Well…Buenos Aires is past news now. This is the first time we have had the means and the time to update since leaving Buenos Aires. Unfortunately it does not look like this computer has a accessible USB port to show you pictures…hopefully we will find one at the next place we are going…Rio Gallegos! We left Buenos Aires on Friday and took an omnibus to Puerto Madryn. We spent most of the day Friday waiting at the bus terminal to leave because all the busses were full. While waiting on the grass outside the terminal Adam went to take a picutre of kids playing in the tree and before I knew it I found myself surrounded by little kids asking a thousand questions a minute to us in spanish (well…it felt like that much anyway). After escaping the kids we called our parents and left. The bus ride was an overnight one since Puerto Madryn is quite a ways south from Buenos Aires. Most of the land we crossed was desert and then we finally arrived in Puerto Madryn. It was Saturday afternoon at this point and we did not have a reservation anywhere. I called every place in our guide book and other places that we looked up at the terminal and every place was full. I am still very bad at understanding spanish but I understood the words “no” and “nada.” The last number on the list that I called had a room to spare and we were very thankful that, of course, God was still looking out for us. It was kind of funny because I was so used to people saying no that when somebody said “si” I did not know how to respond. Of course he spoke no English and I could understand very little to what he was saying to me. After wondering what just happened…was this guy coming to pick us up? Do we have a reservation or do we have to check in first?…we got directions to the hotel and walked quickly to our hotel. We spent the rest of the day touring around the beaches of Puerto Madryn. There were A LOT of people around on the beach and it was evident we stumbled into some kind of beach resort town. After we got dinner (by the way, everybody eats dinner at 9:00 here, it´s crazy), and it was getting dark, I decided to go back out on the beach and was greeted with an empty beach and a beautiful full moon that reflected on the water. It was so peaceful out there…I could have stayed there for hours. The next day we hoped on a bus to Puerto Piramides. Puerto Piramides is on Peninsula Valdez and is a beautiful small town that is set on, of course a gorgeous beach. Luckily we had a reservation this time (we learned from our past mistake). We explored the beach and the bluffs around the beach. We also tried to figure out a way to get to Puerto Norte where there were penguins…this was a lot harder than it sounds since it involved communicating and listening (my biggest problem) in spanish. It sounded like the only way to get there was by tour bus and taxi and both were pretty expensive. We decided that since we would have plenty of opportunities to see penguins later, to skip it. At our hostel, we met a very nice couple who we tried to communicate with. It was really funny because they spoke hardly any English and we speak very little Spanish so were communicating pretty much in Spanglish. There was another guy at the hostel from Japan who was traveling alone and spoke no Spanish and spoke very little English. It gave me encouragement for Adam and I. If this guy can travel alone like that, then we will be alright. The next morning (today) we took a bus from Puerto Piramides back to Puerto Madryn. We are at the bus terminal right now. We got tickets that leave to Rio Gallegos (another overnighter) and then went on the computer to email and update. Then I started writing this sentece. Phew, now you are caught up. Anyways…we miss you all! If anybody finds any volunteering opportunites in the Patagonia area…Please email one of us!
Sphere: Related ContentJanuary 16, 2006