An Economic Stimulus Package
Ray’s cousin Johnny announced his intention a couple years ago to go on a National Geographic cruise to Antarctica, and that seemed like a completely sufficient reason for us to go as well. We originally considered doing it last January, but it was already sold out by the time we got around to it. And we haven’t ever been to Argentina, which is a rather large country. We’ll drive from Buenos Aires (where we’ll be on Christmas) down the coast to Ushuaia, where we join the cruise. After the cruise, we’ll drive up along the Andes, taste Malbec wine in Mendoza, go see Iguazu Falls, and return to Buenos Aires. It’s kind of an expensive trip during these uncertain economic times — at least we’ll save on our heating bills (and Palo Alto restaurants). It’ll be summer down there, but in Antarctica, and the Andes, even though it will be light much of the day and night, it will still be cold — the cruise includes a souvenir parka.
This time we’ll be doing some camping as well as staying in hotels, since we’ll be in several national parks in Argentina (and a piece of the southern end of Chile). It remains to be seen what Internet connections there’ll be, but we’ll do our best to let you know how things go.