Dear Friends, South America is truly a wonderful continent full of life and excitement. At the time of this writing our Diesel Duck is tied to a harbor wall in La Paloma, Uruguay, with two bowlines and at the stern with two lines to two buoys. To get to the shore we use our Caribe RIB. Outside at sea, a "Pampero" is howling with 50 knots out of the SW. This is our first of a Pampero. (The passage of a front with torrential rain and thunder accompanied by strong SE-S or southwesterly winds) Thanks to www.passageweather.com and www.windfinder.com we knew of the approaching front and took cover here in La Paloma, Uruguay on our way to Rio Grande, Brazil. The last time I wrote to you at the PUP List it was in February 09, then we had just arrived in Puerto Williams, Chile, some 40 miles north of Cape Horn. Well, we did it. We rounded Cape Horn, this southern tip of the South America on the 19th of Feb. 09! You are going to ask: "How was it?" Well, I am going to say, "You want the truth or you want to hear a story?" We will be honest to you. The whole Cape Horn trip was good. Not really easy, but not dangerous at all.. We sat in Puerto Williams a whole week listening to experienced charter captains who had done Cape Horn countless times. As well we walked daily to an internet cafe to check the above mentioned weather websites. On top of this, we picked up a photocopy of the daily weather forecast from the Armada post (Navy). With these weapons on hand we could battle Cape Horn. A weather window between the like trains incoming low pressure systems gave us the opportunity to do our thing. On the way to the horn we had declining wind(10-15 Kn.) and at the horn the wind piped up to 20 plus knots. Not a problem for the duck. Out of caution the mainsail was reefed and the jib furled in 2/3. The sea had just experienced a wind change from SW to N. This happens there all the time like with a snap of the finger. A thing you have to get used to. This made the sea a little confused. Hey, right here the South Atlantic is meeting the South Pacific. We were in radio contact with the Armada post on Isla Hornos all the time and had to have permission to sail around the horn. The motion of the boat was uncomfortable. Not as nice like a sunny afternoon cruise on Lake Ontario. Anyway, the Diesel Duck did well, so did the crew. After finishing the rounding, we said "hasta la vista" to the horn and rushed back with a night sail to the sheltering port of Puerto Toro on Isla Navarino. Marlene and I were so proud having done the Cape Horne, that we celebrated this occasion with a glass of Martini Spumante, kept on ice for this moment. Back in Pto Williams, tied to the famous, as a clubhouse serving, retired Armada supply ship the "Micalvi" another celebration at the bar followed. Days later DD left Chile for good (stocked up to the top with a healthy supply of Chilean vino rosso) for Ushuaia, Arg., across the Beagle channel. There, tied up to the tired dock of the Afasyn diving club, a few days later news reached us that the front deck of the Micalvi club ship in Pto Williams had collapsed under the boots of a charter captain from the well known charter boat "Pelagic". The captain thought there is an earthquake and suddenly, he was standing up to his hips in cold water. No earthquake, just an almost hundred year old tired deck gave in. We met the skipper. He is still pale in his face from the shock :-) Now the Armada in Pto Williams is considering to fill the Micalvi up with concrete. Here is a little history of the Micalvi. She was built in 1925 after WWI in Germany as the "Bragi" and plowed up and down the river Rhine in Germany carrying garbage. In 1928 the Chilean Armada ordered some ammunition for their battleship in Germany. The manufacturer of the ammo picked up the ship for little money, loaded her full with grenades and powder and sent her with a delivery crew on her way to Chile. She got there without sinking on the Atlantic. After unloading the ammo, the Armada asked the Germans what they wanted them to do with the ship and the reply was, the boat is nonreturnable and included in the price for the ammo. So the Armada had another ship and renamed her "Micalvi". She was used as a supply ship carrying all kinds of stuff, including cattle, Indians, troops and building supplies to remote lighthouses and Armada posts in Patagonia incl. Cape Horn. In 1976 the ship was retired and put into the mud of a river by Pto Williams. Now slightly listing to port, she serves as a clubhouse/bar of the Club de Yates. The city of Ushuaia is the most southern city on this planet and an exciting place to be. Interesting hardware store, supermarkets a la USA and good bakeries for excellent crusty bread (2 lbs) and a good variety of Danish or French baked goods. The most interesting places we found are the numerous parrillas, a kind of steakhouse, where they served cordero (lamb) and asado, a grilled, tender beef, so large they're almost obscene. This is an all you can eat affair and the restaurants are crammed with locals. All at a cost you are just dreaming about. Marlene packed our freezer full with lomo (filet) in Argentina and again here in Uruguay, the land of the gauchos (cowboys). When the time came to leave Ushuaia two weeks later, we learned quickly that this is not easy. We needed a four day weather window of less than 25 knots of wind and preferable from the SW to get through the fearsome Strait de la Maire between Tierra de Fuego and Staten Island and then about 450 miles north to Puerto Deseado, Arg. From Ushuaia to the strait and through was 120 miles. All together almost 600 miles to cover, when possible, in reasonable wind condition. A lesson we learned quickly was that the low pressure systems were coming in like trains at two day intervals. To make it short, it took us almost three weeks to find a reasonable weather window which would give us enough time to get out of there. We left on the 30. March in 30 knots of wind from behind, a reef in the mainsail and 30 miles later with no wind for 15 hours. Fine enough to get us through the Strait de la Maire during the night. In the morning the wind worked itself up to 25 knots out of SW for most of the way. Four times a nasty cross sea threw me out of bed including mattress during my time off watch. They call this area the "screaming fifties". We got into Puerto Deseado just in the nick of time to avoid another nasty storm which had us surfing in the harbor while being tied to two eight ton moorings in 50 knots of wind. We timed our next trip to Bahia San Blas, Arg. in pleasant weather and on the 14. March we crossed the 40. latitude, leaving even the roaring forties behind us. At the time we left Ushuaia we had snow on the deck and ice on the dock. In Bahia San Blas I spied through my binoculars a bikini clad girl on the beach. What a change in temperature! DD stopped in Mar del Plata, Arg. to enjoy a free week tied to the dock of the Yacht Club Argentino. Moving up the Rio Plate to Buenos Aires later on, the water color became cafe latte and shallow, under 25 ft. Staying out of the dredged shipping channel, on constant watch to avoid the 2000 wrecks incl. the "Graf Spee" the sister ship of the pocket battleship "Bismarck" kept us on our toes. In Buenos Aires DD found a berth at the marina Puerto Madero, right downtown in the regenerated harbor front. A lot of disgusting things floated around the boats. The first night Marlene got me out of bed to kill an inch long flying cockroach which was trying to get into DD through the mosquito screen of the aft cabin hatch. Next morning I found rat droppings on the deck. A few days later, I had to get rid of two condoms floating in my engine raw water strainer (disgusting). The marina was not cheap. They charged top money! But the city is a jewel and made up for this. Even ate our first hamburger at the Burger King after 18 months of suffering fast food withdrawal. Now we are on our way to Brazil. Here in La Paloma, Urg. at the mouth of the Rio Plate, we are waiting for the Pampero to move away. We need Diesel Duck weather. Flat seas, sunshine and no wind. With best wishes Benno and Marlene on "Diesel Duck"