The Penguin Papers

I was planning to write only one Rapa Nui blog, but today’s tour was so interesting, I wanted to write about it. A brief history is required. - As I mentioned the island was first settled in around 1200 by visitors from what is now French Polynesian. The island was ruled for many years by the descendants of the original king who first discovered the island. -The gods that the people originally worshipped weren’t doing much on their behalf so they decided to rely on something a bit less remote so started worshipping their ancestors. The moai are representations of those ancestors and were carved and transported across the island by the various clans who commissioned them to protect their particular village.  -This took place until about 1600 when things on the island started going downhill. Overpopulation and deforestation led to resource shortages and put a huge strain on the society. People no longer had faith in the king to run things so all hell broke loose with clans raiding vi...

I was expecting Santiago, Chile to be similar to Buenos Aires, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Buenos Aires is Paris and Barcelona with a soupçon of Mexico City. Santiago is much more run down and “authentic”, but it’s never a good sign when you are told you absolutely should not walk outside your hotel on your own after dark. Or after light. Or ever. I was thrilled to discover that the guide who picked me up at the airport, Nelson, was not an older woman (I really hate having to tar all those guides with the same brush, given that is my own demographic, but I’m scarred by those women!). He is, however, an older man who became a guide after 40 years as a naval engineer. He has been round the world over 60 times, and he didn’t shake his finger at me and tell me to “pay attention” once. After dropping my bags at the hotel, we embarked on a whirlwind tour of Santiago.  We started at St Lucia hill, the slightly more down at the hill sister of Santiago’s main hill - St Cristó...

I’ve been waiting for this entire trip to use this title, and it now seems fitting given it’s my last day in this spectacular country.  The trip from Colonia in Uruguay to Buenos Aires in Argentina was interesting.  It took about an hour by Hydrofoil down and across the estuary and the whole process was as simple as could be. I was greeted at the port by Alex, the original non-stop guide. She was exactly as I remembered, but I didn’t have it in me to be rude and dismiss her. She dropped me at my hotel and left me with the threat promise to see me in the morning for my city tour. This was my third hotel in a different neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, and neither the Hotel Madero nor the Puerto Madero disappoint. This is by far the fanciest hotel I’ve stayed in on this trip, and to be honest - I’m ready for it.  The Puerto Madero is a relatively recent development near the port filled with glassy skyscrapers, posh restaurants and streets named after women (of course). They h...

  I am so pleased that I persevered in ensuring that I actually got to attend the tango show as it ended up being a brilliant night. The Primuseum is a quickly little restaurant that doubles as a museum. Of stoves.  What started out as a collection off Primus stoves that were used widely in Uruguay in the 19th and early 20th century has turned into a collection of other vintage stoves and antiques.  It’s equally charming and weird. I arrived at about 9:15, and was quickly seated at my table for one right near the little mini stage.  I noticed another woman seated by herself, and I asked her to join me which she did. Katrina is in her 70s and lives in Washington State. She was travelling with her husband but he didn’t fancy the show so she came on her own. Good for you, Katrina. She then proceeded to tell me her interesting life story.  She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin but found her parents too permissive and asked to be sent to boarding school when she was 14. ...

  The flight from Mendoza was shorter than my typical drive to Cambridgeshire, but I found myself in the Buenos Aires domestic airport for a 3.5 hour layover  for my flight to Montevideo. Although Montevideo is in Uruguay, it is actually just a short hop from BA.  I probably could have walked and arrived before my flight, except that would have involved putting on my Jesus shoes to cross the Rio de La Plata. I think it is the world’s widest river, but it’s actually an estuary where the Uruguay and Paraná rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean. So, no walking or driving for me. My flight was scheduled to leave at 3:15, and at 2:30, the departures board still wasn’t showing a gate number. AT 2:45, it said that the flight was boarding, but still didn’t say where. I raced from one end of the terminal to the other until I found a gate bearing my flight information.  Maybe the locals just know what gate the flight leaves from.  I boarded, flew and landed without further incid...

Whilst I clearly love food, drink and culture, I have come to realise that I much prefer to spend my holidays doing more physically active things. Hiking, kayaking and riding have all been high points of the trip so far. I was therefore really looking forward to my day with Argentina Adventures, the company recommended by my lovely guide, Juan. The AA (in this case neither the Automobile Association nor Alcoholics Anonymous, although some might think that the latter might be more appropriate given recent consumption levels) had been easy to book with the previous day, and they agreed to pick me up at my hotel between 9:15 and 9:30.  I have learned that Argentina Standard Time works on a slightly different system from Greenwich Mean Time, and that I should probably expect them around 9:45.  I wasn’t wrong. I joined the minivan full of about 10 other enthusiastic adventurers, ranging in age from teenagers to, well, me. They were all Argentinians.  During the drive, I was as...

