Forrest Brown » Argentina

Argentina – Iguazu Falls

Forrest — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:56:17 +0000

After spending the last two days in Buenos Aires it was time to head to the final location of my trip, Iguazu Falls. Located at the northern edge of Argentina, Iguazu Fall is actually a series of 275 waterfalls that stretch 1.4 miles across the Iguazu River that separates Argentina from Brazil.

Iguazu Falls

Long Exposure of Iguazu Falls

Argentina – Buenos Aires Cathedral

Forrest — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:40:33 +0000

Panorama of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral

Argentina – La Boca

Forrest — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:17:43 +0000

La Boca is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires that is popular with tourists because of the bright painted buildings.

The colorful buildings of La Boca

Tango Dancers

Argentina – Recoleta Cemetery

Forrest — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:53:33 +0000

Recoleta Cemetery is a cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina that contains the graves of many famous Argentines, including Eva Perón and several past presidents of Argentina. The cemetery holds 4700 private family crypts and is an interesting place to visit because of the wide variety of architectural styles of the crypts.

Statues at Recoleta Cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery

Panorama of the interior of a mausoleum at the Recoleta Cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery

Detail of the door on one of the mausoleums

Someone wants out

Argentina – Coolest Burger King Ever

Forrest — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:56:27 +0000

I know Argentina is known for it’s amazing steaks and other really delicious food, which I ate a lot of while I was there. But, sometimes when visiting a new city and just wandering around taking photos, I don’t really feel like taking the time or dealing with the language differences to stop and eat at a local restaurant, so I’ll just hit a McDonald’s or other fast food joint for something quick to eat.

So, I was pretty shocked when I went into a Burger King to get a quick lunch and found marble floors and columns, a central domed ceiling with leaded-glass skylights, and frescos on the ceiling, all things most people would not associate with a typical Burger King.

Panorama of the coolest Burger King ever.

Argentina – Aurora Expeditions – Day 19

Forrest — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:01:25 +0000

At about 7:30 this morning the Polar Pioneer returned to it’s starting location at Ushuaia, Argentina, sadly the great Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Antarctica voyage is over.

Returning to Ushuaia

When I had first starting thinking about going on this cruise I had been a little worried that 19 days at sea on a ship as small at the Polar Pioneer would be a be too long. But I’m amazed at how quickly time on the cruise passed. There was so many amazing thing to see and do on the landing that it was sometimes overwhelming. And even the days at sea were nice because it gave time to get to know the other passengers and to go through the massive amounts of photos and videos I was taking.

Thanks to the Aurora Expeditions staff, the Russian crew, LuminOdyssey and to the rest of the passengers, it was great to meet everyone.

Argentina – Aurora Expeditions – Day 1

Forrest — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:23:30 +0000

I’m on a 19 day cruise put on by Aurora Expeditions to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the Antarctic Peninciala before returning to Argentina. When most people think of a 19 day cruise I think that they picture one of the giant luxury cruise ships. But the ship I’m on is a fairly small Russian research ship named the Polar Pioneer that has been converted to carry passengers instead of researchers. The ship holds 54 passengers and in addition to the group of photographers I’m with there’s a group of Russian scuba-divers and a group of sea-kayakers, plus a few people who are not part of any of any specific group. Aurora Expeditions is an Australian travel company that specializes in adventure cruises to remote parts of the world, so that means that the majority of the passengers are Australian, there’s a few other Americans and 1 Canadian.

No, the big ship on the left is not the ship I'm on. If you look closesly, you'll see the Polar Pioneer on the right.

I’m doing this cruise as part of a nature photography workshop but on by LuminOdyssey that I first heard about while on the Hokkaido Nature Photography workshop last winter. Hopefully on this cruise I’ll be working to improve my photography while getting to photograph amazing Subantarctic and Antarctic landscapes and wildlife.

I thought it would be interesting to do a blog posting each day of the cruise to write about what we did that day and to post a few of my photos. But since there’s no internet on the ship, I’m going to write everything on my laptop and do a mass posting once I return to civilization.

Some of the photographers went up in helicopters the day before. Here's a shot I took of the Polar Pioneer as we flew over.

Today we boarded the ship in the late afternoon and the ship set sail around 7:30 in the evening from Ushauia, Argentina. The time was mostly spent getting familiar with the ship and also doing a lifeboat drill, which I hope we’ll never have to do for real.

The lifeboat drill.

Argentina – The end of the road

Forrest — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:19:12 +0000

Tierra del Fuego National Park in Argentina.

This is the southern end of the Pan-American Highway. If I started walking for here, I would reach the other end of the highway at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in only 11,000 miles.

Tierra del Fuego National Park

Argentina – Ushuaia

Forrest — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 18:05:37 +0000

I’m Ushuaia Argentina, the southern most city in the world. This is where I’ll board the Polar Pioneer for my 19 day cruise to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and finally Antarctica. I wanted to be extra cautious in case of flight delays, so I have almost two day in Ushuaia before the ship leaves.

The main street of Ushuaia

A group of us took a helicoptor tour around the Ushuaia area.

Shipwreck near Ushuaia with an icebreaker passing by in the background.

It turns out the people are really short in Ushuaia

Ushuaia

Argentina – I’m in Buenos Aires

Forrest — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:09:18 +0000

The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy. First I was in Berlin, Germany for six days, returned to Los Angeles for just enough time to wash clothes and repack my suitcases, and then headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m only in Buenos Aires for two day before I’ll fly south to Ushuaia, Argentina to board a 54 passenger ship for an 19 day voyage to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island, and the Antarctic Peninsula.

After the voyage I’ll return to Buenos Aires for a couple of more day and then head for the northern edge of Argentina to Iguazu Falls for three day before finally returning to Los Angeles.