viernes 14 de diciembre 2012
This blog post is also
written from inside a bus.
Unfortunately, the bus
is currently not moving.
We just crossed into
Chile and went through customs, but before we had gone for another five
minutes, the bus came to a stop, behind a long trail of stopped vehicles on the
road. We haven’t moved for at least half
an hour. After much complaining and
question-asking from various passengers, the bus staff finally informed us that
apparently they’re repairing the road… and they couldn’t advise us
beforehand… And no one knows how long
we’ll be stopped here. No one’s allowed
to get down off the bus. We’re stuck
here inside for who knows how long… On
the bright side, we won’t die of hunger, as we’re stocked with bus food, although
it consists of solely cheap alfajores
and white-bread sandwiches.
Ya gotta love South
America.
I guess this gives me
plenty of time to write out this post…
Well, okay, first
things first, I have to recap on my trip to Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is a city on the eastern coast
of Argentina, and it’s a wildlife wonderland.
Its main attraction are the southern right whales, which come into the
bay for part of the year for reproduction.
Well, when I learned December was the end of the whale season, I
decided, “Heck yes, I’m going!” I left
the day after my half-marathon (my legs were still painfully sore… it was a
rough bus ride, haha), and Ramon came with me.
We arrived Monday morning and headed directly for Puerto Pirámides,
which is the only town in Peninsula Valdés (a protected reserve). From there, we booked a tour to go
whale-watching. That afternoon we went
out in a boat with about 12ish other people.
Even though it’s the end of the whale season… we still had success! We spotted five different whales, including a
new mother with her offspring.
its mouth is open to feed…
sooo cool
After the whale tour we
went back to Puerto Madryn, where we stayed at the Hi! Patagonia hostel (which
was fantastic…! If you ever travel to Puerto Madryn, stay there. It’s a really
friendly environment, and the owner Gaston is super awesome). Tuesday, we booked a tour to Punta Tombo,
which is a protected area that houses the world’s largest colony of Magellan penguins. We got to walk through their territory… and
at times were close enough to be able to touch them (although we weren’t
supposed to)! The best part was it’s
egg-hatching season… and we saw lots of adorable little fluff-balls, aka baby
penguins or pinchos.
¡Pingüinos!
In the nest with the youngsters
Hellooooooooooo!
Punta Tombo was an
all-day tour, and after seeing the penguins, we went to the port of Rawson
where we went on a dolphin-watching tour.
We saw Tominas (sp?), which are really small (the smallest dolphin in
the world), black and white dolphins.
They were so playful… they were chasing our boat and jumping and diving
the whole time we were out there! And
they were so fast too…
And, as an added bonus,
we passed by a sea lion colony on the shore on our way out to sea :)
These little buggers were so fast… it
was so difficult to get a good picture! (This
one I got by pure luck) I tried for a
while and then put the camera away to just enjoy the ride
In the final part of the
excursion, we were taken to the city of Gaiman, which is known for its
preservation of the area’s Welsh heritage.
There wasn’t too much to see, we just stayed long enough to enjoy a merienda of traditional tea and some
pastries.
So… those were my
wildlife-watching adventures! I was
really happy to have a two-day vacation with a bunch of animals :) Most of the time I spent with my camera in
hand, ready to snap a good shot if the opportunity arose. At times I felt like I was playing real-life
Pokemon Snap… waiting for the animals to appear, hoping to capture them in a
pose worthy of a high-score… And yes, I
am referring to the N64 game I used to play all the time when I was younger.
Our last night in
Puerto Madryn (Tuesday) was really nice.
Gaston put on an asado in the
hostel, so all us guests got to eat and chat together. Plus there was chicken, so it was an asado I
could actually eat at :) (I stopped
eating red meat about a year ago, not the most convenient timing, as beef makes
up a hefty portion of the Argentine diet).
After the asado, Ramon and I took a stroll through the city with two
other Americans from the hostel. We enjoyed
the views of the coast at night, as well had some tasty drinks at Las Margaritas
Bar.
The funny thing about
Puerto Madryn is that it was not as tropical as I imagined it would be… The reason being that it’s in the
desert. That’s right, a desert beach
town. It was pretty strange, to me
anyway; the town itself, and the coast, were really pretty and nice, but before
the town appeared, we were just driving through what seemed like
wasteland. It was really dry and dirty
and… kind of ugly.
Well anyway, that was
my Puerto Madryn getaway :) On Wednesday
I left at 1:30 on my bus to Mendoza (I was supposed to leave at 12:30 but the
bus was late… go figure, Argentina…).
That bus ride was 23 hours long… oof… the longest bus ride I’ve taken
since Luke and I came to Bariloche from Bs.As.
But, I mean, it wasn’t that bad…
Even though they’re long, the nice thing about bus rides is you get to
look at the countryside. Plus years of
drum corps have taught me very well how to sleep on buses… definitely a perk.
After meeting Paula and Gabi, I headed to meet Laura, who
lives in an apartment with her mother, Mercedes. They’re both really lovely people!
Later I headed out for a stroll to explore what I could of
Mendoza. Without even trying to scope
them out, I passed by three English institutes.
Haha. Then I headed to see
another potential roommate and her apartment.
She was a nice girl, but felt better vibes about Paula and Gabi…
From what [little] I saw of Mendoza, I liked it. It’s not as open and naturalistic as
Bariloche (I mean, it’s hard to compare with Nahuel Huapi Lake and the
surrounding mountain peaks)… but it possesses its own kind of beauty. The downtown is adorned with five really nice
plazas; it has a ginormous, beautiful park (el Parque General San Martin); the
streets are wide (and all paved) and water canals run along the sidewalks.
**I have to interrupt my thought… our bus started moving
finally… On our way to Santiago (again)!
It’s now 2:45; we were supposed to arrive 15 minutes ago… oh well**
It’s now 2:45; we were supposed to arrive 15 minutes ago… oh well**
Continuing: And, even though the heat is pretty strong in
Mendoza, the city was really well planned; planted trees line all the streets,
so walking down the sidewalks, you’re under a forest of shade. In an odd way, Mendoza kind of reminded me of
Sevilla… albeit smaller and more, well, Argentine.
My [one] evening in the city was quite awesome. Laura had invited some friends over for
dinner, and she made homemade pizza. So
I met her friends and we all had pizza and drinks, I listened to them have a
heated discussion (debate, really), and then we played Uno (yes, the card game,
of all things). Typical of Argentine
get-togethers, we didn’t close down the festivities until late (about 1:30-2ish). But even though I had to get up at 6 this
morning to catch my bus… I didn’t really care… The fun night was worth it. And actually, I’m not really that tired right
now…
But, I think I’ll put away my computer and try to have a
South American siesta anyway.
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