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World Cafe Grill - Yumm!

Ushuaia, Argentina

Today is my day to catch up with my writing. January 18 - Buenos Aires to Ushuaia This was our day to start our trip to the South. I am not a morning person, but the schedule required us to show up in the Hilton lobby at 4:15 am for breakfast and check-out. The bus to the airport was called at 4:50 am. The transfer to the airport was very quick - about 15-20 minutes. We were at our gate within about 20 minutes. The only initial glitch was that Mike was seated in row 30F and I was in 31A. We mentioned that to the airline escort and she was able to fix it so that Mike was now in 31B. It’s been a long, long time since we sat in the back of an airplane. Oh well. As it turned out, no one was sitting in 31C. We were literally the back of the plane and that had its benefits. Since the plane had tight seats, we could spread out. They also served from the front and the back of the plane so we were served quickly. I really needed that coffee! The 3 hour flight went fast and we were in Ushuaia. It was a beautiful day - quite warm. Everyone was shedding their jackets. It was a quick transfer to the ship and a quick check in. Mike and I unpacked and quickly headed to Explorers for our traditional first Viking drink - a Viking Royal. We attended one Aula briefing and later in the evening, we had dinner at the World Cafe - something we never do on the Ocean ships. Here, the World Cafe has a great Grill where the steak selection is quite special and lobster is available with the steaks every night. Later, we headed back to Explorers where we reconnected with some bar staff who remembered us from previous cruising. Not only that, we found out that one of our all-time favorite wine stewards from our first Viking cruise (Cuba 2019) was now the Beverage Manager on Octantis. One of the Explorers’ staff called in to tell him we were asking about him. Viking staff is super!

The public market architecture from the late 1800s

Just so you don’t think that the public market is just restaurants, there are also traditional food stalls.

Preparing the yerba mate

Provoleta, fries, and steak — this is Argentinean eating!

Choripán at Juan Bautista Grill

Another great day of wine education - this time our focus is Argentinean wines!

Three styles of empanada- Ham and cheese Meat Meat and potato If you look on the order board below, you can tell what kind you have by the color and crimping on the edge.

Making the empanadas

January 17 - Buenos Aires Another lovely day in Buenos Aires. We had breakfast in the Executive Lounge at the Hilton, then headed downstairs to check in with the Viking Desk. We are on the third bus tomorrow morning so we don’t have to be downstairs for breakfast until 4:15 am. Thank heavens we're not on the first bus! We walked down to meet our Iconic Buenos Aires walking food tour at 12:30. It was a wonderful food tour. Our guide took us around the neighborhood to visit some of the historic buildings in San Telmo. Then we went to the Public Market area. Our first stop was at the El Horneros shop for empanadas and local beer. After this delicious tasting, we went outside of the market to a wonderful wine shop where we were introduced to three Argentinian wines - a Mastaba Torrentes from Stone Winery in Salta, a Malbec from Mendoza and a Cabernet Franc from Mendoza. Each was excellent. The tastings were accompanied by a selection of regional cheese. Following this relaxing tasting, we returned to the market to enjoy choripán, a wonderful chorizo sandwich with a nice salsa mayo. I had a glass of Malbec, Mike had another local beer. Following this, we headed over to another market stall for steak, fries, and grilled provoleta (grilled provolone with oregano and olive oil). With this, I had another glass of Malbec and Mike had another local beer. We were stuffed, but it was time to go to another stall for yerba mate and alfajor, a lovely cookie filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate. Our guide prepared the yerba mate in a ceremonial way - it was delicious and relaxing. Our last stop was at an ice cream shop that was outside the market. I had a dulce de leche ice cream and Mike had dulce de leche and chocolate negro. It was the perfect sweet ending to our Argentinean food tour. I highly recommend this excellent walking food tour if you find yourself in Buenos Aires! After stuffing ourselves all afternoon, we headed back to the hotel about 5:30. We went to the happy hour at the executive lounge, but found that we were too stuffed to have more than a sip of wine. We put our large bag out to be collected by Viking and decided to watch a bit of TV before we turn in for our early morning charter flight to our expedition ship.

