Our guide for the Falkland Islands--a native who has lived here his whole life. He showed us his map of the islands. In 1982, when the Argentinians tried to take the island away from the British, they planted land mines all over the island. He showed us areas that still haven't been swept of the mines that are still existing since that time. They figure there are still 20,000 land mines on the island--many farmers can't even farm their lands until the mine sweepers get them off. We happened to see some mine sweepers stopping on the road to do their job as we passed by. We were surely glad our guide knew his way around and used that valuable map!
This conflict was such a sad time as 650 Argentine lives were lost--about half who were on a submarine that was sunk by the British. Britain lost 255 people. Today, the Argentines have nothing to do with the Falkland Islands nor its people even though it is literally right beside them. The Falkland Island people have to get all their supplies from the British--much further away.
The six of us, plus the driver took off on some paved roads that ended up not to be paved and were mighty rough. But coming up over a little hill, there they were! We were all so excited!
These are baby Gentoo penguins (about 10 to 11 weeks old)--waiting patiently for their parents to come back from gathering fish and then regurgitating them into their mouths.
Later, in town, I saw this picture someone captured of one of the Gentoos appearing as if it were flying with the waves pushing him forward. This is how they come back in from the ocean full of fish for their little ones.
Later, in town, I saw this picture someone captured of one of the Gentoos appearing as if it were flying with the waves pushing him forward. This is how they come back in from the ocean full of fish for their little ones. 
We got up right next to the little ones, but we couldn't touch them or make any loud noises. This is their nesting ground, and the owner of the property wants them to continue coming here every year!
I love the bottoms of their little feet!
Here is Pam, the Penguin Whisperer--pretty effective I'd say. This little one is looking right at her!
And Dan--the Photographer Exquisite! His pictures are always the best even with only a phone camera!
Such a great adventure! We absolutely loved it!
After the tour, we ate lunch and walked around the little town. This is known as the whalebone arch, made from the jaws of two blue whales. It is a monument put up in 1933, commemorating 100 years of the British rule in the Falkland Islands.
In the window of one of the little shops, I spied these little bottles of "Diddle Dee" Jam. Yes, it's for real! The diddle dee plant grows all over the island. It's little red berries are made into jelly, which our guide told us is quite tart. I would have loved to try it!
The inside of the Christ Church Cathedral. The ceiling looks like the hull of a ship.
We walked the streets of the little town down to the museum.
I took this for our grand daughter, Ella, who absolutely loves horses!
Very old printing press where every single letter had to be slid into a wooden tray, then inked, and had the roller run over them to transfer the ink to the paper.
Reminded me of the old typewriter I learned on that my dad had in his law office. It didn't have the circular object on the top, but it was manual, and you really had to hit the keys hard!
In the upper cases were the capital letters. In the lower cases were the lower case letters. These terms are still used today!
If the printer had to use certain trays over and over, they just stacked them here for re-use so they didn't have to assemble them each time.
Such a colorful little island. Our guide told us that so much of the metal on the houses had been taken from the military. It was a grey color, but so that they would be suspected of theft, they colored it these beautiful colors. Hah!
I actually used one of these at BYU in my business class. We worked on a real one that connected all the campus phones as people would call in. Can you imagine using one of these today?
And this brought back so many memories. The second phone from the left was so much like our home phone while I was growing up in Idaho. You lifted it up, then an operator got on the line and you told her what number you wanted. I remember our home phone number was 616J2. Very few people had private lines. Not only were we using this line, but two other families, the Hibbard Store, and I believe the Hibbard School, also, used the line. There was an unwritten rule that if anyone was already using the line, rather than listen to their conversation, you should politely hang up so they could talk in privacy. You know how difficult that was for us as kids, and I have to admit to hearing some mighty interesting conversations! Hah!
Another beautiful little church on the island was this St. Mary's Catholic Church built in 1899.
All too soon, it was time to get back on the tinder boat and return to the ship. Great day at Falkland Islands! So glad we had such wonderful experiences there!
1 comment:
I'm soooo glad that we were able (and fortunate) to visit the Falkland Islands! My friend at the museum was telling me about her Antarctica Cruise, and they were not able to dock there because of the high winds. What would we have done without our visit to see the penguins alone! I'm very grateful that we were both able to see penguins!!!
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