Hola all,
Arrived. tired.
The long distance buses are smooth rides with good seats. They ride as if you are in a train without the contant clicking of the wheels on the rail joint. Many are various types of busscar model. Almost all have two levels. Top level for cattle class and a smaller and more luxurious section for better seating classes and more space. Full cama, semi cama regular. The regular class seats are fine and confortable. There is a 180 deg full cama and 160 deg semi cama which I think is stupid as the seat lays flat but your legs hang down.
We used the GPS to work out our position on the journey. Buses were travelling about 95 km per hour with the overspeed alarm set at 97km.
Was difficult trip as I had developed up a stomach problem and was back and forth to the toilet all night. Not good when there are over 40 people competing for 1 toilet. Initially the toilet wasn't flashing and later when that was fixed there was too much pressure so you had to be careful not to get sprayed! Was better by the end of the trip.
Vanessa and I were seated behind what we dubbed the pig family. The mother, father and child all slept with their mouths open all night and right until their stop. The snoring was so loud and often would stop only to be replaced with the spluttering and coffing as their bodies tried to get their breathing in order.
Got to a town about 70km away from puerto madryn and the bus conductor excitedly rattled off a string of information that we didn't understand until everyone but us and another couple were the only ones left on the bus. We had to change buses. But which one? luckily not so hard to figure out.
We are back in the desert again. A sharp contrast to the beautiful snowcapped mountains and beech forests. Reminds us of the coast of peru. Also notice that the area had quite a few oil pumps working away. Think that oil was found in the region in the early 1900s.
Argentinians work and live strange hours. Start about 10 or 1030am until about 1230am then have a siesta until about 4 to 430pm and work until about 8pm. The evening meal is about 9pm or later and they don't go to bed until well after 2am. Great if you are a teenager and love to party...
We have just assessed our options for exploring the valdes peninsula and of course found that the locals have things stitched up nicely. No camping on the peninsula in the national park but oh there is a restuarant at each tourist spot. Buses run to the national park entry but if you want to go further you need to hire a car or take a tour. Hire cars are expensive so the only real option is a tour as the distances are to far to walk. South american drivers are terrible so the safest option is to take a tour and the excess on a rental was 4500 peso for a crash and 8000 (AUD 4000) for a roll over.
Valdes peninsula? famous for the documentary "wolves of the sea" where orcas hunt for seals in packs. Also lots of whales, sea lions, penguins and elephant seals.
We are off to see the penguin colony south of the area today. Apparently 500 thousand pengiunos in a colony. We will be counting to see if this is true...not.
Adios,
David and Vanessa
