Blogs from Chubut, Argentina, South America - page 35

Bonjour tout le monde. Je fais une courte update parce que les péripéties n'ont pas été nombreuses dans les derniers jours et que l'internet coûte 2 $ de l'heure ici!!! Ici, c'est El Calafate en Argentine. Si vous regardez votre globe terrestre, c'est pas mal le bout de terre le plus au sud que vous pouvez trouver. Plus au sud que l'Afrique du Sud, l'Australie ou la Nouvelle-Zélande. Plus bas, vous n'avez que la Terre de Feu et ensuite c'est l'Antarctique. C'est peut-être ce qui explique pourquoi on gèle et qu'il vente à écorner les boeufs! Dans les derniers jours, on a pas mal traversé le pays en longueur et en largeur. Samedi en fin d'après midi, on a pris un bus de nuit vers Puerto Madryn (16 heures). C'est une ville sur la cote Atlantique ... read more

In order to explore the ecological reserve of Patagonia's Peninsula Valdés, we stayed in nearby Puerto Madryn, the town which grew up around a settlement founded by Welsh immigrants in 1865. There are plenty of excursions to the peninsula available from this base, as well as diving outings and trips to Welsh teahouses in Trelew or Gaiman (approximately 65km south of Puerto Madryn). Visiting in November, we hoped to see the Southern Right Whales which are present in the area of the peninsula from June to December. Raúl was also determined to catch a glimpse of an orca, or the misnomered 'killer whale'. (Apparently they're really from the dolphin family; think Flipper on steroids and with an attitude problem). Along the way we hoped to spy various other species including penguins, sea lions and elephant seals. ... read more

Sorry for the delay. I'm sure you have all been checking this page daily at the very least..! So, 10th October, we get to Heathrow. Check in for our flight at some fancy computerised contraption and head to the desk to check in our bags. "Where is your ticket out of Argentina?" asks the lady. "We don't have one" says I, "we are planning on travelling overland." "Well we can't let you on the plane without seeing evidence that you plan to leave" says the lady. "Argh" we say. "You need to book a fully refundable return ticket at the desk over there and get the money back later" says the lady... and so it went on. So an unmentionable amount of money and prolonged panic attack later, we get through to departures and resolve to ... read more

I leave Buenos Aires at 20.30. This partucular bus comes with free entertainment (or tedium, depending on how you look at it) - a tone deaf Argentine teenager who insists on singing (I'm being generous there) along to his portable CD player. When even my own music can´t drown him out I am forced to lean over and say, ' Excuse me, can you sing in your head please, I don´t want to listen to your music.' It works. The official entertainment comes in the slightly inappropriate form, in my opinion, of two films about transport catastrophes - Flight 93 (about 9/11) and Poseidon. The former is, frankly, not what you need to be seeing when a world away from everyone you love, and hurtling down a dark Argentine highway in the middle of nowhere. Finally, ... read more

Nick: It is now Wednesday and 4 days from my little drama and the third day since we left the comfort of Marahue. Our first day involved a couple of hours of riding which saw us in Carmen de Patagones. This is a pleasant town where we enquired about a camping site, found out it was on a dirt track and promptly I enquired about hotels instead. We found one and took a room there: so much for camping 5 nights out of 7! But, as Kristina pointed out, wé'll have plenty of chances to redress the balance in more desolate places!! As you, the reader, can probably guess, the spill has knocked my confidence somewhat. I've been here before: every twitch of the front end leaves me thinking , I'm about to hit the deck ... read more