The Vagrant Gypsy Life

Day 110 18/12/2010 (Sunday) to day 130 07/01/2011 (Friday) Argentina – Buenos Aires, San Martin de los Andes, Bariloche, El Calafate, Puerto Madryn

I took a break from my long, tranquil trip with a short, hectic one. A friend decided to join me over Christmas and New Year´s. We ended up travelling mostly the route I took over the course of 3 weeks, in the span of two weeks! Needless to say, it was hectic. But it was still very enjoyable and good to see my friend after such a long times! I also had better luck with the weather this time.

We ended up spending about 120 hours in the bus, which included a 10 hour stay by the side of the road as the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere on a less-frequented highway or route as they call it (route between Bariloche and Rio Gallegos). A ride scheduled for 27 hours took 37 hours! We broke down around 18:30 and had to sit aorund while the driver tried calling the mechanic for instructions. Of course, it was complicated as he would have to thumb lifts to elsewhere to get a signal on his mobile. He finally gave up around 10:00 and waited for a mechanic to show up at 02:30. It was 04:30 before we left. At least, the sunset was glorious.

Highlights included the 37 hour bus ride, a first time ride in a cama suite bus (luxury bus), New Year´s on a bus, Perito Moreno glacier in sunlight, Cerro Llao Llao in gorgeous weather, Cerro Campanario (which I missed the first time around), whales, penguins and dolphins in Puerto Madryn.

The bus from Puerto Madryn to Buenos Aires broke down, but it was a shorter wait by the side of the road as another bus enroute to Buenos Aires picked us up. The co-operation between the competitors amazed me!

A day of rest in Buenos Aires as my friend headed home on the night of the 5th to do laundry, catch up on emails, decide my next step, wander around aimlessly etc. Montevideo, here I come!

Day 94, Thu Dec 2 El Chalten/ Rio Gallegos

Almost all day on the bus. El Chalten to Puerto Madryn.

El Chalten to El Calafate: 4 hours; El Calafate to Rio Gallegos: 6 hours; Rio Gallegos to Puerto Madryn: 21 hours. The one thing I remember from the busride from Gallegos to PMadryn is the amazing colours of the sunset. I could still see the sun on the horizon at 23:00.

Day 95, Fri Dec 3 Puerto Madryn

Arrival in Puerto Madryn around 15:00. Went for a walk and cooked dinner with a couple of folks from the Navimag.

Puerto Madryn seems to have a lot of stores named after ballenas (whales) and penguins. A lot of tours as well. The town is not very pretty or enticing, but is the place most tourists arrive to go on tours to see sealions, seals, penguins, whales. Peninsula Valdes and Whale-watching tours being the largest draw.

Day 96, Sat Dec 4 Puerto Madryn

The weather forecast was a lot of wind, which meant that tours to Peninsula Valdes were probably not going to run since the boats couldnt get out. We ended up renting bicycles to ride to Punto Loma (17 km each way) to see sea-lions. Had a nice dinner.

Day 97, Sun Dec 5 Puerto Madryn! Bus to BA

Off on a tour to see Magellan Penguins. I arrived at the time of the season that they set up nests and rear their young before heading up to Brasil. It was a grand hour and a half! Enroute to Punto Tomba, the guide stopped whenever he noticed an animal that would be quite unusual to tourists. Ostrich-like creatures and Lama-like animals galore…

Lunch was an apple. However, the treat of the day was tea in a Welsh village called Gaiman, set in a valley. They served us various cakes, sandwiches and some tea, all for an overly exorbitant price. However, the Welsh town was extremely pretty and being on water, an extreme contrast to the stark dry surrounding area!

The tour guide was very intelligent and knew a lot of things: we had some interesting conversations.

Another long bus ride after dinner – sigh, I am a broken man. Argentina is too beguiling and quite big.

About 17 hours to Buenos Aires.

Day 108, Fri Dec 17 Cordoba/ Rosario Rosario is a lovely small town, north west of Buenos Aires, on the river Parana. It is famous for beautiful women, for being the town where the flag was conceived and for being the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 92, Tue Nov 30 Puerto Natales/ Perito Moreno glacier/ El Calafate/ El Chalten A long day. A early start as we have breakfast at 06:30 and get on the van at 07:00. It is a bit of a squeeze. Among ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 91, Mon Nov 29 Puerto Natales The same spoilt girls whom I was able to ignore the night before, managed to wake me up early Monday morning around 5:30. They were back in the common area packing and chatterng away, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photos of the trek. I offer the link at the beginning since I am no poet and will not be able to do justice to the scenery and the trek. I ran out of adjectives to describe the scenery ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 85, Tue Nov 23 Puerto Natales I liked Puerto Natales. It is a nice little town with some gorgeous views of fjords. It is also the starting point for most people who trek in the Torres del Paine national ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 81 - 84 Navimag I get on the Navimag ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. 3 nights on a ferry was a new experience for me. One got to see fjords, a seal, a glacier, lots of rain ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 80, Thu Nov 18 Pucon/ Puerto Varas Rain is back. I didnt relish the walk to the bus station. 6 hours in the bus, most of which were spent listening to an old Chilean lady talk in Spanish about various things ... [Continue reading this entry]

Day 76, Sun Nov 14 Villarrica Off to Villarrica, which derives its name from the smoking volano which can be seen looming over the town on sunny days or the lake nearby; I am not sure. Check into Torre Suize. The ... [Continue reading this entry]