Café Cortado

Like a mixologist version of a latte

Los Pingüinos

From Shackleton´s account of Antarctica..

¨One day a team was tethered by the side of the ship, and a penguin sighted them and hurried from afar off. The dogs became frantic with excitement as he neared them: he supposed it was a greeting, and the louder they barked and the more they strained at their ropes, the faster he bustled to meet them. ¨

¨He was extremely angry with a man who went and saved him from a very sudden end, clinging to his trousers with his beak, and furiously beating his shins with his flippers. It was not an uncommon sight to see a little Adélie penguin standing within a few inches of the nose of a dog which was almost frantic with desire and passion.” 

“Whatever [an Adélie] penguin does has individuality, and he lays bare his whole life for all to see. He cannot fly away. And because he is quaint in all that he does, but still more because he is fighting against bigger odds than any other bird, and fighting always with the most gallant pluck.”

A gentoo penguin molting - these guys will sit here for a few weeks until they grow a completely new set of feathers. That´s why he looks a little rough.

A couple of Adelie chicks.

Great real estate for a penguin colony.  Look at that view.

You can see the paths the penguins have worn into the snow.

Mind the gap!

Another colony - this was a smelly one.

Not in the mood to pose for a picture.

It´s so fluffy!

Mother with a chick - sadly, this one likely won´t survive the winter.  It´ll get cold soon and this one is a few months away from being able to hit the sea.

Antarctica plants...

...not a lot going on.

No trees or shrubs, and only two kinds of flowering plants.  Moss, lichen and algae round out the rest.

Weirdly, it was a relief to see even these small patches of green after days of rock and ice.  Touching is a big no-no... apparantely it can take years even for this little patches to get a footing.

This is as big as they come - Antarctic hair grass.

Other than that its just moss and fuzz...

If its plants you want to see, hit up the Amazon on the way back home.

The southernmost free wi-fi on the planet

Ushuaia has come a long way since its days as a penal colony and whaling outpost...

The Microsoft Yacht

Spotted in Ushuaia!

From Wikipedia:

Octopus is a 414 foot (126 m) megayacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. Delivered in 2003, it was believed to be the biggest such yacht at the time of its construction.^[1] It is currently the world's 11th largest superyacht, the third largest superyacht not owned by a head of state.

Octopus sports two helicopters^[1] on the top deck (one in front and one on the back), and a 63-foot (19 m) tender docked in the transom (one of seven aboard). The yacht also has a pool, located aft on one of her upper decks, and two submarines (one of them operated by remote control for studying the bottom of the ocean). Side hatches at the water line form a dock for jet skis.

On January 31st 2011 one of the hellicopters of the yacht had to perform an emergency landing on the water just after it took off from the yacht whilst sailing in Ushuaia, Argentina. According to an Argentine Coast Guard officer, no casualties were reported and the aircraft had not leaked oil on the sea either.

The crew shooting hoops on the aft deck.

The irony - if you can call it that - is that the Octopus was moored right across from an Argentinian fishing ship just back from a long trip at sea.  On one side - a billionaire´s mega toy - and on the other, working class sailors unloading frozen fish.

Talked to one of the crew a bit at a bar and it turns out Paul wasn´t on the boat, he just flies in and out for a few days.  A lot of their time is spent entertaining ¨guests¨- Paul´s friends who get to cruise to the ends of the earth and fly around on the helicopters.  Now that would be cool.