Travelogue Argentina 2022 (Patagonia & Buenos Aires)
Actually, this trip report should have a completely different headline:
MS SEA SPIRIT 08.01. - 28.01.2022 - Expedition Cruise: Falkland Islands, South Georgia & Antarctica. But then it was not to be,
already in 2019 we had booked this trip together with Karin and Peter, it was originally supposed to take place in January 2021.
But then, as is well known, Corona came in between.
The trip was postponed to 2022. Three months before, we got the news that Argentina would open the borders for foreigners again,
but under certain conditions (obligatory health insurance, PCR test on entry and and elaborate paperwork in advance). We had
thought it over for a long time and then dared to do it, because the shipping company had assured us, that everything would be
done to exclude covid infections on board.
The planning was quite chaotic in the end, because there were not enough domestic flights available within Argentina.
and we had to arrive 3 days before. At some point, however, we sat in the Lufthansa plane to Buenos Aires, except for the
really boring and completely outdated entertainment program, there was nothing to complain about.
The entry to Buenos Aires went surprisingly really fast and completely problem-free, very tiring was then however
the extremely long waiting time at the domestic airport for the onward flight to Ushuaia. Arrived there, we immediately made
acquaintance with the strong wind that blows there constantly. Ushuaia, a mixture of alpine village and fjord settlement, is gladly
last city at the end of the world (Fin del Mundo), here most ships start towards Antarctica.
From the Hotel Arakur we had a wonderful view of Patagonia and the Beagle Channel. Right next to the hotel there are good
excellent walking trails through the nature reserve Cerro Alarken. In 1-1.5 hours you can experience Tierra del Fuego in miniature here:
Swamps, ponds, foxes, free-roaming horses, the typical Tierra del Fuego forests, magnificent views of mountains and of course
Birdlife in any weather.
After 3 days would have been then actually on Sunday afternoon the embarkation on the MS Sea Spirit, but unfortunately we were
then quite at short notice - on Saturday evening after 23 clock - informed that we can not go on board. There had been
several corona cases of passengers and crew and the Argentinean government had decreed at short notice that they were not allowed
to leave the ship until the tests were negative. Hotel rooms in Ushuaia for this quarantine were not available. So it was
decided to cancel our trip and to fly the new passengers, i.e. us, back to Buenos Aires. End of our dream....
So we ended up back in Buenos Aires, had 3 really great days there in an interesting and diverse
big city. We stayed in the Puerto Madero district, visited San Telmo with its cobblestone streets, the cemetery of Recoleta
with the grave of Evita Peron, and of course the Caminito on the southern edge of La Boca with its colorful houses. Also the bird photography
in Buenos Aires there are many green spaces and parks, as well as the Parque Natural y Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur.
Unfortunately we had the wrong clothes with us, the plan was snow and ice and so our hats and gloves, scarves and ski pants
found no use, in Buenos Aires it was 35 degrees during the day. But of course we liked the flair of this South American city.
The streets is like a journey through the history of Argentina, at every corner you dive into a completely different part of the city.
into a completely different part.
After 9 days we landed back in Germany and decided to try again, if possible, our long-awaited trip to the South Pole in 2024.
