66°33′ South

I arrived a day early to help alleviate jet lag which is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. This flight compounded the problem with a four hour delay in Toronto due to “wastewater treatment” issues. I did not begrudge the delay to fix *that*…thinking of those poor folks on the Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi last year that had to turn back over Greenland due to almost all the toilets being plugged…(no more curried eggs for me!)

Fortunately, it’s only a 2 hour time shift here from Toronto – I believe the ship will just remain in this time zone regardless of geolocation. On today’s menu, food.

After having two Ubers cancel on me I made it in the nick of time to join my foodie tour group at Picasa pizza in the Palermo neighbourhood – just as the pizza arrived at the table.

Cheesy goodness – even the onions which always seem to taste better in warm climates. This soon followed with a pulled-beef filled empanada chaser.

It was a steamy 31C today but shady trees abounded as we made our way to the Michelin “listed” el Preferido restaurant. The owner has a star at another resto but this one caught the Michelin folk eyes as well since they source their food from the same local organic farms & wineries. The food here is more homestyle. Apparently Dua Lipa comes here all the time when in Buenos Aires.

Palermo is also home to the famous author Jorge Luis Borges.

Our guide Lucia was a delight!

On to Fuego y Vino Cabernet for something from the grille.

There was also a little pork sausage sandwich we made with the dips but I ate it before I could take a pic! Onward down a city sanctioned graffiti street…

…for a finishing touch Helados Italia.

Decided to walk off my feast and hiked the 8 km back to the hotel with a stop at la Recoleta Cemetery. A second visit for me but you could spend days here in this tiny city of the dead and still be amazed. I love the exquisite relief sculptures on the bronze plaques the most.

Tomorrow it’s a 4a start to catch an early flight to Ushuaia – today was a

Fifteen years ago, to celebrate turning 50, I took myself on an expedition cruise through the Southern Ocean with stops in The Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the continent of Antarctica. It was so stunningly beautiful that I decided to return when I retired.

I booked this trip almost two years ago and paid in full in order to get a hefty discount. I’m travelling with Quark Expeditions again (great service and a returning client discount!) but I do feel a bit traitorous given that Quark is now an American company (it was Canadian in 2010.) My defense is that two years ago when I booked, the US was being run by a kindly old man not a crazy old one…too late for a refund by the time the boycotts began.

This little fellow above is a an Antarctic Fur Seal – spotted on South Georgia Island on my 2010 expedition. This time around I’ll be heading due south across the notorious Drake Passage and even further south (in attempt) to cross the Antarctic Circle at, you guessed it, 66°33′ south latitude. Nerd alert: 66°33′50.8″ to be precise.

My loyalty points cache is close to being empty but I managed to snag a business class seat direct to Buenos Aires (with a stop in Sao Palo.) I booked a fully refundable business ticket almost a year ago to ensure the seat I wanted and then kept eye on sales. About five months ago I switched, at no cost, to business “lite” seat and got partial points and cash refund. In the end I paid $76.23 CAD and 141,300 Aeroplan points for ticket that retails for $7,286 CAD at time of departure.

Just for the record, there is no way in hell that I would use my own hard earned cash for this kind of thing.

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