Blogs from Chubut, Argentina, South America

At about 6:30 we awoke to bitter cold. After breaking down camp, we began our walk to the bus station (probably a mile or so). Despite the freezing hands from the tent poles, I was excited to catch the 8:00 bus to Futaleufu and go rafting. At about 8:00 our dreams were shattered. The bus from Esquel only goes to Futaleufu Monday and Friday. The woman who gave us the information on taking the bus had given us a piece of paper showing the times for Monday, Wednesday and Friday and we asked her specifically about taking the bus Wednesday. I´m not sure if she made a mistake, or perhaps, since it is now off season, the Wednesday bus no longer runs. Either way, we sat at the bus station with no plan. This is a ... read more

As Sarah mentioned in the last blog, we took a 2:45 bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate. It was a double decker bus and we got the first row on the second story (floor?) so we had amazing views. At least for 5 minutes until the windows fogged up. It reminded me of riding backwards in the Volvo station wagon when I was a kid. The bus had a group of English/Americans who had trouble with their tickets. They spoke very very little Spanish and had apparently booked the wrong day for the bus so they ended up paying twice. They were quite unhappy. Lesson learned - always double check your tickets (which we knew already and have even caught a mistake on one of our own). Once back to El Calafate we passed ... read more

As we got off the plane in Trelew, we were greeted by high gusts of hot wind and views of endless pampas. Pampas are dry grasslands, almost SW desert-like, that make up nearly the entirety of Patagonia, save the southern tip of Ushuaia and the Andes mountain range. Riding the hour long shuttle from Trelew to Puerto Madryn, we began to ask ourselves, why are we here? We asked the same question again upon entereing the uncharasmatic, dusty, windswept town of Puerto Madryn. The hostel we stayed at was surprisingly very nice. An open, but protected center courtyard of green grass with a hammock, chairs and tables, and potted flowers surrounding it. All the receptionists were very nice and informative of the various excursions available and where all the essential amentities were in town. Although we ... read more

LAST CHANCE FOR PENGUINS My case of penguinitis it chronic. Although I have had ample opportunity to treat it, I fear it cannot be cured. We take a bus from Puerto Madryn to Porto Tumbo where the largest colony of Magellan penguins is, about 1,000,000 individuals. The drive is through the typical Patagonian landscape, reminiscent of the drive from Las Vegas to LA, except that the land is flat, flat, flat and dry, dry, dry! This region gets about 7” of rain per year. There are no trees. The winds from the west are dry and strong. The bushes grow low and are thorny. The only animal that feasts on them is the guanaco. I have now seen three of the four camel-like animals in South America, the llama, alpaca and the guanaco, but no vicuna. ... read more

Hello from Argentina! Finally off the boat after three days at Sea including Christmas and crossing Cape Horn. In Punta Arenas, I managed to go on a tour to Pinguiterria, a penguin colony in the coldest place on earth! Walked into a side street tour agent who had no tours for the day, but called an old boy who came in his own car and drove me the 70km to the colony, giving an overview of everything on the Island on the way. He also drove like a Chilean Colin McCrae which was pretty interesting when he made a full tour bus tilt wildy going past the edge of the road while he held the centre line. Good blood pumping stuff. Scott of the Antarctic has never been to Pinguiterria, otherwise he never would have continued ... read more

Like most self respecting backpackers, I planned as little of my trip to this continent as I possibly could before embarking. Accordingly, The large southern extent of the continent was given a correspondingly large portion of my estimated time - a decision which I am certianly not regretting, having seen the likes of Pucón, Los Alerces, Bariloche etc. Something that I am finding a little unsettling is, as it turns out, the suitable destinations on the 'peninsula' are actually relatively small in number, given the extent of the area. This is something I couldn't quite comprehend until I got on a 24 hour bus between Esquel and El Calafate which, due to paved road restrictions, took me all the way to the East coast before cutting back towards the West for the Andes again. As you ... read more