Back on line and much catching up to do.
A note, we are having great difficulty with photos--which slows down progress for posting blogs. Many of my photos from my iphone 10SX saved as HEIC files. We are just learning about this but when a photo saves as such it cannot be uploaded to many sites. What a royal pain. Thank you, Apple for this latest complexity. I will take hints from any friendly Apple gurus.

We have been on board ship 6 nights but I still think of Buenos Aires and wish to share just a bit more about this wonderful city. I cannot remember the population number but it grows daily with a heavy influx of families from the country. Most people speak several languages including English. The city's people are by and large well-educated and live a good life. The city is a center for art and culture. It has over 125 beautiful theatres that host concerts, plays, musicals and other live performances every week of the year. The grandest theatre, Teatro Colon (Columbus Theatre) was completed in 1894, occupies and tire city block and is said to have the kind of acoustics not found in newer theatres. The most amazing characteristic is the city's cleanliness and the pristine condition of its plentiful spacious parks. Except for the cluttered mini-camps of homeless families on some downtown streets, we saw very little litter in any area of the city.
No, perhaps the most intriguing feature of the city might be network of grand avenues and boulevards. Most primary streets are one-way but they are wide, in fact, very wide! The famous Avenue de Julio has nine, yes, nine lanes going north and nine lanes traveling south divided by a wide green garden, park-like median for walkers and those who wish to only sit and watch the world go by. The distance from one side of the avenue to the other measures 20 yards more than the length of a football field. When crossing it with the green "walk" signal, we found we had to really hustle! Many other boulevards are nearly as large. The Avenue del Libertador and Avenue Pte. Figueroa Alcorta are major thoroughfares that can sweep drivers directly from the old town district of Retiro to the football (soccer, of course) stadium, Estadio Antonio Vespcio Liberti River Plate on the far west side of the city.
We liked Buenos Aires very much but it was time to move on. First stop on the cruise was Montevideo.
If you've not looked at a map recently, Montevideo, Uruguay is directly across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. The river looks like a muddy ocean, but in reality it is a deep-water river over a mile wide. It features a lively shipping port plus long curves of natural people-friendly beaches. Setting foot on land in Montevideo, we became entitled to check off an additional country on our list of visited countries! Uruguay is a small country; the river separates it from Argentina, but otherwise it is completely bordered by Brazil. Brazil is only 4-hours' drive east to west and only six hours drive from the northern border to the southern border.
We arrived on a Sunday morning. Except for the vendors and multitude of restaurants at the River Market greedily pulling in customers with enticing aromas and trays of sample fares and also except for the beaches where the town's people picnicked, sunned and socialized, the city was asleep. The city is said to offer the highest quality of life in any city in Latin America, but I wondered if things may have changed recently. The city looked a bit dusty and tired to me. Granted, to be fair, we did not see the tech center or financial hub. We learned, however, the cost of living is high for the city's residents. They pay high taxes but wages are low. On the other hand, important services like education and healthcare are free.After our stop in Monte Video, we were treated to a sunny day at sea on Monday - sea days are some of my favorite. There is no rush to get up and out and the day on ship provides a fine opportunity to meet fellow cruise passengers. So far, we have made friends with people from Ontario, Quebec, Houston and a number of friendly servers and bar tenders from Bali, the Philippines and Macedonia! We enjoyed the summer-like day relaxing on the deck with full sun horizon to horizon.
Tuesday we woke at Puerto Madryn and spent the entire day in a small van with 10 or 11 other people driving toward Puerto Tombo to see the largest colony of Magellenic Penguins in Latin America. Cute little rascals they were! The make their homes in holes that the males burrow in the dirt. The males build the nests. If the female does not approve of it, she destroys it and the males must make a new one. - It always pay to do it right the first time. As rushed job is never acceptable!
After the nest is constructed and accepted, the couple consummates the union and fertilized eggs soon appear in the nest. Forty-two days later the eggs hatch. Both parents feed the babies. First the males go to the seas to eat and bring back food for the babies, and then the mothers' take their turn while the dads mind the nest. Fuzzy chicks we saw were perhaps in their adolescent stage on the day we visited but still not able to fend for themselves. Penguins speak to each other with a soft, gentle whistle.