  I was sad to leave the estancia, but excited to visit Mendoza, the home of Argentinian Malbec and many other delectable wine varieties.  The flight was a smooth up and down hour, in stark contrast to my previous flight in hurricane force winds. Yet again, my luggage travelled with me, a fact that continues to delight me. I was greeted at the airport arrivals lounge by my guide, the handsome Juan who speaks such perfect English that I question whether he is actually Argentinian.  He insists he is 100% Mendozan born and bred. He drove me to my hotel, giving me a full overview of the region on the way, and said he would pick me up in the morning for our wineries tour.  The Club Hotel Tapiz is a former winery turned boutique hotel still surrounded by vineyards.  The buildings are lovely with the wooden floors and panelling that seem to be a staple for the old wineries. There is a small swimming pool and what is deemed a spa but really is just a lone exercise bike ...

The estancia experience was such a good one, it is worthy of a second blog post.  My great friend, Lynne (with an E!) had visited Los Pots (as those in the know call it) a couple of years ago. Lynne loves horses and is an experienced rider, and she raved endlessly about her time there.  I was delighted when my travel agent also suggested the estancia as part of our itinerary, and Lynne assured me that they could cater to a wide range of equestrian skills.  Despite my Texas passport, I am not the most skilled of riders, especially out of a western saddle where the most exertion required is getting your boots off at the end of the day. The staff, as explained in my previous blog, are all experts whether it is in the care and feeding of the horses and cattle (gouchos) or the care and feeding of the guests (the chalet girls guides). The gouchos didn’t say much, only adding to the allure of the cowboy mystique, but you just knew that they would be completely unflappable in an...

I was delighted to discover that my flight out of El Calafate wasn’t cancelled. I was not delighted to be flying in steady 50 MPH winds with gusts of up toe 70 MPH. I was told that these were fairly typical conditions for the area and that the pilots are well skilled in dealing with it.  As the plane bumped and dove and dipped (not unlike the ship in the Drake Passage), I did begin to question my atheism and some of my other life choices.  As I considered praying as a real option, I was reminded of Christopher Hitchens who when asked if he would believe in god on his death bed, said “ The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain.  I care very much that people do not credit such things.”  Feeling like I couldn’t Hitch down, I didn’t pray and yet still survived the flight.  Although I did not praise the lord, I did praise the pilot.He was remarkable. I had a three hour layover in Bariloche where it seemed...

El Calafate is known as the “Land of Glaciers” as it sits near the entry to Argentina’s Los Glaciers National Park.  As someone who just spent almost two weeks in Antarctica, this sobriquet seems a bit also ran to me, like callling Pittsburgh “Land of Skyscrapers” after spending two weeks in Manhattan.  It’s a nice enough town,that is a bit of a mashup of rustic charm and blatant tourism. You can’t walk 10 steps with tripping over a shop selling those knitted alpaca jumpers that seem like a great idea at the moment but you end up donating to the charity shop when you get home without ever wearing them.   You will also be reminded not to forget your souvenir snow globe, cuddly toy Patagonian lamb or overpriced belt embossed with local birds.  I’m pretty sure the only reason it was included in our itinerary was to give Jane a chance to see glaciers and icebergs given she didn’t join us in Antarctica.  As it turns out, she couldn’t join me in Argentina either,...

In case you couldn’t tell, this blog is about dogs.  The first part is an almost unbelievable tale of compassion, strength, perseverance and love worthy of a Hallmark made for TV movie.  In my previous blog, I told you about m y heroic, superhuman, exceptional hike up a mountain near Bariloche.  What I didn’t tell you yet is what happened when we were having a rest at the top.   In the distance, we saw a young man climbing up to from a side path, carrying something in his arms.  We couldn’t immediately see what he was carrying; it initially looked like a a baby or smalll child.  As he approached, we realised he was carrying an adorable, but pretty battered looking dog.  It transpired that he had spotted it on his way up, and worried (rightly) that the dog was lost and spent about an hour trying to catch the pitiful, petrified animal.  He finally managed to get hold of him, but had to wrap a shoe lace around his snout to keep from being bitten. It...