Pinguinos (By Jordy)

We saw penguins in Ushuaia. They were tiny. They were so cute I just wanted to pick them up and make a run for it. Gentoo and Magellenic penguins were the two main penguins who populated the island, but a lost King penguin from Antarctica resided there too. My brother asked how my favorite animals, penguins, survive the cold. I told him what I learned in second grade. They have a thick layer of fat to keep them warm. So they don't get wet, they have waxy feathers. It is very similar to wearing a fleece under a rain coat.

A couple of Magellenic penguins.

The King penguin from Antarctica is the big one on the right with the yellow markings.

A Gentoo penguin

Ushuaia (by Jordy)

When I arrived in Ushuaia I knew I was home, except it was a city.  They should call Buenos Aires Malas Aires and Ushuaia Buenos Aires.  The first good air I've had in a long time filled my tired lungs, reawakening them.  A refreshing wind blew, making me smile and start to dance.  I looked into the peaks remembering I must come back here in the winter.  Home at last!

 

Teatro Colon presents "La Viuda Alegre"

We went to our first opera at the Teatro Colon.  On our last trip to Buenos Aires it was not open due to renovation so I was excited we had the opportunity to see it this time.  We saw La Viuda Alegre (The Merry Widow) a three hour love story by Franz Laher.  The music was in German so they kindly offered a translation into Castellano on a screen above the stage.  Thankfully we had done a quick bit of research on Wikipidia to get the story line.  It was a great experience listening to German, reading Spanish, and trying to translate to English in my head.

Jordy's Report
Today we went to an opera.  It was long and loud. It was mostly in German, sometimes French, Spanish, and English were also mixed in.  It was called "The Jolly Widow"  it was based off an old comedy.  It was about love, a fan, just like a soap opera.  Loud singing and a loud orchestra kept me awake thought I was terribly tired.  The floor was marble and I lay down on the cold slab while hiding under my seat.  Still sleep would not come.  My dad dozed which was very annoying.  When I got home though I dropped.  The building is called Teatro Colon.  Apparently is is very famous.  Last time we were here they were renovating it.  The building is beautiful.  Walls are a dull gold.  Stained glass is perfected with the tiniest detail.  Balconies hang around the stage in a protective semi-circle.  For me the opera wasn't the show, the building did it for me.

Xander's Report
Last night we went to a three hour long opera at the Teatro Colon.  The Teatro Colon is a European style opera house located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  It originally opened in 1857 but underwent a major renovation from October 2006 to May 2010.  There are seven floors vertically stacked in a u-shape with the stage in front.  The ceiling is a dome with a light fixture in the middle.  Surrounding it are beautifully painted angels.  As an outer ring around the dome, there are names of some of the world's most famous composers.  Amount them were Beethoven and Joseph Haydn.  It was very formal and I kept expecting Austin Powers or James Bond to show up and get in a gun fight with some bad guys.
We watched "La Viuda Alegre".  It was your basic love story, but with a twist.  It was the woman that had all the money, and that because she was a widow and inherited all of her dead husband's money.  It was also different because it was three times as long.  It was very hard to pay attention because it was in not one but two foreign languages.  The talking and singing was in German and then there was a translation on a screen in Spanish, so to tell the truth I would watch for about 5 minutes every ten minutes.  After each act we would go down a floor and get something to drink.  My dad slept a lot and my brother tried to sleep.

Andrew's Report
ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Recoleta Cementario (by Jordy)

Today we went to Cementario Recoleta. We saw tons of tombs. There were assortments of big and small tombs. By big, I mean huge. Some tombs looked raided and run down with weeds growing and animals nesting in it, but some looked ready for a rich person to start living in it. One was huge with big glass doors entering a marble entry hall with a staircase on the left. If you looked down the staircase, there were 2 shelves on the left wall. Each shelf contained a huge casket about 9 feet long. In another one there was a rocking chair right next to the casket with mate ready to drink and a newspaper on a shelf. It was really scary because in one tomb dried blood was in a pool at the bottom of the casket and you could see dry rivers coming from the casket.