I arrived in Buenos Aires Tuesday morning after a very turbulent nine hours at 38,000 feet in the blackness of night. Fun! However, I was able to realize an international flight daydream and stretch myself out over three seats.

I followed my taxi driver out of the airport doors into the middle of summer in South America. I went from -25 °F (-31°C) in Fairbanks to 93°F (34°C) in Buenos Aires in a matter of days. It felt great!

I will dive into the details of my experience in Buenos Aires in a future blog post but I have been incredibly impressed. The people are vibrant, healthy, energetic, and seemingly resilient considering the current political and economic turmoil here. I have already been fascinated by many novel tree and animal species. I am enjoying the weather, the food, the parks, and the culture.

In a few minutes, I will jump on the four-hour flight to the town of Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina. Tomorrow I will explore Tierra Del Fuego and then board the Ocean Victory which will plow through the Drake Passage for over two days before arriving in Antarctica. I will then return to Buenos Aires for one night before flying to Iguazu Falls where I will explore the largest waterfall system in the world from both the Argentinian and the Brazilian sides.

Clearly, I am going off script from my usual ‘simply wandering’. On this adventure, I am part of a small tour that was intended to be taken with my parents although they ultimately were not able to join.

As for the blog, next Tuesday I have the final chapter in the Norway series scheduled to post: Oslo- A Norwegian Farwell. I have never “scheduled” a post so hopefully it works! After that, there will be at least a two-week delay before my next post.

As time and connectivity allow, I will be posting images to my SheSimplyWanders Instagram in the meantime if you would like to follow along!

-Kate

The most notable cultural difference thus far is my taxi driver passing an ambulance with lights and sirens blazing. Then pulling in right in front of it!