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Published: February 22nd 2010
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After leaving Puerto Iguazu, I picked up Mercedes in Buenos Aires and we travelled another 20 hours down south to Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic coast.
Puerto Mádryn was blessedly cool compared with BA and Puerto Iguazu. It actually was not that cool (I got burnt the first day. And the second day) but it was not humid and there was a nice sea breeze. We discovered later that this calm breeze was rather rare and it was later replaced by a more common blustery wind. The city´s not exactly pretty but it has a nice feel to it. It was quite residential where we were staying but there was a big, nay, giant aluminium plant up the way a bit.
The hostel we´d picked (hi! Patagonia) was pretty cool and we felt at home right away. It was quite small and there was a yard out the back with tables, chairs and a hammock, and also a big barn with a kitchen and a long table. That night there weren´t many people around but Mercedes and I lived it up with a French couple, Leticia and Eddie, playing songs on the guitar, dancing and drinking red wine.
In the morning, Mercedes and I hired bicycles from the hostel and headed off to Punta Loma to see the sea lions. It was 17km there, on a dusty, gravelly track. Eastern Patagonia is basically just scrubby outback so there was NO shade and we were a touch worried about getting sunstroke. We did make it to the Point, though, and gawped at the sealions, who were playing in the sea and falling off rocks, etc. Then we laid about in the shade of a hut for a while, eating our empanadas (which are like small pasties/pirozhki) and decided that if we cycled back, this time into the sun and the wind, we would definitely probably die. So Mercedes asked the universe for a camioneta to come and give us a ride back. I think maybe the universe owes her because one rocked up shortly afterwards and a lovely young family from Neuquen gave us a lift back to town. They dropped us off by the beach where Mercedes and I had a quick dip in the very cold sea. After about 5 minutes of sunbathing, we got fed up of being pelted with sand by the wind and went
Puerto Madryn (15)
In the back yard at hi! Patagonia, one of my favourite hostels ever. home. That night, hostel owner Gaston prepared an asado (barbecue) for everyone and we sat at the big long table in the barn. It was delicious. I sat next to Sofie from Sweden (a real Swedish Olsson!) and opposite Harrison Ford. Actually, his name was Frank and he was Canadian. Mercedes and I also met up some people who wanted to share a car rental the next day - Vito (who lives in a house I pass on my way to work) and Carl and Sam from Melbourne. A lovely day!
So the five of us piled into a beat-up old VW " olf" and rattled around Peninsula Valdes. There´s an optimum speed to use on these bumpy tracks - too slow and you scramble your insides, too fast and you risk being whipped up by the wind (which happens all too frequently). The weather started off terrible but, again, Mercedes called in her debt with the universe and the sun came out. We saw some more wildlife - big fat lazy farty seals, a patagonian fox, and an armadillo thing. I think it might not have been an armadillo but some sort of relative. Anyhow, he was my
favourite.
The next day, Mercedes had to leave and I went on tour to Punta Tombo with Sofie. We stopped off at Rawson on the way and saw dolphins from a boat. The penguin colony was massive - I think there were about 2 million. It was super windy there and the penguins seemed to enjoy leaning into the wind. They weren´t at all bothered by the humans wandering about. I saw a couple of chicks bothering their mother for food and sticking their beaks into her gob until she puked up some krill or something for them. On the way back we stopped at Gaiman, which is a very Welsh town. You could see Welsh dragons and Welsh names on shops everywhere. We could have partaken of Welsh afternoon tea but it was quite pricey so we didn´t bother. I saw a Casa Lloyd in Trelew from the bus on the way back!
The day I left Puerto Madryn there was a terrible sandstorm in the area. I left the building clean, but when I got on the bus, I was filthy. This was my favourite hostel so far, even if Vincent did forget to book me
on a tour, and then tell me it was more than I´d been told, and then charged me too much for my room! Gaston has been wonderful and is getting the money I´m owed to me here in Bariloche (I´m a bit behind with these blogs).
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Jess
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small welsh sandwhiches
did you sample that very traditional welsh tea with 100 mini sandwhiches? is that how you spell sandwhich? maybe not...