Puerto madryn

South America » Argentina » Chubut » Puerto Madryn
February 4th 2007

Published: February 17th 2007

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Clairewebst

breakfast on the beach

Ross:

We finally made it to Puerto Madryn after our cock-up with the bus, it was too late in the day to get on any of the tours out to the wildlife reserve (some penguins, sea lions and the slim possibility of catching a glimpse of orca’s) Claire and I went for a wee wander down to the beach to find breakfast while the hostel sorted our room. Got some free entertainment with breakfast, watching people learn to windsurf and fail miserably can’t fail to bring a smile to ones face.
As the reserve was a no go we headed out to Gaiman. The town was set up by Welsh immigrants and as a result is renowned for its welsh tea houses that serve big plates of assorted cake and bigger pots of tea (its very much like when you go visit your gran), apparently there are still people here who speak welsh and its searingly hot. So after munching lots of cake and polishing off a couple pots of tea, which were close but still not as good as tea back home, we decided to escape the merciless heat in the shade offered by the trees on the river

breakfast on the beach 2

bank just out the front of our tea house. It was still to hot for me and I joined the locals by taking a dip in the cool, refreshing waters of the Rio Chubut. After watching me have fun and some gentle persuasion Claire finally came in as well and we spent a couple hours chilling out by the river.
Then we visited Gaimans other claim to fame a garden made completely from recycled beer cans and plastic bottles, it’s hard to describe so looking at the photos will give a better idea.
Our bus to El Calafate was the next day so we still couldn’t get out to the reserve and decided to do the next best thing; take a wander up the beach to Ecocentro - a marine wildlife museum that’s supposed to be excellent. The wind had really picked up the night before and it hadn’t lessened any that day, meaning our relaxing stroll up the beach was a sandblasted slog, with sand encrusting itself everywhere and no prospect of a shower before the bus. it’s surprising we weren’t stripped to the bone. Still we soldiered on with the prospect of tide pools where you can touch

big fake seal

they had this in the bus station. they seemed a bit seal mad in this town

the beasties keeping us going. On arrival after an hour and a half of being blasted by sand (the guide book describes this as an enjoyable 40 min walk. It also says the museum’s open 10-7) that our walk had been in vain as the place didn’t open till 5pm. Lots of sweary words ensued. Rather dejected we headed back into town along the road this time hoping it would be quicker and less likely to be blasted by sand (unfortunately right on only one account).
Slightly more sandy we got some food, an excellent pizza from the Lizard bar (highly recommend getting a pizza from here if you get the chance) and then off to the bus station for a marathon 24 hour bus ride south to El Calafate.

Claire:
i was a little upset at not getting to go out on a tour of the peninsula and look for whales and dolphins but apparently its not rally the season for anything but sealions just now and we've seen plenty of them on our travels so maybe it wasnt such a big deal after all. one thing that ws a pain in the ass was the ecocentro's bizarre

welsh tea 1

lots of cake!

opening hours but i would say that overall the stop in puerto madryn was worth it solely for the trip to gaimen. the tea was fantastic and then swimming in the river to burn off all those cakes and get out of the heat of the day was excellent.
by this point we were both really looking forward to getting to el calafate to do some of the amazing glacier orientated activities there so still covered in sand we boarded our next night bus.

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