Trelew

Not too far away from Madryn there is a small city whose name is Trelew (Welsh for "city of Lewis") which has a few things to offer, but none better than its position on the map. Of those things it has to boast is the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio, or simply MEF, which claims to be one of the most important paleontological museums on this planet. It certainly has a great display with fossils of different periods, of plants, eggs, and dinosaurs. The dinosaurs they show range in size from the small 30cm Gasparinisaur to the enormous Argentinosaur. This last one is absolutely enormous. Even though they have only a few of its bones these are enough to let the imagination run loose and lead one to contemplate how life would be with these record-holding dinosaurs around (largest dinosaurs in the world). Then there is a small runner-friendly lake in the middle of the city and a small art gallery.

The real reason anyone would visit this place is that it is in close proximity to three main places, all of which are not equipped to handle too many overnight visitors. These are: Gaiman, Punta Tombo, and Playa Union. The first is a small town established in approx. 1850 by Welsh immigrants who sought a new beginning in a place where the English would not threaten their age-old traditions. You can no longer see anyone dressed in any peculiar fashion, but there are teahouses around who offer a proper Welsh tea at proper Welsh tea time (3pm). This involves a large teapot full of perfectly brewed tea and a plate laden with at least 10 different pieces of a combination of cakes, pies, breads, and pastries. Skipping lunch is a good idea.

Punta Tombo is the one place in the region which has the largest population but not more than 10 buildings! Joke... it is not a human population. Punta Tombo is the breeding ground for 1 200 000 Magellan penguins. And of course, a tourist hot spot... The added bonus of coming here is that you can actually walk amongst the penguins instead of watching them from afar. Touching them is another matter, as they are known to nip.

Finally, Playa Union is home to a peculiar species of dolphins, the toninas overas. These are known in english as Commerson's dolphins. If you want to get an idea of what they look like, look them up online because they are a little hard to describe. Let's just say that some people know them as sea pandas...

The last two attractions cannot be seen without a rented vehicle or a tour. Cash, cash, cash. Speaking of evil, there is one absolutely annoying thing about Argentina that keeps on pestering me as long as I am in this backwards country. Why backwards? In most countries that I know of, if you were to buy an item that costs 5 of whatever currency you use and pay with a 100 bill, there might be some griping and requests for you to pay in smaller denominations. In Argentina something quite opposite occurs. I can buy a candy with a 100 peso bill and the store keeper will be perfectly OK with returning tens and twenties and/or a fifty. But they will try as hard as they can to not give me back any small change. The smallest denomination they are comfortable with handing over are bills of 2 pesos. But no coins. The country simply has no coins!! Money laundering would be a useful venture here! What's worse is that certain services like public phones and public transit only accept coins. So Argentinans are extremely stingy with their coins. This is what annoys me.

In Britain now

Trelew

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