the mist in the air creates a whole series of rainbows.

On the Brazil side, you can get a lot closer to the falls....without a boat ride.

This is not quite at the bottom but maybe in the bottom third. Very nice vantage point.

 A look at the falls as I ride the elevator. Yes there are stairs, but this is a better view.

A view from the top. Another perfect rainbow.

After about an hour at the falls, I headed over to the bird sanctuary (Parque das Aves). Here you can get close up and personal to a whole lot of local birds, and many found in the Amazon.......and they have a couple giant anacondas on display as well (you can't get up close to them.....and I avoided that section entirely).

No smoking, no feeding, no touching, no running.....but you can still have fun. This was one of the only signs that actually had English on it. The rest I had to guess.

Cute little ducks. I'm am not totally sure but I think this is a Brazilian teal or Brazilian duck.

I never could find the name of this one. I thought the long beaks made them look pretty interesting though. Plus I love the bright pink colour.

Cute little parrots.

This is a green-winged macaw. There was a whole lot of these guys in this giant enclosure you could walk into. These guys were not quite was friendly as some of the other birds......they are also really, really big so pretty sure I didn't mind them not wanting to get too close.

Of course there are some flamingos.

I had some close personal time with this toco toucan. He's not shy at all.

Getting this close to a toucan, gives you a new appreciation for how beautiful they really are.

This is also a toucan but not totally sure what kind. It might be a keel-billed but I cannot be certain about it.

Lunchtime for the birds. Lots of nice fresh vegetable for these guys.

This guy also was not very shy. Kind of like the penguins......you cannot stop them from coming up to you. He did occasionally get too close for comfort, but was mostly well behaved. This is a blue-yellow macaw.

One of the many little turtles who are also on display. Cute little guys.

Little turtle sunning himself. It was a nice day for it that's for sure.

They also have a very nice little butterfly enclosure. Not always easy to catch good pictures of them but as you can imagine, very, very beautiful.

As with so many places I have visited, I would most certainly recommend checking out this bird sanctuary. Although I love seeing animals in their natural habitat, this is a great place to get up close and personal to some birds you probably will not see anywhere else.

After about an hour at the park, I made a couple more stops. Since it was just me, Eduardo and I were pretty free to make a few stops so I managed to get some souvenir shopping done before heading back to the hotel. It was a wonderful day and a great little introduction to Brazil. Of course there is so much left to see, but it will have to wait for another trip.

I would be back on the road again tomorrow, heading back to Argentina for my final few days. I had a quiet evening involving dinner, packing my bags and finalizing my final travel plans.

Back to the airport first thing tomorrow.

Julie

A Sad Day in a Beautiful Place

Travel from El Calafate to El Chalten, Argentina
Friday, March 7, 2014

Today would be a travel day for me, but not until later in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to relax. I had looked into doing a trek on the glacier but it was full so I decided I would just take it easy, and then wander around town before it was time to catch my bus. I woke up to some pretty sad news however, that one of the doctors we work closely with at Cleveland Clinic had passed away suddenly. Dr. William Rauschaupt was a pretty brilliant cardiologist and we worked closely with him and his Assistant, Anne, when getting second opinions for our patients (in case you forgot, that is my job). Ironically, he died of heart related issues but it was really sudden and unexpected. I spent most of the morning making phone calls and sending emails as it was very shocking. I was able to speak with my work colleague Mohammed for a bit as well, as this was a great loss to both of us personally. It was nice to be able to speak with him for a bit as we both dealt with the shock of the loss.

Eventually I made my way out of the hotel and went for a bit of a wander. El Calafate is a nice quiet little town and there are a couple things they tell you to look out for.

There isn't a warning about the dogs, but there probably should be. They are everywhere....and they just sit there, doing nothing. Cars literally have to drive around them. Buuuttt.....some of them are pretty cute and they tend not to be very aggressive (that would require them to move). 

The guide books also made no mention of horses......but there one is.

The guide book did make mention of the flamingos though.

Yes, those are flamingos. El Calafate sits on Lago Argentino (Lake Argentino) and it is home to many flamingos. Now I always thought of flamingos as tropical birds but I guess not because here they are. Such pretty birds. I've only ever seen them in zoos and wildlife parks before so I was really excited to see them here.

Eventually I had to head back to my hotel and then to the bus station. I was off to my next destination, El Chalten. Again this was all sorted out by Gadventures, well more specifically their local agent, so it was super easy for me. I was picked up at my hotel, driven to the bus station, given my bus ticket, my bag was put on the bus and I was basically escorted to my seat. Very worry free. The trip was about 3 hours over some very pretty landscape. As is my habit, I slept for a bunch of it but sometimes I cannot help myself (I'm like a baby, moving vehicles make me sleepy).

Once in El Chalten I was met at the bus station and driven to my hotel (very short drive, I easily could have walked). After a quick settling in and a confirmation of my plans for tomorrow, I walked down the street for some food. I made it a pretty early night as I had long day planned for tomorrow.

Good sleeping to come on this bed.

Tomorrow was to be another active day.....and would start pretty early.

Julie

Iceberg......Right Ahead

Travel through The Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Wednesday, February 19th, 2014

Not to worry, we didn't even come close to hitting it, but we did in fact see our first iceberg of the trip. As I mentioned we had crossed of the Antarctic Convergence last evening and we woke up very excited to start seeing some animals and stuff. It really did not take long at all.

