Buenos Aires & Ushuaia, Argentina; Uruguay and Antarctica

A journey with Fr. John Gagnier & Fr. Robert Schrader

January 20 to February 6, 2009

“After watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama on a TV at the airport, we flew to Newark and then to Houston to board a plane for a ten-hour flight to Buenos Aires. While there for two days, we took a ferry boat to Uruguay. At the Hotel Panamericana in Buenos Aires, we joined a group with Hurtigruten Cruise Lines of Norway for a four hour flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, at the very tip of South America. From there, our ship, the “ Fram,” departed for Antarctica, 600 miles away.”

Nicolas Avellaneda Monument in downtown Buenos Aires

Nicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva (October 1, 1837 – December 26, 1885)

A politician and journalist, and youngest Argentine president from 1874 to 1880.

He reformed banking and education, leading to Argentina's economic growth.

Lighthouse in Colonia, Uruguay

Colonia, Uruguay

Tierra Del Fuego “Land of Fire” so named by Spanish Explorers

who saw the camp fires of the natives.

This is near the Southern tip of South America.

The Beagle Channel is named for the ship on which Charles Darwin traveled.

He visited there on January 29, 1833 on a five year voyage, 1831-1836.

His first book was called The Voyage of the Beagle.

Final stop Pan American Highway, 11,000 mi. from Alaska

Falcons

Nuestra Senora del Merced – “Our Lady of Mercy”

Southernmost church in the world at Ushuaia, Argentina

Southernmost mailbox in the world – Tierra Del Fuego

“End of the World” 7,058 miles from New York

“End of the World” “Fin del Mundo” Ushuaia, Argentina

Replica of Native house in Ushuaia, Argentina

Southernmost of the Andes Mountains: border with Chile

Our ship: “Fram” of the Hurtigruten Line from Norway

Model of the original ship “Fram” which took Roald Amundsen, to Antarctica.

He arrived at the South Pole on 14 December 1911, the first to reach the Pole.

The actual ship is now in Oslo, Norway in a museum.

Roald Amundsen

(born July 16, 1872: Borge, near Oslo, Norway - disappeared June 18, 1928: Arctic Ocean)

A Norwegian explorer, he was the leader of the first group to reach the South Pole. In 1897 he took part in a Belgian expedition that was the first to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903 – 05 he was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage. He planned a North Pole expedition, but, after learning that Robert E. Peary had reached that goal, he set off for the South Pole in 1911. He prepared his trip carefully and in October 1911 set out with four men, 52 dogs, and 4 sledges. He returned to Norway and established a successful shipping business. In 1926 he and Umberto Nobile (1885 – 1978) passed over the North Pole in a dirigible. Amundsen disappeared in the Artic Sea in 1928 while flying to rescue Nobile from a dirigible crash.

Departure of a Polar Cirkel boat from the side of the ship.

There were twelve expeditions. Most were able to land in Antarctica

on the islands off the peninsula or the mainland.

The expeditions viewed wildlife and abandoned bases

used for explorations by the United States, Great Britain and Argentina.

Fr. Schrader & Fr. Gagnier on an expedition;

temperatures ranged from 28 to 42 Fahrenheit in the Antarctic summer.

Mass on board ship in a lecture hall.

Pictures taken in the cabin.

Continue to part 2 at:

http://www.gagnier.org/Antarctica2.htm