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Published: April 3rd 2009
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The bus was quite comfortable, like a plane trip, complete with a steward, meals like in the plane was meager but quite a good experience. The bed inclines up to 140 degrees i think. in the morning after being served breakfast we played bingo! I lost but was fun and weird at the same time. Arriving in Puerto Madryn, it was cold!! i was shivering as I wait for my backpack to be handed to me, it has to go through x ray at the bus station, dont know why. Went to info office and asked about what to do in this town and where to stay, decided to go to ChePatagonia, good reviews on this hostel, Maria the lady at the info desk speaks good English and very informative, she told me last week everyday people saw orcas hunting at peninsula valdes, got quite excited. Took a taxi to the hostel, the nice owner Gabriel welcomed me and gave me all info on tours. i signed up for the Valdes trip tomorrow, in the meantime I got ready for a day trip to Trelew. Takes about an hor by bus, i decided this time to walk to the station. i
fell asleep in the bus, quite tired, the good thing is it runs every half hour.
At Trelew,(pronounced as it is written, not Trelu) I noticed the wide streets and quite empty, the establishments are closed, it was around 2pm so maybe people take siesta, dont know. i found the Paleontology museum, the only reason i am here. the lady at the front desk spoke quite fast in spanish took me awhile to get the gist of what she was saying, i was the only person there, so took my sweet time taking photos of the dinosaurs, they are real bones, the collection was small but very good, the museum is simple and small but well presented, albeit most explanations are in Spanish, i was quite hungry and tired at that time so did not even attempt to read the captions on each dinos, all the spanish makes my head spin. Patagonian Argentina is very rich in dinosaur remains very good collection.
After about an hour or so, i was done and left the museum, walked around town but could not find a decent place to eat most restaurants are shut, I was so hungry at this time
I could eat a dinosaur!! Finally decide to go back to the station and leave then I saw across the street is a small eatery, i rushed and had some really good chiropan(suasage) sandwich washed down by a very cold Quilmes. Fell asleep in the bus exhauste, almost missed it, I bought the ticket at 28 de Julio bus kiosk, I did not look at the stub, 3:30pm already and there is no bus! Then 1 minute to go i looked again the ticket stub says Mar Y Valle bus line and the bus is just about to leave, phew..
Met the other people in the dorm nice people, a Swiss girl Cornelia and an American dude John, we cooked our dinner and hang out for a bit sipping mate. I bought a big fat steak and cooked it myself, great meal!
Cold night I have to get an extra blanket so i dont get too cold. Woke up early and got picked up for my day trip, 10 minutes into the trip the guide told me we are off to Punta Tomba i told him i was supposed to be on the trip for peninsula valdes, you can
do that tomorrow he says, well i was quite dissapointed but left with no choice i decided to go with them to see the penguins. I just need to find out who made the screw up, it was the tour office! i told him i will book my peninsula valdes trip with the hostel, hoping they use another one. We stopped at Puerto Rawson, where some people went on a zodiac cruise of the bay to find the black and white doplhins which was off season by now, I walked around the harbor and entertained myself for an hour watching the seals fight against each other. the guys came back and off we go to the penguins. we followed the trail, a number of tour groups were ahead of us mostly from a Norwegian cruise ship docked in Puerto Madryn at the moment, lots of American retirees, they wer quite annoying, loud and demanding so i try to stay away from their group, saw lots of penguins moulting, they peck you if you get too close.We have about an hour or so to walk around then we went back and drove to Gaiman, one of the Welsh towns in Patagonia,
wide tree lined streets with hardly anyone when we arrived probably siesta time, this area is full of trees, nice area to relax and chill but too quiet to live for me.
Told Gabriel of the screw up and he booked me with another company for the peninsula tomorrow. Cornelia the Swiss girl is going with me, bought steak again for dinner and some Malbec wine to wash it down and had a good dinner converstaion with Jon, the American dude from California, his story is more like the dude from Into the Wild, hating the system and just want to be with nature, travel and enjoy life, my hero! Next morning we got picked up at 8am Martin our guide is very informative, made sure this is going to Peninsula Valdes this time, Atanasio a Greek dude, me and Cornelia from switzerland are the only people on the trip we all came from the hostel. We drove to the entrance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and have to pay 45 pesos to enter the park then we stopped afterwards to Istmo Ameghino, the front door to the peninsula, the visitor center is so cool, the best toilets
Ive seen in a park, and of course the info about wildlife and all were very informative. from there we drove to Punta Cantor to see the elephant seals, only a few were there and we had a walk around the trail then drove to the highlight, Punta Norte where you can see the orcas hunt for the seal pups around this time of the year, and you have to time it at high tide, we were there but a bit windy and we waited for couple hours but no luck!! We were hoping to see them at least a fin or two in the water but nada!! Quite disappointed we left the place and moved on to Punta Piramide. nothing much to see here, just another stop, we wished we stayed longer at Punta Norte but it was not to be. i have to buy postcards to show people the orcas that hunt in these areas. on the way back we ate dust as we got behind a watering truck on a dirt road which we cant overtkake, half hour later and covered in dust we got back to Puerto Madryn, now I am so hungry I went to
the Carrefour straight away and bought my staple of steak, which Ive had for the last 3 nites Ive been here. Hey when in Rome...
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