Pictures bring us closer

"A Trip of a Lifetime" may be a trite phrase, usually applied to trips more mundane and not at all deserving of superlatives, but not this trip! This was to be an all-out, hang the expense cruise, covering a lot of South America. We, and few of our friends, had never been to South America.

We embarked on this Antarctic Explorer Cruise of the Holland American ship Rotterdam, looking forward to seeing the birthplace of the tango in Buenos Aeries, and the samba shows in Rio de Janeiro. We were soon to learn of the incredible beauty of the Chilean mountains and glaciers.

The Rotterdam took us from Santiago, Chile, down the coast by way of the Darwin Passage, the Beagle Channel and the Magellan Straits, then around The Horn to the Falkland Islands and across the sea to Buenos Aeries, Argentina, and to Montevideo, Uruguay. Finally we sailed to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where we stayed for a few days in a hotel, before flying home. The entire trip took twenty-one days and each one held something special.