Argentina and Uruguay

We survived the 10 day crossing.  There are activities that broke up the voyage, like a day of Sea Olympics. Some activities were serious athletic endeavors like basketball, dodgeball, pull-ups and tug of war. Others were more about creativity, like lip syncs, synchronized swimming, and an obstacle course. The Vitamin Sea team, faculty/staff/family/lifelong learners did pretty well. I think they aced the obstacle course when the jigsaw puzzle of Africa was the last event. There was a geography professor on the team. Champions in pull-ups too, which came as a surprise to some of the muscle bound young guys. Lots of cheering for my partner who surpassed them all.
Buenos Aires
This is a beautiful city, vibrant with life, good food, culture, green spaces, and public art. I loved walking from the docks and shanty towns to the streets that felt very much like New York City, with its doormen, shop windows, and well-heeled ladies walking their dogs. I had a plan of two areas I wanted to see.

View from the Law School steps.

Floralis Genérica up close. This is huge and reflective of the park and visitors around it.

B.A. had beautiful art throughout the parks.

Dogs are everywhere in this city and well-loved. We saw numerous dogwalkers with small tribes of various breeds. These guys were chillin’ while we had lunch. I checked in after the trip with a student who has a dog phobia, and yes, it had been a very challenging city for her. For the dog lovers, it was charming.

This is the view of the top of La Recoleta Cemetary, something that exceeds New Orleans in its grandeur and is the final resting place of Eva Perón and many others.

The monuments and tombs range from elaborate to humble. This cemetery holds the remains of many illustrious military generals, presidents, scientists, poets and other affluent Argentinians. There is a saying in Argentina that it costs much more to die than it does to live.

Students populated a grassy knoll, enjoying the afternoon sun, and beyond them were about 5 trees of massive scale.

Iguazú Falls
The guides almost everywhere on arranged trips have been great. The one in Iguazu was 7 months pregnant and usually took tourists on long distance bike rides or birdwatching expeditions, as that is her area a specialization. She was mellow and full of good information about the region.

Bird to greet us as we walked out to see the falls.

This was spectacular.




The second day we went to the Brazilian side which yielded even better views.

I was not disappointed, as the experiences of standing over the falls was stunning. This is a World Heritage Site that regularly flashed on my I-Google start page in a box of “places to see before you die”. Check. Definitely worth the effort.
Then to a Bird Sanctuary where a hour and a half was not enough time to see everything.

A lot of birds were in pairs. This set might work its way into a lecture someday regarding mirroring.

This next bird was puzzling, because from a distance he looked more like a little man in a robin hood outfit, which causes me to reflect on how Robin Hood got his name in the first place.

The female below is called a Harpy Eagle. She is a raptor who hunts for sloth and monkeys. Such an unpleasant face and vicious claws. Majestic in scale.

Although I waited patiently for these darlings to show off their plumage, they never succumbed to the charm of their visitors.

Twice, backs turned to us, they opened in full glory. Add that to my slide show of the backsides of animals.

Another creature to remind me of fictional beasts, great inspirations for Halloween.

We had an amazing dinner out that night, six of us breaking from the crowd. Argentina is known for its steaks, and those who indulged were deeply satisfied. Given my vegetarian preferences, I was also pleased to have an excellent dish, and here is the yummy local dessert we ordered.

Caayucayari (Nuestro Postre de Yerba Mate)

Yerba Mate Creme Brulee, Caramelized Manioc, Toasted Almonds & Yerba and Cointreau Foam

Montevideo, Uruguay

Tall doors, short people. This seemed notable given the tall Europeans and the short ceilings and door frames, especially in more rural areas. I am guessing the spaciousness is more related to heat costs or natural cooling systems rather than physical stature.

Most notable to me walking the business streets were bookstores and pajama displays.
Literacy rates are 99% in this country. I loved sticking my head in bookstores, bemoaning that I cannot read Spanish, perusing titles and oohing over covers. I am excited to have gotten the news that my Uruguayan friend, Monica Tresandes, had her book favorably reviewed in O Magazine. Oprah is good luck for authors, and I hope Monica’s novel gets the attention it deserves. Broken Like This is the title, and I am excited to at least be in her native country since I am not back home for the book release party.

Every stop we’ve made has had graffiti. I have not been posting all of it, but I have been repeatedly charmed.

Down by the green dinosaur is a stamp stating Vision Street War. The “work” below is not mine, but it is always a treat to see my name in unexpected places.

Food is a bit more expensive here than in some other places, but we had a great lunch at Nayné Caffé. While waiting for our meal, it was a pleasure to visually review the local newspaper.

Piriápolis
It was pure luck that a brief paragraph in Lonely Planet guides us to this beach town. While hundreds of SASers were traveling to Punta del Este, we stopped short of there by way of a very comfortable wifi-enabled bus. I am adjusting to reading books on my IPad. Now immersed in Gone Girl, but when I was reading the Murakami, more than 900 pages, I realized the advantages of reading on electronic devices.

The beach we found was ideal, and since we went there while many were at siesta, it was pretty sparse in locals, and seemingly no tourists. Around 5pm. the families came down.

More birds to sit and watch. I am so taken by the way light reflects in our various ports. Uruguay in the city is full of warm colors. The seaside colors are cool, a contrast to the 90 degree temperature. Locals talk about global warming both in the lack of spring they get, and the increase in natural disasters in an area unused to this phenomenon.

Days like this make it manageable to return to ship life with 500+ in residence. Our bus ride home yielded the best sunset.

We have two short days before Rio, and of the next 29 days, only 8 off ship. We are coming into a new chapter of revised convictions, regrets, and hopes. I am enjoying the existential conversations, the
consolidation of new experiences, and the reflections about how this is all meant to fit together. Travel changes people, some more than others, some in a flash and others in a more delayed way.

I keep telling people that there will be brief remarks and stories about the trip to family and friends, but hold on, because the real lessons will come with time and distance. Who we become is in the perspective we’ve gained. One becomes more welcoming of strangers and novelty, more adventurous in travel, more generous in spirit.

The ship historian said, “we enter to learn, we depart to serve”. I do not know that the students get what that means now, but in retrospect, I hope it seeps into their hearts and plays out in their lives by living more intentionally, more conscious of being citizens in a global community.  Time will tell.