Puerto Madryn, A little stop on my way up north

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After taking a bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate, I spent one more night in the 5 star hostel, Hostal De La Glacier (only $7 and it had heated floors!). The next afternoon, I took the bus to Rio Gallegos. I ran into the SF couple and met another couple from London at the bus station. We had some coffee at the local gas station and watched some fútbol (soccer) while we waited for the next bus to Puerto Madryn. Peurto Madryn is a great stop in the summer for beach activities and has a Peninsula filled with penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, guanacos, and supposedly orcas. Even though it wasn´t high season, it would be a good chance for me to finally see a penguin, since they had all left the Patagonia once I got there. Just one, that´s all I need.

The NEXT morning we arrived in Puerto Madryn, a bit tired, but managed to lug our mochilas (backpacks) across town to a lovely hostal. We talked about renting a car to take our own tour of the Penisula because we knew it wasn´t high season and others were coming back from the tours a bit dissapointed. But then it started to rain, piss rain as the English couple would say. The roads out to the Peninsula were dirt and the car rental places were advising us against it in fear that we would get the car stuck. We decided to just hangout around town and give it a go the next day.

Casinos Watch Out!

After bumming around all day, we were ready for some excitement and headed out to the Casino. I started with $20 pesos (about US $7) that I decided I could spend that night. A bit nervous, I took a seat at the Black Jack table and put out my first bet- $5 pesos, the minimum. Somehow after 30 minutes or so I walked away with $51 pesos! Thanks to all the card games my dad and I played while growing up, I more than doubled my money at the first time at a table! I wasted $5 pesos on the slots and headed home.

Peninsula Valdez

The next morning, Greg from SF came to my hostal with car keys in his hand and said "I got it, let´s go!" The five of us piled into our volkswagon jetta and headed off to the mud pit. Once we got to the messy parts of the road, I quickly realized I had much more 4x4 driving than the others as we raced straight into the puddles and slammed onto brakes. The car was sliding all over the place and my nerves were shot. Somehow we managed to get to the beach at the end of road without getting stuck and we walked out to the lookout. Ooooo a few straggling sea lions, 300 feet away. Oh boy. We walked up the path to the penguin colony- one measley penguin.

Ah finally, a penguin. All I needed was one and that was what I got. :)

There was still a larger colony to the south where we might find a couple more. We trudged along the muddy road for a couple more hours and finally made it. The parking lot sits right up against the colony and ahhhhhhhhhh. more penguins. about 40! And up close this time. They really are cute and waddle around like my friend Lina´s adorable grandfather.

The highlight of the day I have to say was not actually the penguins, but the armadillos. I have a new favorite animal. The Armadillo. They are so incredibly adorable and fearless. They come right up to you and crawl on your lap looking for scraps of food. Maybe I can do my PhD on armadillos.

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