There she is.....our first iceberg. Not to worry, there will be many, many more and we'll get a lot closer. Icebergs are made up of fresh water and depending on their size, they can take anywhere from 50 to 200 years to melt. So this iceberg,...at least 50 years old. Pretty cool eh?

Land!!!! My first view of Antarctica. Well to be correct, these are some of the outer islands and not the continent itself but it all counts as Antarctica. 

Standing out on deck in my new jacket. I saw my first whales of the trip while taking this picture. Not totally sure what kind but my description of it being lighter in colour led people to think it was a Minke. 

The closest I got to getting a picture of the first whales of our trip. With the boat moving at a pretty good speed and the whales being unpredictable, you just never knew when and where they would breach next. I was always just a second too late on this day.

Penguins!!!!! Yep, first penguins of the trip. Very, very exciting.

Our plan of the day (or any day) was not known first thing in the morning. Whether or not we get to shore or where we might go to shore is usually very weather and ice dependent and can change at anytime. For us, there was no scheduled landing today, however, The Drake Passage was so nice to us, that we made fantastic time and arrived at the South Shetland Islands with some beautiful sunshine and plenty of time to get off the boat.

Of course we couldn't just jump off the boat and onto shore. There were a few more things to do first. As you can imagine, Antarctica is a very sensitive ecosystem so as tourists it is important that we do not introduce anything foreign. So all our outer clothes and bags and anything we would take to the continent with us (unless new), had to be checked for foreign particles and vacuumed. 

Anxiously waiting to get off the boat.

A look at some of the beautiful glaciers in the area.

Eventually it was time for us to get off the big boat and take our first steps on Antarctica. Anyone who has been on a cruise knows that getting people on and off the boat can be a bit of procedure. Heading to Antarctica is made a little bit more complicated by the fact that laws stipulate only a certain number of tourists can be on land at a time and we need to do our best not to disturb any animals in the area. This means a few things. First, that members of the crew go to shore first in order to mark out some areas and walking trails for us. Second it means they often have to find ways to split the group. Lucky for us, we were on a relatively small boat (some have 500 or 600 passengers, so when a max of 100 people can be on land, means not everyone is going to get a chance to get off the boat) so it worked out pretty good.

At this stop there were two islands that we got to visit, Barrientos and Cecelia Islands. We were called down in groups and then transferred to the islands by the zodiacs. This time our numbers were easily split between the 2 islands. The landing was about 2 hours long, so once you had enough at one island, you simply hopped on a zodiac and they took you to the other, or back to the ship if you preferred that. 

I patiently waited for my number to be called and got in line for a zodiac. We all carry electronic ID cards that we scan as we get on and off the ship. Of course you do not always have to get off the boat but unless you were dying (and there were a few illnesses on the boat as you can imagine) why come all this way and not get your boots on the ground? After a short little zodiac ride I very excitedly stepped foot on my 7th continent for the first time.

And look who decided to greet me. Mr. Chinstrap Penguin. So named for the black stripe across the throat. Easy to pick out.

A couple little fur seals having a bit of a fight on the beach. The guys aren't babies but they aren't fully grown just yet either. Adolescent males is how they were described to us. They weren't fighting for territory or females, they were just practicing.

Not just ice and wildlife to look at. There are also some very interesting geographical formations in the area as well.

Of course penguins are not the only birds to see. Antarctica is home to a lot of different birds. These are Southern Giant Petrels. The little fuzzy one in the front is of course still a chick. This birds will eat krill, fish and small squid, usually while swimming but can also dive while flying.

Look at this lazy little fur seal taking a nap in the sun. He looks so peaceful. For seals, we had to try to stay at least 15 metres away from them so as not to disturb them. Apparently if they chase you, running is not the best response. Better to turn around and growl at them. As fun as it would be to be chased by a seal in Antarctica....I'll probably try to avoid it.

A cute little penguin, just coming out of the water.

Where's Waldo......for beginners.

Just sitting there....as penguins do.

This is an adult penguin and penguin chick. These are Gentoo penguins. They are not that different in size at this stage, but you can see the chick is still very fuzzy. Until he loses all those soft little feathers he has to live on land, depending on his parents to bring him food.

A little chinstrap penguin.....just wandering around. You can see the MS Expedition and 2 waiting zodiacs in the background.

Another shot of some penguins and the boats in the background.

How cute is this little chick? 

Yes I am looking a little cold. My first Antarctic experience with my thin warm weather blood. Don't worry, I won't always look this cold.

Hmmm......does the pole taste good?

Or maybe my pants taste good.

Simple rules when it comes to the penguins; stay at least 5 metres away and you can't touch them. However, the rules don't apply to the animals themselves, which means they can come as close to you was they want. It seems unfair.....and a little tempting.

Eventually it was time to head back to the ship, but the first landing did not disappoint. Made me very excited for the rest of the trip. After the landing we had a briefing, just to discuss what we saw and how everyone was feeling after our first landing. I can assure you the room was full of happy people.

The briefing was followed by dinner. Excellent as always.

Now this is what happens when you ask for a "lactose free" meal. You get fruit for dessert......while Jeff gets a cream filled, chocolate covered eclair. Not fair.

Well day one in Antarctica was in the books. Tomorrow hopefully we would get to touch more land.....and this time the actual continent.

Julie