Hello world! Those of you following the last segment know
that we have just finished reading about our amazing 5 day trek through Torres
del Paine…what an amazing experience! Getting from there to our next
destination of Puerto Madryn is a trek in itself, all the way on the Atlantic
coast of Argentina and quite a way to the North…long story short, 3 days and 5
buses later we arrived to Puerto Piramides, the only town located on the
Peninsula Valdes, just outside of Puerto Madryn. The peninsula and encompassed
nature reserve is loaded with marine life. We got off the bus and walked about
a quarter mile or so into the campground, which happened to be right next to
the beach, maybe 50 yards away.
Turns out that the beach was the only attraction of this
campground…the place was hot, sandy and had very little shade to speak of. It
is really set up more for trailers and car-camping more than backpackers.
Considering we aren’t able to carry things like chairs, firewood, a table, etc.
Regardless, after all that traveling, taking another bus to find a different
spot was out of the question, so we found the best spot we could and set up
shop. That night wasn’t bad, besides having no where to sit, we were able to
buy some firewood and grill up some steaks, chase that with a cold beer and we
were ready for bed. Next morning
however, not so good, the wind picked up big time and this place turned into a
sand storm, so there we are, sitting in the sand, eating crunchy cereal (from
sand in it) and we quickly determined it was time to find a hostel.
We headed out on a search only to discover that January is
month when almost every Argentine person takes vacation…every decently priced
place in town was full. And so, we were back on bus to the big city, Puerto
Madryn to stay there. There are tour companies that you can use to see the
animals on the peninsula, but we really like to do things on our own and so the
next morning we rented a car and headed back to the peninsula. It was really
amazing, for whatever reason this area attracts everything from penguins to
blue whales depending on the time of year. The first spot we went to was closed
but the second provided a great view of the basking Elephant seals, these
suckers get a big as 15ft long, story goes that after spending months at sea
collecting food for their young, they come to shore to molt and breed…looks to
me like a bunch of people laying by the pool in Vegas after partying all night…these
guys do almost nothing. But still cool to see them so close and in their
natural habitat. The second spot was probably my favorite; here we came to a
Penguin colony! I had thought that all Penguins live on the snow and ice, but
not these guys, they live in dirt, digging nests near the low shrubs. Here is
where the eggs hatch and we were there just in time to see many fluffy, baby
penguins waddling around. They were so cute, about 2ft tall and not scared of
us at all, at times it almost seemed like they were posing for camera (all this
without anyone feeding them as well). Lastly was the Sea lions, while I’m sure
that I’ve seen them in zoo at some point I didn’t realize the similarities with
actual lions. The males have huge manes of hair around their head. Besides
that, they are extremely aggressive, constantly barking and fighting with each
other, with a close look you could see that almost all of them are bleeding at
least a little…I guess this may have to do with mating season, but just a
guess. This completed our tour of the peninsula, covering 260miles or so.
Next day, we were back on bus and headed north to Mar del
Plata…probably the #1 beach vacation spot for Argentina. Mardel (as the locals
call it) is home to 550 hotels, and in January, they are almost all full! The
popular beaches are packed wall to wall with tents and towels while companies have
areas with private beach booths that you can rent out to avoid someone putting
their tent on top of your towel. But , there are many, many different beaches
even right in town, so you can typically find whatever you’re looking for,
crowded party scene, or the more laidback family scene where the local tea
“Mate” replaces cerveza. This “Mate” by the way, had got to be by far, the most
popular drink in Argentina, on some beaches, almost everyone would carry their
own large thermos of hot water just to make sure they could continually
replenish their glass. While on the subject, the Argentines love to smoke as
well, I’ve never been to France, but I can’t imagine any country smokes more
cigarettes than here. Even the “Prohibido Fumar” signs don’t really seem to
enforced either, as we’ve seen people smoking anywhere and everywhere.
We spent 3 nights in Mardel, with the majority of that time
just laying on beach and soaking in the rays, a nice change from the wind and
cold of southern Patagonia. The hostel situation was tough, couldn’t find
anywhere with 3 nights free, so we had to move on the second day, but it was a
short walk. It was also nice getting a chance to speak with some locals, all
the Argentines that speak English always ask, “where are you from?” Usually the
hostels we stay in are full of backpackers from all over the world, but here,
they were all Argentine, and were cooking up some mean BBQ (Parilla, pronounced
“Parisha”) at night. Dinner is also done very late here, many locals don’t eat
until 10, 11 or 12pm…not just the young people, but older folks and families
with small children alike. It has taken some time, but I think we have adjusted
to schedule. A couple nights ago, we found ourselves late for meeting friends
at 11:30p, because we were still eating?! We went out to hit the clubs one
night in Mardel and discovered that the clubs don’t get packed until 2am!
Partying until the sun comes up is pretty normal, also, the drinking age is
only 18 but no one is really checking ID’s anyway.
Mardel also has some nice casino’s…so when in rome, we hit
up Casino Central, Sophia’s game is Roulette and I prefer Blackjack…believe it
or not, we both came out ahead, about $50 each, always a nice feeling to leave
a casino with more cash than you came in with!
Sophia is gonna pick it up from here as we head to Buenos
Aires! Don’t miss the next installment when I get my new Tattoo!
Brett
