Penguins!!

Wednesday afternoon in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Two o´clock is right around the corner which means the entire city will shut down leaving nothing open except, if I´m lucky, this internet cafe and a fast food place called Mostaza. More than any other country we have visited, Argentina adheres strictly to the siesta schedule. The small stores along the beachfront street that sell souveniers and excursions to Peninsula Valdes are in the habit of posting a hand scribbled note on their doors noting the hour at which the shop will reopen for business (usually 5 or 6 in the evening) but when the specified hour rolls around, inevitably the store will remain closed until the employees show up sometimes hours late. Brad and I have begun to accept tardiness and we´re trying really hard to adjust to this, in my North American mind, ridiculously impractical schedule. Showing up at 9am to open the store, then taking a 3 or 4 hour break in the middle of the afternoon only to return to work until late in the evening seems like a funny business model. I would much prefer to get all of my work done during the day so that I could go home at night and enjoy my entire evening free. But of course, that´s just me, and Argentina has a very different view of the workday. So here we are at 2pm, getting ready to wait out the afternoon on the beach or perhaps eating softserve ice cream at Mostaza!

Going back a few weeks: After we spent a night in Punta Arenas, Chile, we caught a bus 12 hours south to Ushuaia. In order to arrive in Ushuaia, we had to cross the Straight of Magellan on a ferry to land on the island of Tierra del Fuego. It was a windy, rainy day and we watched black and white Commerson´s dolphins chase the wake of the ferry as we were blown across the famous waterway. The bus continued through a surprising and snowy mountain range which opened up onto the Beagle channel (named after the boat on which Darwin travelled) and the small, hilly city at the end of the world, Ushuaia. Given the blustery weather on the day we arrived, Brad and I wisely decided to stay in a hostel in town, which broke our 22 night streak of sleeping in a tent. It was a bit of shock to sleep in a bed and I could hardly sleep because it was so hot in the heated dorm room compared to the tent! After 2 nights in hostels and taking advantage of being able to use a kitchen to cook a delayed Valentine´s day feast (we spent the real Valentine´s day on the 12 hour bus ride), we moved out of town 3 km to a lovely campground surrounded by maroon colored lupin at the base of a ski run. We did a short hike out to a glacier that the campground host correctly described as nonexistant compared to Perito Moreno and Glacier Grey! It was a beautiful hike, though, with panoramic views down the valley to the Beagle Channel and Ushuaia. It was definitely nice to get out of the touristy center of Ushuaia that seems always to be crawling with older, rich people just in town from the cruise ships long enough to purchase outrageously priced outdoor gear and trinkets and chocolates from the boutique shops. Although the weather improved to reveal pristine blue skies and sunshine until almost 10pm for a couple of days, the wind was still brisk and Brad and I decided it was time to make the big turnaround and for the first time in months, head north.

After busing it 34 hours farther north, though technically we are still in Patagonia, Puerto Madryn, where we have been for 5 days, feels like a tropical paradise compared to Tierra del Fuego. We have enjoyed several days of very warm, though still windy, weather and sun that doesn´t just shine, it actually warms you up too! On Monday we took a tour out to the Peninsula Valdes, which is a protected area teeming with sea lions, sea elephants, penguins, armadillos, guanacos, and whales (though we didn´t see any). I was very excited to finally see some penguins waddling around the beaches and some of them even seemed to mug for my very eager camera! Also in Puerto Madryn, we spent a really great day with some friends, Gonzalo, Luciana, Cynthia and Inés. We had met Gon and Luciana in Washington last summer when we attempted to climb Mt. St. Helens together. They work in marine life research here in Puerto Madryn and we have been looking forward to contacting them for months. They took us to a fun restaurant for beers one night and then helped us get our hands on some bikes so we could all ride out of town to Punta Lomo, a sea lion colony, and some beaches with beautiful deserty backdrops and blue green water. It was a great chance to get out of the city and to practice our Spanish!

Tonight, we are scheduled to take a bus up north to the city of Bahía Blanca, a scant 9 hours of bus time. From there we will decide if we want to visit the mountain town of Sierra de la Ventana or the beach town of Monte Hermosa. When we leave Puerto Madryn we will be out of the Patagonia region for good, heading north for warmer days and sadly, less daylight. At this point in our trip we are going toward Buenos Aires where we will stay with Meghan, our good friend from Portland! I am looking forward to it so much that it is almost hard to want to stop between here and there. Hopefully we will be able to post some pictures from BA if we can find a good internet connection and a few hours to spare! That´s all for now.
Love, Anika