Mausoleo del Jose de San Martin - Liberator of Chile and Argentina

The Cathedral of Buenos Aires - the parish church of Pope Francis

Nothing beats lunch at Cafe Tortoni!

January 16 - Buenos Aires, Argentina I am so glad that we have a couple of days in Buenos Aires before we head out on the charter flight. I can’t imagine flying in tomorrow exhausted and having to wake up before dawn to make a charter. I loved the lazy day we had today. Up at 8:00 am, breakfast, then out to sightsee on our own by 11:00. This is a nostalgia visit for me. 50 years ago this month, I spent a month in Argentina. I stayed with a family in LaPlata. They took me around LaPlata, Buenos Aires, their family estancia in Puan, Argentina (in the Pampas), to the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, and to the Andes to camp near Bariloche. It was a dream trip staying with a wonderful family. Somehow, over the years, I lost touch with them. I am still trying my best to reach any of the family members, but alas, my efforts have failed to date. Today, as we walked to the Casa Rosada, the Cathedral, and to Cafe Tortoni, I remembered my visits, having my husband take photos of me at the same iconic spots. I especially enjoyed our lunch at Cafe Tortoni, although I must admit, the cafe doble seemed better in 1973, Maybe my tastebuds have deadened a bit. I loved being back in the city today with my husband (I was engaged to him when I visited last), but it is bittersweet to not be able to connect with the wonderful family I stayed with back then. Me at the Casa Rosada - 50 years after my first visit in January 1973!

Our suite closet Ok, I don’t think I brought enough clothes! And I won’t even bother you with photos of the two bathrooms!

Our suite bedroom

Our suite living room

January 15 - Goodbye, Chile - Hello, Argentina! This morning, we decided to enjoy brunch at a spot not too far from our hotel. Our late afternoon flight to Buenos Aires meant we could take our time to pack up and have a late check-out. We had checked out a small bakery-cafe in a residential area near our hotel on one of our evening walks. It was a perfect spot to enjoy the cool morning breeze have a little something to eat since we knew we would probably skip lunch. After our brunch stop, we loaded up and we were headed to the airport about 1:00 pm. Since we had taken three private day tours while we were in the Santiago area or we walked throughout the Vitacura and Las Condes area, we hadn’t needed much public transportation. There is a modern Metro in Santiago, however. For our trip from the airport and to the airport, we used UBER. If I’d needed to go somewhere else, I definitely would have used UBER again because both times we did use it, a car was there within 2 or 3 minutes and the transaction was seamless. They knew where we needed to go and we knew the cost going in. Tonight, when we arrived in Buenos Aires at EZE, we also used UBER. Again, super simple and fast! Our flight on Latam from Santiago to Buenos Aires was good, too. I had purchased premium economy (the highest class on the aircraft). It’s similar to most European business class with the three seat row with the empty seat between. Even though it was a flight of less than 2 hours, they served sandwiches, chips, dessert and drinks. I had purchased the premium economy since I’m not a fan of planes with three and three seats. This solved that problem, even though the rows were still quite narrow. We booked two extra nights at the Buenos Aires Hilton - Viking already booked our night before the charter flight on Wednesday morning. Our surprise was at check-in when we were given a double upgrade to a corner suite. While the suite is a bit retro with a design circa 1980s-1990s, the space is unbelievable. Plus, it includes Executive Lounge privileges for breakfast and happy hour. And they said we didn’t need to change rooms for our Viking night - NICE! A Nice Way to Start our last day in Santiago

Next trip for sure!

Thanks, Clay. It’s been great so far. We are in Buenos Aires this evening. We do know we want to return to Chile though - so many more vineyards to explore. 😉

We are just leaving Santiago today to fly to Buenos Aires. We have used Chile Dream Tours the past few days for day-tours. We really have enjoyed being with their guide coordinator Sean. I’ve written about our experiences on the Viking Ocean Cruise Critic site.

Thanks. We’ve loved our stay in Chile, but it’s on to Buenos Aires this afternoon.