Southern Seas pt. 3
Given the wide range of this deployment – going from the “crossing the line” ceremony of evolving from a slimy polliwog to an honorable shell back while passing across the equator, receiving my “red nose” status for passing through the Antarctic Circle, and finally receiving recognition for transiting safely through the Straights of Magellan – I can say that I’ve not just circumnavigated the South American continent but that I’ve lived quite an amazing journey. Most people will talk negatively about the things they’ve done, even after all that we’ve done in just a short 2 and a half months. So far you’d hear the same things about this cruise from the personnel on board as you would from someone who’s worked at McDonald’s their whole life. For as much hard work, stupidity, and utter wasteful letdowns that us as sailors have to go through, there’s plenty of virtues to reminisce of later on in life (even if its just moments after the fact). Most people aboard would just say “its the booter in you, give it time”, I refuse to take that as the ultimate reality.
Ports so far:
St Lucia, Eastern Caribbeans
Fortaleza, Brasil
Salvador, Brasil
Montevideo, Uruguay
Bahia Blanca, Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Pulling into Buenos Aires after a long day of transiting through the channel (if I recall correctly, it was about 12 hours) we arrived in the harbor about midday. The sight of the city was absolutely welcoming, the harbor looked well-maintained (which is always a good thing), and there were even other warships from Argentina and Ireland (go figure!) moored there in part with the Southern Seas operations. My first liberty experience here was only a half-day, let out after dinner-chow. Since liberty restrictions had been set due to a few bad apples in the last port the night had to be cut extra short. We walked through the downtown that the typical little white bus dropped us off at. The area reminded me quite a bit like Crocker Park in which the rows and rows of buildings were sectioned off by little alley ways and back streets. I really like areas that have a modernization to them with little centers of nothing but computer-parts stores, it was if you’d take newegg, tiger-direct, best buy, etc., and had a single little 20×20 store. The next day we high-tailed it back to the spot with a lot more time on our hands to the same place with a specific bar in mind called Kilkenny’s. Apparently there’s a small chain of them around the world, this one was located right across from a store that was modeled on the inside and out as a ship with people hanging off the side of the building and all. The one issue I noticed with us as Americans coming to foreign places where culture is deeply engrained within the people, ours is the exact opposite. We do things when we want regardless of who it affects or how it affects them. Walking into Kilkenny’s we noticed the place was completely empty so we headed up a creeky wooden staircase that semi-winded through the middle of the saloon, at the top was an amazing sculpture of rocks like a corner of a wall you’d see in the fields of Ireland, with a large stone celtic cross. After a few pints of the local lagers and stouts my buddies and I went onto a little more of the familiar brews…Guiness, Harp, Jameson, Mildan’s. Since the bar was still quite empty (at least on our floor) we found a little lounge-type area with two couches split by a glass-topped table. After bellying up at the bar for a bit of story-swabbing we went back to the table to set up our laptops and such to do a bit of talking home before we hit the bartender to add up our tab. For a minute we were trying to find the bartender to get us some more drinks, after a few minutes he appeared with two pieces of paper with ‘reserveda’ that he taped to the table. My buddies ordered a half-dozen Irish car bombs, which we found were totally different than the ones in America. Back home you take the pint of stout, a mixed shot of jameson (or tullamore dew, or bushmills) with baileys, and dropped the shotglass into the pint. Here they don’t drop it in which is a toally different experience, and really adds a great taste to a great drink.