Antarctica 2023
Years ago we saw a presentation on a cruise ship about Antarctica cruises, but you didn't go on shore, the ship just cruised by, it peaked our interest but didn't seem like what we wanted. Then in 2019 our friend suggested we join her for an expedition ship that would go to Antarctica and you would do a bunch of landings on Antarctica... actually be on the ground amongst the penguins. That certainly seemed like something we would want to do, and I went to work doing some further research. Another colleague of mine had been there, so I called her, and she highly recommended not only the trip, but also to make sure we went to South Georgia as that was her favourite stop.
We didn't end up booking the same ship as our friend, but we did book a smaller ship excursion that included the Falkland Islands/Isla Malvinas, South Georgia, and Antarctica... for the year 2020. Everyone knows what happened next, so for 2 years we were delayed, then ready to go last year before Covid struck again, affecting most of the crew. Finally in 2023 it was going to happen, after a stopover in the Galapagos Islands we were on our way to our 7th Continent and the furthest South you can go.
But first, a little stop in Buenos Aires, after leaving the Galapagos Islands.
Jan 29/30
Airport
It's a bit of a trek getting there (GPS-GYE-UIO-EZE) and Avianca is another terrible airline. We are in Row 1, so we pull out our TV screens from the armrest, can’t find the headphone Jack, and it wouldn’t matter anyways as the entertainment system doesn't work, no TV series, no movies , not even music for a 6 hour flight. Apparently they tried to reset it, but they suck.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
We don't arrive in Buenos Aires until January 30th at 5:30am, Luckily I pre-arranged for super early arrival at Palacio Paz hotel
When we arrive, the desk clerk is sound asleep and snoring on a couch. We tried coughing, banging into furniture, but he wasn't waking up. Then I noticed some papers on the ground behind the desk, maybe the wind blew in when we opened the door. There's our form with a room key paper-clipped to it, on the floor. So we just checked ourselves in for a couple hours sleep.
Our room 
Our view
After waking up and letting the new (and awake) desk clerk know that we have already gone to our room, we hit the streets to find the nearest Hop on Hop off bus and get an overview of the city.
It is a massive city, but I am surprised by how many park and green areas they have spread throughout the city.
Turns out that soccer (Football) is very popular, who knew? Also, polo... a massive Polo field is in the center of the city.
Another impressive structure in the center of town is the Ministry of Public Works building. On both sides of the building there is a large steel image of María Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Evita Perón. Her official portrait is on one side, and the other side shows her giving a speech, or maybe she's singing "Don't cry for me Argentina".
Not far from the Football Fanatic area of La Bombonera stadium and the BOCA junior fans is the cute and colourful village known as Caminito. A perfect place to get off the bus, explore a little and grab some lunch.
We were lured in to La Perla de Caminito, a cute historical restaurant right on the drag, and given a nice table on the sidewalk. The food was good, the beer was good, and we were re-introduced to the custom of the Table Service fee. Basically, we provide you with some bread before your meal without asking, and then we charge you for it. Not a big deal cause the bread was good, just forgot that some countries do this.
The area definitely has a tourist trap feel to it, but the mix of fun art installations, with colourful buildings, and Tango dancers on the streets in front of restaurants make it totally worth it. A nice break from the big city feel of downtown Buenos Aires.
Everywhere we are seeing this cartoon character, and learned it is Mafalda, an Argentine comic strip that ran from 1964 to 1973. It features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth. She is concerned about humanity and world peace, and has an innocent but serious attitude toward problems.
It's back on the bus to complete our loop around the city. We only had the one day to explore before flying further South, so this gave us a chance to see what areas we may want to check out on the way home when we have an extra day in B.A.
It's a short walk back to our hotel, we took the elevator up to the top floor and found a balcony with amazing views.
When we got back to the hotel, we had a long chat with the desk clerk about the city, and what we should see when we come back. He explained how he was biased, but if he had one day, he would go to Iguazu Falls. Looks like we planned a side trip for our return.
We had dinner in our hotel, it was pretty good, even if they can't tell the difference between the Panko which is fish, and the Panko which is Veal...but it all got sorted out in the end.
Since we were headed to a very different climate at the tip of South America and Antarctica, we pooled all of our warm weather clothing into a couple bags and left them at the hotel, since we would be returning here in late February.