Pinamar 1Not all the settlers were Belgian.....
Here we are again! We have done quite a bit, so it has been a while since our last update.
Bueno... after the amazing Iguazu Falls we took the bus back to Buenos Aires (17 hours), to arrvive there 8.30 am. That left us half an hour to catch the bus to Pinamar (4 hours).
Yes.... we needed a siesta upon arrival in our hostel!
Pinamar is a nice little village connected with Ostende (founded by Belgian settlers) and Carilo. It was very quiet when we were there. All the locals seemed to be preparing themselves for the beginning of the Argentinian holiday season (starts at Xmas). We just relaxed for four days, rented bikes, walked along the beach. All very chilled out! We found it quite refreshing to be the only non Argentinians in the village.
This is where rich ´porteños´ (people from Buenos Aires) have their fantastic second homes. What a great place!
After 4 days we headed off to Mar del Plata.
Mar del Plata is the big seaside resort of Argentina, so our expectations were pretty low and prepared ourselves for a Benidorm style place. But.... Argentina was not to let us down yet. Mar
del Plata is basicly a big city (550.000 inhabitants) with nice beaches. Apparently it gets really packed during the holiday period, but when we were there, there was plenty of space on the plasha (that how Argentinians pronounce ´playa´).
It was on this playa, where we witnessed something that really touched us. A blind woman was trying to sell biscuits and sweets. As you can imagine it was very hard her to direct herself. When another salesguy saw this, he immediately dropped all his stuff, took over and sold everything the blind woman caried around, within two minuts. Everybody understood the situation (and did not try to ignore it) and coughed up! All the money was handed over to the woman and got a big hug from the sales guy. He got a big round of aplause from the sunbathers. This is just a perfect example of the community feeling and the warmth of the Argentinian people! Fantastic!!!
We also saw a guy singing on the promenade, passers by (and the local drunks) started dancing. People don´t need much here to enjoy themselves... Another favourite way of the locals to spend time with the family is go to the
parks and drink mate. People drink it all day long!
Mar del Plata is nothing like Benidorm. We found really upmarket shops and restaurants. And the good thing about Argentina is, it is still very afordable!
All reenergised we left Mar del Plata on Sunday the second of December to go to Puerto Madryn, to see some wild life.
Argentina's Flag
Map of Argentina