Advertisement
Published: December 30th 2007
Edit Blog Post
180307A
Suspect dinner carrot, Puerto Madryn, Argentina Had Bubble 'n' Squesk for breakfast on Sunday, before departing our noisy campsite. Fortunately I'm a relatively deep sleeper, however the trucks didn't stop driving by all night & did wake me up on a few occasions. Stopped at a checkpoint, where the guy took all our capsicums. We figured the wife had given him a shopping list & it was destined to be part of his dinner. Later on, another checkpoint guy took our slab of meat, meaning we had to rethink dinner plans. This guy obviously wanted the steak for himself & was not impressed when Tony dropped it on the ground & rolled it in the dirt. We were all cheering in the truck because they didn't really have any right to take it, but weren't going to let us through otherwise.
Had to pushstart the truck (backwards) at a toilet stop because there was a problem with the alternator. At the campsite, it was my groups turn to cook again & we made Beef Poikey. Shannon & I were peeling sweet potatoes, talking about snakes & spiders in Africa when she pointed at me & shouted ' OH MY GOD!' It scared the hell out of
180307B
Diego our dinner guest, Puerto Madryn, Argentina me, I swore, dropped the sweet potato & jumped backwards. Fortunately I jumped back in the right direction, because had I gone one foot the other way, I would have stepped on the biggest spider ever. Don't know what kind he was, but we named him Diego & gave him a whole personal history. He hung around our campsite for the evening, freaking out all the girls.
Was the only member of my group who bothered to get up to do breakfast on Monday morning - NOT a happy camper... Di did most of the work though, making the porridge, whilst I set the table. The majority of our group had arranged a day trip to the coast, however Naomi, Garrett, Emma & I were going Scuba Diving with Sealions. After getting suited up at the Scuba shop, we walked across the road to the beach & a boat took us about a half hour from shore to the dive spot. We didn't have to wait long for curious Sealions to come check us out; they swam over whilst we were still on the surface. We spent amost an hour under water & although there wasn't a large
180307C
Diego v my thong, Puerto Madryn, Argentina group around at any one time, we had a few different guys come over to play & it was an amazing experience.
After the dive, we went for lunch on the foreshore & I had pizza. Spent a few hours on the internet before heading for a stroll & some shopping in town. Found a cool chocolate suede bag at the local artesian markets, but didn't buy much else because it was mostly tourist tat.
Because seven group members had stayed on in Buenos Aires, electing to fly down & meet us in Ushuaia, I assisted the depleted cook group with dinner. We made steak with pasta salad & baked potatoes with guacomole sauce. Pretty good considering we got rained out a bit & had to erect the cooking tent half way through. My good mood though, may have had something to do with the Champagne & apple cider I was drinking & no visit from Diego tonight.
Up early Tuesday for a long, flat, boring drive day. The scenery reminded me alot of drives I've done in Australia, not much vegetation except salt bush. the first rough camp spot was vetoed by the group in
190307A
Beach scene, Puerto Madryn, Argentina favour of getting more kilometers on the clock. We were all well pleased we'd continued when Tony turned off to a secluded beach spot about an hour down the road. We arrived just on sunset, got some great photos & had a yummy dinner with cake for dessert to celebrate young Sams birthday. We also made punch & he was given a couple bottles of spirits, as we were determined to get him drunk. Had our first campfire of the trip, got through the punch & Sam through about one third of his whiskey, before retiring at a disgustingly respectable hour.
Turns out alcohol does affect little Sam after all, it just takes a few hours to kick in, as we discovered when he got up still drunk on Wednesday morning! He'd managed to crawl back out of his tent, after being put to bed last night & had fallen asleep on the cold, stony beach, under the stars. Garrett had to put Sams tent down & he was struggling to get the lid off his locker when I caught up with him inside the truck. Think he slept most of the day, which wasn't really a waste
200307A
Rough camp sunset en route to Ushuaia, Argentina because the scenery was much like yesterdays.
We crossed the border into Chile, continued driving & spent the night at a roadhouse just before the Argentinian border. Charlie & I both upgraded from camping to a bed because of the cold weather. Had dinner & a beer in the diner, which even had cable television, so a few of us stayed up to watch the movie Fun With Dick & Jane.
Crossed back into Argentina first thing Thursday morning, before driving on to Rio Grande for a spot of tyre changing & shopping. I'd decided my inflatable pillow just wasn't doing the job & so bought a half sized real one. Ate morning tea at an amazing bakery that hasn't closed since it opened years ago; the first twenty four hour bakery I know of. Finished my current book on the truck journey, before arriving into Ushuaia in the early afternoon.
After being advised of optional activities at the hostel, we headed into town. I spent time on the internet before having dinner with big Sam, Jess & Charlie. Opted for a healthy tuna sandwich, but it tasted very fishy & I wish I'd ordered the
200307B
Rough camp sunset en route to Ushuaia, Argentina steak like Sam had because he raved about it.
Returned to the hostel & freshened up in time to be collected for a party at some waterfront restaurant. Our ride came at 11:30pm & we managed to fit forty people into a minivan that was probably only licensed to carry about twenty five. There were people sitting on laps, people standing in the aisle & even in the area next to the driver, pressed against the exit door!
Made it to the restaurant/nightclub in one piece & were furnished with a free beer from their micro brewery. Unfortunately, the beer tasted shite, so I drank white wine (yes me) for the rest of the night. Finished up partying with the Kumuka boys at some other random nightclub, before losing all my money & cabbing it home just before daybreak.
Had a muchos grande hangover on Monday; which in Spanish, translates to one VERY BIG headache - damn those grapes. Didn't even bother trying to leave the hostel, instead opting to sleep, nap & stare blankly at the walls, whilst Di made dinner. Had a hair of the dog to provide me with enough brain cells to
200307C
Rough camp sunset en route to Ushuaia, Argentina play card games, after a mighty fine stew dinner & was tucked away in bed for midnight.
Feeling much better on Saturday, after yesterdays nothingness & last nights great sleep. Did the glacier walk with Naomi, Garrett, big Sam & Jess, which quite frankly was a bit of a disappointment. After a short cab ride & ten minutes on the chairlift, we walked for around an hour & a half to a piddly little glacier, which looked like not much more than some compacted snow.
Spent the remainder of the afternoon on the internet in town & managed to change more travellers cheques, so I at least had some moula to continue on with. Had an awesome steak for dinner with the guys from the glacier walk, then caught a taxi back to the hostel with plans for an early night. Wasn't exactly early, as I ended up chatting to the girls in the dorm next to mine, but was in bed by midnight, so it wasn't exactly a late night either.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.054s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.035s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb