09-26 The Antarctic 2009

It was a tour of South America with a special four-day visit to the Antarctic, but the Antarctic portion of the cruise was the unforgettable experience.
We started in Buenos Aires, which is a very European capital city in Argentina. I asked a guide why there was no native population which was prevalent in every other Spanish South American city. She just replied that the Spanish killed every one of them.
Everyone visits the Recoleta Cemetary, and in the photo, you get an idea of what it is like viewing all the incredible artistry. Just along from this photo is the grave of Evita Peron.
It was just a two-day visit, but we saw a tango performance, ate tender beef at one of their unique beef restaurants, and visited the La Boca area which is a haven for artists, who cover the walls with their exciting artwork.
After four days at sea, we visited the Falkland Islands. We were told not to talk about the Argentina invasion of the Falklands. Apparently, when the army was in retreat from the British counter-attack, the soldiers set fire to many of the people’s homes. And you can see from one of the old stamps that they are very British in their culture.
Loved the Falklands, which is the world squid capital. There are so many ships fishing for squid at night that the Falklands can be seen from space. Lights attract the squid, and they are jigged by the fishermen.
The scenery in the Antarctic is breathtaking. We all wore winter clothing because although it was their summer, temperatures were just above freezing.
It was an experience to see so many penguins, and I mean thousands at every turn. And there were whales, leopard seals and seabirds. Great photo of the penguins. We saw penguins hesitant about diving into the ocean because the leopard seals were waiting for their daily feed. A sight to remember.
We had a visitation from seven scientists from the Polish Research Station, and they were measuring the gas content of core samples, which in their area, were about 4000 years old.
They were of the belief that we are heading into a period of climate change and made the point that other factors besides manmade CO2 is the cause. For the first time, I began to realize that climate change is another one of those super techy subjects that the political system does not handle well.
They made the sobering point that during every period in the geological record where the earth has experienced significant warming, the result has been massive species loss.