We took a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship on Wednesday. Very interesting, indeed! We toured the theatre where it was quite surmising to see that the stage itself is not nearly as large as it appears from the audience area. Highly talented ship performers and guest entertainers do not have glossy, glamourous dressing rooms. Instead, performers meticulously arrange and store their own costumes and props in baskets according to order of appearance on stage. As one dance, song or act is finished, performers rushes off, left or right to nearby stairwells where their baskets sit waiting and make their quick change there. On performance days, ships' performers can work ten or more hours a day, rehearsing and performing. In between they do short gigs here and there all around the ship. Guest entertainers are booked by their agents and may be on board for a single performance but some are booked top for an entire cruise. We have learned to never miss an evening's performance in the theater. It's top notch entertainment. Featured on this cruise so far is a young couple who in fact met on a cruise in 2013, fell in love and integrated their talents to form a fantastic duo. The young man has a huge collection of awards and accomplishments as a virtuoso violinist. His wife is equally accomplished in Spanish and Flamenco dance. Together, their energetic performances tell stories of love, romance, emotion and passion. Whew!!! Their list of world-wide awards, studies, degrees, certifications and competitions were astounding. Hmmmm, while I was very impressed, I imagine that unless a talented performer becomes a rock star, show business these days is a hard job, lots of work and there's probably not a lot of money in it.
Other guest performers are a small group who present a mesmerizing tango production. Girls with gorgeous, sexy colorful costumes dance with partners in zuit suits, twirling, slinking and seducing in synch with the music. It was completely hypnotic. The evening's performance ended with an amazing musical featuring the star of the show skillfully twirling Gaucho bolos as percussion instruments. As he twirled them like two lassos they loudly clacked on the floor as he danced Flamenco style to Spanish music. I recall learning about bolos in elementary school geography lessons. They were important Argentine hunting tools. Great horsemen, gauchos rode horses, twirling the bolos above to sling it to "lasso" the feet of their prey.
Yesterday we visited Stanley, Falkland Islands, UK. Yes, as the saying goes, the sun never sets of the British Empire - here at nearly the farthest point toward the Antarctic is this tiny United Kingdom town of Stanley. The Islands were originally settled by the Welsh in the days of great exploration and English colonization. There was not a great deal to do on this visit. And as one might imagine, the weather was chilly but the residents were celebrating the bright, summer day. We met workers repairing a playground for children who will return to school in February (their fall). They were happy to chat with us and laughed at our bundles of winter gear. One of them boasted a sleeveless shirt.
We had a lunch of locally caught fish and chips - sorry to say, we've had much better! But chatting with the young girl who served us our lunch was a real pleasure. Bright as she could be, she told us with her perfect English, she had finished school. Falkland Island kids graduate here at age 16 and then are sent off to other parts of the UK by the local community to attend university for free. But she is not eligible at this time. This young girl and her family immigrated to the Islands from a beach town in Chile about ten years ago. In spite of the drastic weather, they came for the opportunity to earn more money and life a better life. While she does not qualify for the free university education now, she can, when she turns 18, apply for university. If she passes exams, she can enjoy the educational privileges afforded to the natives.
Many days could pass before I find WIFI strong enough to post this blog. At this moment, we have been three days with no outside world contact. In these days of mass communication (confusion), it is a bit unnerving to have no access to texts or emails. We have learned through BBC news and Sky News how rampant the Corona virus has become - please know the cruise ship staff have implemented strict measures to be sure the crew and passengers are well protected. Since we went to bed before the last few minutes of the Superbowl - yes, it was broadcast "live" on ship sans the commercials, we learned that KC, the comeback team, did it again. We learned today that rain is finally falling in Australia - thank God above! And we learned of the Iowa debacle. Go Pete! Go Mike! We are not completely without news but the habit of glancing at the phone for texts and emails is a tough habit to break!!
Although maybe not day-by-day, as I get a few moments I will add stories as I can. Life is good. Do take time to relish in it.