Blogs from Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina, South America

Heute war wieder mal fruehes Aufstehen angesagt, 7.00 Fruehstueck und dann gleich los. Diesmal allerdings zu Fuss, denn John und ich gingen die Strandpromenade entlang bis wir bei ScubaDuba waren. Dort hatten wir einen Trip gebucht "Schwimmen mit Seeloewen". John taucht, fuer ihn war das Ganze nicht neu, aber ich war schwer beschaeftigt, einen wet suit anzuziehen, eine Haube, Handschuhe, Schuhe und Flossen an den Fuessen. Mit einem Boot wurden wir zu einer Kolonie gefahren, es waren sicher 200 Seeloewen da. Dann wurden wir ueber Bord geschmissen und es ging los. Ich stellte mich ziemlich doof an, weil die Flossen an den Fuessen mir so viel Auftrieb gaben, dass ich ganz verwirrt war, mich um mich gedreht habe und eine ganze Zeit brauchte, um mich einzugewoehnen. Als ich dann friedlich dahinschnorchelte kamen die Seeloewen massenhaft an, ... read more

With 2h delay I arrieved yesterday evening in Viedma, which is in the province of Rio Negro and on the southern side of the river, and went then to my hotel in Carmen de Patagones on the other side of the river and thus in the province of Buenos Aires. The two small, beautiful cities are connected by two bridges and a taxi-boat. Carmen d.P. was one of the first villages on the coast of Argentina and was funded in 1779 by Don Francisco de Viedma and the first habitants were from Galicia. The city was very important place for import and export and played an important role during the conflicts with the Portuguese in Brazil. The woman sitting next to me in the bus (= new invitation in BA) came from Punta Arenas and went ... read more

Another full day of driving - tents packed away in the dark as they had been erected the previous night, breakfast with the sunrise at 6:30 and this time not arriving at our campsite (at least it was a real campsite with facilities!) until 11:15pm. Tents up in the dark again and dinner at midnight, which we felt was quite fitting as it was about 3am in England and Bristol City Korfball Club would no doubt have been eating the same meal (burgers) outside our favourite haunt La Rocca. We were sad to be missing the club's end of season dinner and to make up for it we made sure we educated our fellow travellers on the world of korf. So if some new clubs spring up in Oz, you have us to thank! Chris's corner ... read more