I think I can see Africa from here....

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This is a 1 horse kind of town. Actually, we saw 4 horses, so we kept changing the name with each additional horse that came into view. We were walking down the street singing out loud, ¨Oh just wandering around a 1 hourse town, I mean a 2 horse town.... na na na.¨Ect.... Puerto Pyramides is a 4 horse town. There are 300 residents, and the town itself is located in a rounded bay on Reserve Valdez, a island-shaped peninsula connected to mainland Argentina by a small sliver of desolate land. The entire island is covered in short drouht tolerent shrubs. Kids run amuk, shooting up and down the street on suped up quads and little go-carts. Many of them carrying groceries and such, but others, obviously just trying to have some fun. The police station is the biggest building in town, way bigger than the one room church. The church was so small they had to have a sign out front saying ¨religious building¨ None of the elaborate European architecture here. The bank consists of a large van, and a building, if you could call it that, which was smaller than the van, which housed the only ATM machine in town. To my suprise, they had a large section of paverstone street, which interrupted the dirt road. As usual, the wild dogs have the run of the town

Cassie and I took a 20 something hour bus (I mean who is even keeping track anymore, right?) ride from El Bolson to Puerto Madryn, which is the larger city from which tours to the Peninsula are normally organized. Afterwards, we immediately caught another 1.5 hour bus to Pt. Pyramides, to stay overnight on the reserve. We had intended to do some beach camping, but it was raining, and we found a hostal which was only about $4 more then camping, so we headed all the way across town (7 blocks) and checked in.

Our hostess was rude and abrupt with us. She showed us the room, and scolded us when we threw our bags onto the bed, saying to put them on the floor. She then told Cassie in spanish (yay for not understanding a thing!) ¨ Dont wake me up. If you come in late walk around the building. Pay me now. Cash¨ Just where the hell were we going to be late at night in this town? As we made our way back to the desk to pay, we exchanged glances, both thinking that we should have camped in the rain.

We noticed in the sign-in book that nobody had stayed at this place for over a month. Hmmm, wonder why? Then a drastic change of events. I pulled out my wallet, which has a fabric flower attatched on the front. She asked to look at it, and I obliged. She showed us a couple projects that she had done, with croqueted flowers and knitted objects. Cassie and I had just purchased a large quantity of yarn, and I had re-taught her how to knit so that we could occupy ourselves on the bus rides, and I am trying to finish an entire blanket for my newborn nephew. We explained that we also knit, and cassie brought out the ball of yarn she was creating a glove out of. The tides changed, and the lady instantly loved us from that moment on. She made me bring out the whole project bag from our room and she demonstrated to cassie how to use the croquet needle as well as how to make a thumb hole. Although she was soooo fast that we really couldnt learn that much from her, but I think we got the general idea. After literally peeling ourselves away from her, we were off to explore the town.

We wandered back down the dirt and paver road and found a place by the beach to eat. Although Pt. Pyramides is not really a touristy town, the tour groups stop for lunch here so for 1 or 2 hours each day, the town is bustling and there are quite a few little resturants all centered in about a 1 block radius. Even though there are several resturants, strangely, the tourists all tend to go to only one.

We had initially thought we could explore the island reserves by bike, but to our dissapointment, it was 90 km to the first good view spot and an additional 45 to the next. Although we could have biked it, there was no camping anywhere else on the peninsula. We decided that we would have to book a tour. It was muy importante that we see penguins on this trip. It was the whole reason we came. Afterwards, we walked out to the beach. I exclaimed, ¨I think I can see Africa from here¨Cassie agreed. Yep, theres Mt. Killimanjaro right there, just across the Atlantic. We wandered up onto some bluffs and checked out a random door going into the hillside, which to our dismay was locked. Still dont know where it led to or what its purpose was. There was an abandoned shack, covered in graffitti, sitting on the edge of the bluff. Also, some great cliffs for jumping off of, if it werent raining and cold.

Two dogs decided to befriend us and followed us as we walked down the beach, and then through the campground in the bluffs just behind. They were uber cute, and ready to play with us. We decided to check out every store in town (about 4 of them). After a little while of wandering, we walked back up towards the hostal and stopped at a place to eat around 6pm. It was ran by a cute old couple. They were not open, but said they could start something up in about 10 minutes. Nobody eats this early in Argentina, everyone waits until at least 9, sometimes as late as Midnight before dinner. We both ordered vegan raviolli and the lady came out to ask if we liked them. She explained that she hand made them herself. They were delicious!

We actually got lost, yes it is possible, on the way back to the hostal. We weren´t lost per say but we just walked right past it and were thinking, hmmm... this doesnt look familiar. Once we did make it back to the hostal, we continued knitting and croquetting with the host. She basically forced us to. I made a hat and she showed me how to use a flat knit and combine it with a rounding croquet technique to put it all together. She helped cassie complete a pair of gloves. She was really really excited to have us there.

The next day, we got all of our things together and headed out for our tour. March 10th has always been an important day for me, at least in the last several years. Not only is it my mother´s birthday, but it just happens to be the exact day that I, at 3am, with 600 US dollars in my pocket, decided to move to bellingham, 6 months before I started college. Also, it is the exact day, three years later, that I decided to end a horrible relationship with my ex boyfriend. It seems to be a day of change in my life. This year, Brian flew to Idaho for a job interview, and being that it occured on the day that it did, I forsee this as a good omen. Every year on this day, I try to do something just a little special ( in addition to calling my mother, which I was unable to do until a few days later, sorry ma) to recognize my freedom and rinse away the past. Maybe it is a little wierd, but for some reason it remains a special day to me.

That morning, it was cool outside, and when we met our tour group, everyone was bundled up in fleeces, hats and pants. I had initially planned on swimming with sea lions during our boat portion of the tour, but weather had prevented the port from opening that morning due to high winds and waves. Cassie and I decided that regardless, we were going to jump into the Atlantic, for my special day. We put on our bikinis, with odd glances from our fellow tour members, and ran yelling straight into the water. It was cold, but not Pacific Ocean cold. We played in the waves trying to body surf for a short while, and then layed out on the beach to dry. We took a couple self photos. They were great, us in bikinis, beaming with joy and people wandering around in the background dressed like it was the middle of winter. After drying and a cafe break, we made it to our bus, where I hung my swimsuit up to dry in the window.

We rode a bus about 1 hour and stopped at a viewpoint full of beaches. The drive was a bit dull, we did see the Great Salt Lake of Argentina, several wild guanaco packs and the usual sheep and low shrub cover. Upon arrival at our first stop, we saw an armadillo in the parking lot. Cassie and I jumped off for photo ops and he walked right up to me and gave me a perfect photo just seconds before the rest of the bus bombarded us and ran him off. Then we walked down a path. Some black and white birds were resting on the beach and we jumped up and down, excited to see penguins. But they were just seabirds. Upon closer inspection, one lone Penguin stood among them. YAY, my first wild penguin. I had to go to the bathroom, so we hiked back up the hill, and then when we came back we could not find the group. We walked down a trail for a while, and after not finding them we decided to head back to the bus. They were all anxiously waiting for us. Oops.

The next stop was the large penguin colony. They are Magellanic penguins, which burrow into the ground. They were soooo cute. One was pretty close. We were stoked. We did some penguin-esque photos next to the sign and were soon on our way to the final viewpoint. At the last stop, there were sea-lions and seals, and another lone penguin. I dont know why there is the occasional loner. We decided it must be because they were dancers instead of singers. 😉

After returning to Pt. Pyramides, we grabbed our luggage and headed to Pt. Madryn. Then another 20 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires. We were excited to head towards the big city, and experience some real nitelife!!!!

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