WHY DO PEOPLE HEAD to South America? We're not really sure why we chose to take this 36-day cruise with Holland America. I guess that neither of us had ever been to Argentina before, or even South America for that matter. We can’t say exactly why we chose Buenos Aires as the ultimate end destination for our Holland America cruise. But for some indefinable reason, the city has always tempted us.

Just the words "Buenos Aires" conjures up images of smoky tango clubs, chaotic street life, steak, steak and more steak along with a beautiful, rotting decadence.

The very idea of this South American city is alluring.

Maybe it was the promise of steaks, pizza and ice cream, or the reputation, which Argentines enjoy of physical beauty. Whatever the reason, we’ve set out on the HAL’s Zaandam in early October to find out more about this huge metropolis teeming with culture and history laid out before us, just waiting to be explored.

We’re set to leave Vancouver at around midnight on October 05th with our first port-of-call being just fifty-three (53) nautical miles across the Strait of Georgia. Victoria is the governmental hub for British Columbia and one of the most beautiful cities in Canada mainly because of the weather.

TIP #1 – You can save hundreds of dollars by parking your vehicle at the YVR Long-term parking lot - going on-line (www.yvr.ca/en/jetset.aspx) and enter the coupon code – alwayson – and you’ll receive HUGE discounts over their regular weekly/monthly rates.

Our check-in process went very smooth, other than a brief delay because of some on-board computer issues but we were onboard and in our room with our luggage just outside our door in less than 30 minutes.

Right on schedule, the bridge crew sounds the horns as we pull away from the dock and head west, straight for the Lions Gate Bridge and the start of what will be an amazing journey down the west coast of the United States, Central America, South America and then rounding Cape Horn with the final stop in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

HAL had a BBQ dinner setup on the Lido deck last night so we dropped by for a little nosh before our 8:00 p.m. dinner. From the get-go it seems like Deb and I are one of the youngest people of the 1432 passengers onboard. We’ve seen powered chairs, canes, oxygen canisters along with more grey hair than you’d see at a wheelchair convention. Our first dinner in the dining room wasn’t up to what we experienced on the Eurodam in May so let’s hope this gets better quick.

I've preloaded all of our ports-of-call so the little bullets at the top of the blog will allow you to scan and scroll throughout the entire trip to hopefully see pictures from each stop. One thing that's different on this cruise is that I'm also going to be working on an eBook - "There's More To South American Than A Tango" which will be compiled on a daily basis and completed when we leave Rio de Janeiro on or about the 16th of November. The surprising thing is that I've sold a quite a number of books through my on-line store (www.etsy.com) and I haven't written a word yet.