David's Images of the Day Photoblog
I went for an early morning walkabout at Estancia Cristina and was rewarded by the sky being lit up at dawn. I am always amazed by the colors of the clouds at dawn and dusk in Patagonia.
When I planned this trip, I included an extra day for travel to Argentina to account for weather delays. I almost needed it since it was snowing when I arrived in Dallas to change planes for the international leg of the flights. We finally did take off after waiting to have the plane de-iced. I arrived in Buenos Aires a couple of hours later than expected. I had the 10 year visa from the last visit to Argentina in my passport, so didn’t have to pay an extra $100 when going through customs & immigration. It took some time to find the driver to take me to the hotel. Once I got to the hotel, I slept until the next morning. It was a long trip.
The next morning I hooked up with several of the folks that would be on the photography workshop for a pre-workshop tour of Buenos Aires. We spent the morning in the La Boca barrio/district. Lots of street artists, colorful buildings, and street art. Also, lots of tourist — and we were warned about pickpockets and folks that might want to grab our cameras. So we worked the area in pairs, and also had a security guard in addition to our local guide. After lunch we went to the La Recoleta cemetery. Also, a photography rich environment. The sky was grey, and some light rain. I didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted because my Leica T camera stopped working. It just froze after changing the lens. Unfortunately, I only took the one camera with me for the day. (OK, I did take some pictures with a cell phone).
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
On the way from Argentina to Chile, we stopped at a sheep ranch (Estancia). We got to watch the sheep dogs manage a herd of sheep, then one of the sheep getting sheared.
Although everyone was celebrating late into the night, I still got up early to check out the clouds at dawn. I knew we were approaching the southern part of Patagonia, and I was not disappointed. Even better, I was the only one out on the upper deck, and didn’t have to worry about the rude passengers from China with their bigger lenses walking in front of me while I was taking pictures. Shortly thereafter, the spotter for the Chinese tour group showed up and got on the walkie-talkie telling folks to come up. By the time they got on deck the colors were gone, but I had my picture.
As we were waiting for our rooms at Hosteria Los Notros I saw this painting. I didn’t know what is was, but the names of Charles Darwin and Jemmy Button were written on the side [Despedida de Charles Darwin y Jemmy Button 1834]. With the internet you find things about almost anything. So many things that I didn’t know about the history of Patagonia are intertwined in the painting [link]. Apparently, Captain FitzRoy during the first voyage of the HMS Beagle purchased or took Jemmy Button (a native from the islands around Tierra del Fuego) hostage, and brought him back to England. On the second voyage of the HMS Beagle, Captain FitzRoy and the young Charles Darwin returned Jemmy Button back to Patagonia. I heard that the Hosteria Los Notros is no longer open, and don’t know where the painting is now.
