So, my first day back from Cordoba I spent the afternoon at the US embassy and the Palermo police station. My American friends from Cordoba trip followed me to Buenos Aires. I was super excited to play tour guide and show them “my town”….but almost first thing in the morning they were pickpocketed on busy pedestrian streets around Calle Florida. Of course, both their passports were what was taken. We went straight to the US Embassy only to find out they were closed for siesta time….Buenos Aires doesn’t take a siesta! So to cut through the tension I told them about my favorite filet mignon place “Juana M” in Recoleta. We had an extravagant lunch eating and drinking away their worries. We met up with old elementary school US friend, Nick, who is now living back in Buenos Aires. He was our knight in shining armor….took us to file a complaint at the police station, back to the embassy, then some site seeing around Congreso.
The US embassy was quite a funny experience. First they wouldn’t let Nick in because he was Argentine. So I went in with my friends. Vince, friend in Peace Corps, was quite impressed the place didn't look like a bomb shelter! Before we went through the metal detectors and scanners, we had to remove camera, phone, ipod, water, and makeup from our purses. What else is left in a girl’s purse? But they refused to let me just leave the whole thing there in a box. Nice to know that if you lose your passport, it costs $140 to get a temporary one to return to the USA and its valid for 3 months. Then when you get home you just apply for a new passport for another $140.
We met Nick’s sister, Maria, who is my age and loves brands and shopping. She took us girls to Alto Palermo big fashion mall and explained the reputation and styles of each store. I kind of want a Prune purse now, except that I’d rather have $1,000 for travel over buying “things” that don’t last. We had a marvelous time that night meeting the entire family of 4 grown children, 2 with fiancés (one owns a dulce de leche factory!!!!), and gossiping around the meat and cheese appetizers followed by the Argentine favorite of fried empanadas and coca cola.
That weekend I went off on my own again to Puerto Madryn, which is in Patagonia. Since I was travelling 18 hours by myself I splurged for 1st class bus accommodations….lots of wine, champagne, sandwich snacks, hot dinner, Pirates movie, bingo, etc and the chair folded down into a complete bed. I booked a hostel overlooking the ocean and it was magnificent eating my sunrise breakfast and watching whales from the balcony.
My first adventure trip was to Punta Ninfas where we climbed down this cliff without any equipment to get to the pebble stone beach where the elephant nose huge sea lions have a colony. On average they are 3 times my size! There were a few slides and falls going down the rocks, but no serious injuries. My two new buddies for the trip: Mark from New Zealand living in London and Irma the surgeon from Sweden who camped alone in Madagascar for 3 weeks! We returned at sunset and asked the mountain guide to drop us off at the Indio Monument of this guy overlooking the city. We walked along the picture perfect beach for 3 miles returning to the hostel and along the way stopped at the first Welsh settlers’ caves from 1860s. We ended the night at the Nautica Cantina with the biggest peeled shrimp I have ever seen in my life, fresh salmon in roquefort sauce and wine from “fin del mundo”. It was nice to meet employed people who could afford more than a cheap empanada dinner. My extravagant meal with wine and dessert was still under $15.
I also have to mention this is the best hostel experience I have ever had. Family run and they provide every detail of where to find a bank, slide you into that afternoon rock climbing, where to grab a sandwich on the go, bathrooms always pristine and available, and a warm room. It was Mark, myself and two old ladies in a room and we all went to bed at 1am, slept peacefully the entire night and got up at 6am for breakfast. Splendid!
I met Irma at the diving place a few blocks down from the hostel….it was quite magical walking along the colorful sunrise. We squeezed into these thick wet suits, which I jokingly said made us look like the fat sea lions, especially after eating all kinds of Argentine dulce de leche and other irresistible goodies…maybe I can diet in Chile? We took our private boat out from the beach during sunrise, making frequent stops to watch the whales close to the boat, and then 30 minutes later we arrived at sea lion colony…. Hundreds of them!
All the women and children were frolicking in the water and the males were up on the rock beach marking their territory for mating season. Right away when I jumped in, the sea lions started swarming towards me. I cant believe the agility they have in water…they look so awkward on land! The sea lions stay near the surface so our snorkel gear was perfect for peaking into the shallow waters and watching them dance around. They seemed to be taking turns nudging my leg, nibbling on a flipper and I even got to hold a few babies (which were still practically my size!). This experience tops anything else I have ever done in any other part of the world! This is one of three places where you can swim with sea lions in their natural habitat. The other two places, California and Africa, have shark-infested waters.
Here you can watch when we first jumped in and I’m giggles on the right with about 10 just swimming around me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9a25Qu4rn4
Here I am holding and petting my baby sea lion and passing it off to Irma, who then bites her mask. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_AR7N6eXAs
I was glowing the entire rest of the day after this grand rendezvous. I was high on adrenaline and ready to see more. So I signed up for a tour down through Trelew (where we went to some paleontology museum of dinosaur excavations) and then to Gaiman, a very German town know for the preservation of its architecture of houses, schools, tunnels, etc. It is also where we had the most extravagant “high tea” ever in Casa Gales, where Lady Diana came to have tea. It was accompanied by 4 platters of various cakes and desserts and you can bet that I tried all of them! I washed it down with 3 types of sweet teas and bread with fruity jams. I said I could diet in Chile, right?
I was also the naïve one of the group that got a good laugh out of shaved, running sheep when our car would stop to take a picture of them. I have this silly vision from cartoons of childhood that sheep exists just to stay still eating grass and look fluffy. HA! I was also amazed at cows that were not black and white….in Argentina they are big and brown! Animals were everywhere as far as the eyes could see in all the surrounding fields.
My last day in Puerto Madryn I did a full day excursion to Valdez Peninsula. On our way there we stopped at Doradillo Beach- the place where the whales come up pretty close to the shore because the ocean drops deep really fast. At any given time you can see about 10 whales surfacing the water to breathe, spin circles and clap their hands, flop their tail or even Jump! I have never sat still for so long in one place completely speechless and in awe of nature and animals.
On our tour through the peninsula we saw mainly the big animals- llamas, armadillos of all sizes and ostriches. We took a boat out to the whale’s playground called Puerto Pryamides. Massive whales swam circles around the boat and underneath causing large waves that rocked the boat like Space Mountain at Disney! Everywhere you looked there were whales jumping, flipping their tails in the air, mother and baby swimming by and peaking their noses out of the water.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bCuRNXesGg
We passed by Punta Tomba to see some more sea lions, elephant seals, and few penguins (sadly not penguin season yet). I made it back just in time to catch the night bus back home. Next to me, a Buenos Aires police officer. I felt safe, especially after hearing only horror stories of friends on Peru buses. We watched the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film “The Secret In Their Eyes”. I don't recommend watching it.
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