Argentina — Page 2

More penguins, a lot more!

November 18, 2009 By Danny

Moving north away from Tierra del Fuego took 32 hours, two buses, a ferry (in which we spotted several dolphins playing in the wake), and two border crossings. When we arrived in Puerto Madryn we were beat. With one week of our Latin American journey remaining we got to quick work despite our exhaustion, partnered up with three other travelers, and rented a car for the next few days so that we could enjoy all the ecology of the area.

With nasty wind coming off the water we decided head south first to the penguin colony at Punta Tombo. Jill and I were still a bit disappointed with our last penguin experience in Tierra del Fuego and since this was a relatively cheap way to get a do-over, we went for it.

After paying the entry fee the guard told us that it would be 1500m to the beach. We figured that wasn’t too long of a walk but as soon as we stepped away from the guard shack we saw our first nesting Magellanic Penguin. Walking along there were literally penguins everywhere, and most shrubs sheltered one or two nests.

November is a special time for the Magellanic Penguins of Patagonia. This is the time of year that the eggs begin to hatch and the young start to be born. Having just seen a bunch of nesting penguins in Tierra del Fuego we were expecting to see a complete lack of activity once again. It was with a bit of surprise when I turned to my left and saw a mother feeding her little chick.

That wouldn’t be the last penguinito we’d see either. As we got further to the beach we found several more little chicks, mostly on account of their nests being in the roped off path. The chicks make a little screeching noise when they want food, and the parent penguins were more than happy to oblige. We knew we’d finally gotten our timing right, when we walked to the beach and saw a bunch of adult penguins played in the surf.

On the way out we passed another nest that was particularly special. This one was just eggs, but one of those eggs was rocking and you could see just a pinprick of a hole in the end facing up. One of the folks we rented the car with is actually a biologist specializing in birds (now that’s some serious luck) and although he professes to not know too much about penguins, he told us that it can often take up to 10 hours for a bird to poke out of its shell. We didn’t have that sort of time, so we decided to leave them with their privacy and continue on our journey.

It’s the end of the world as we know it!

November 17, 2009 By Jillian

You never know where life will take you, if you had asked me three years ago where we’d be spending our third wedding anniversary I’m 100% sure I never would have said the end of the world. And technically we didn’t, we were in Torres del Paine, but given the tent and wind situation, we decided it was better to celebrate it at the end of the world. Funny how things change, for to celebrate our anniversary all I really wanted to do was stay at a nice hotel and have a few days where we’re not “traveling” but rather relaxing like we’re on vacation.

As the main port for Antarctic cruises, Ushuaia was a lot less touristy than we expected. We expected to find Antarctic Disneyworld, but instead we found a very industrial port town with all the graffiti and smells you expect to find in a port city. Of course there was a tourist street with upscale outdoor clothing shops, chocolate shops and travel agencies, but we didn’t have to walk too far to find a cheap hole-in-the-wall empanada place. Yes, everything was more expensive in Ushuaia, but coming from Chile we hardly noticed!

There was nothing we were dying to do in Ushuaia except to go to say we’ve been to the end of the world. Of course there are about 100 different tours and excursions to do from the city, most of which we found to be completely uninteresting. Friends of ours went through Ushuaia last January on their trip around the world, and found an excursion where you go to a penguin colony. That was a little more up our alley than a bus tour of nearby lakes, so we booked the tour thinking we’d be standing on the beach with penguins curiously surrounding us. As our little boat crossed the bay to the penguin’s island, our guide, who was also a biologist gave us a laundry list of rules: don’t touch the penguins, don’t approach the penguins, don’t walk off the marked path, don’t smoke, eat or drink, don’t leave anything behind, well you get the picture. Needless to say I was very excited, thinking that we’d have a chance to sit on the island and allow the penguins to approach us.

This time of year the penguin eggs should be hatching and I definitely expected to see tons of little penguin chicks like in a not-to-be-named recent penguin film, but the weather here has been crazy this year and the penguins are still nesting and finding mates. As we stepped onto the penguin’s island, it was clear our experience was going to be different. A group of about 50 penguins lay on their eggs about 100 yards away, completely uninterested in us. It was clear they weren’t going to be approaching us, especially since the female penguins were playing just off shore. Our disappointment was palpable, in fact one girl in the group declared that it “sucked”.

Continuing around the island, we came across a dead penguin (just what I wanted to see!) that had been nibbled by seals. Gross. Completely disheartened at this point, thinking we’d wasted a good amount of money to see a dead penguin and penguins further away than at the zoo, I followed the group up the hill to what the biologist was calling the “main avenue” of the penguins. Skeptical to say the least, I was shocked when we got to the top of the hill and saw literally hundreds of penguins nesting. A few males lolled about calling for a mate, while others seemed to be frantically trying to build a nest. Not one so much looked in our direction, each was completely focused on his task.

With males still arriving to find a mate, and eggs not yet hatched, the penguin colony is going through a rough year. The biologist told our group that the eggs laid this late in the season have a small chance of surviving to be hatched if the weather quickly reverts back to normal. For about 30 minutes we walked among the nests, watching the males build their structures and even peaked in on a few sitting on their eggs. The penguins literally could have cared less that we were there, in fact as we walked down the hill a penguin came out of her nest to visit with a friend next door. It wasn’t exactly the penguin experience we were looking for, but it was neat to see them nesting and hear the call of the lonely males. Would we do it again? Not so sure, but we’re not too disappointed. Word on the trail is that the penguins can still be found further north….at our next stop, Puerto Madryn. Stay tuned…:)

Foodie Friday- You Thought Airline Food Was Bad

November 13, 2009 By Danny

After spending so many hours this week on a bus we figured it was time to pay a tribute to some of the most…adventurous food we eat on a regular basis. Half of me wants to just put some pictures up and let them speak for themselves but first a little background.

When we started our trip, there was no such thing as bus food. Twice in Mexico we were given a can of soda and a small ham sandwich and were quite beside ourselves with excitement…until we bit into the sandwich…and then were thankful for the soda. Generally the food on the buses in Mexico and especially in Central America (Mexico is in North America…never EVER confuse that) is provided by locals who jump on the bus at every opportunity to sell you whatever it is they might have. If this is fried chicken, it might have been cooked last night. If this is fruit, it might have been cut last week. If this is a soda and a bag of chips you are safe but you can only make so many meals out of soda and a bag of chips. They were either indigenous with a giant food basket or a bit more modern with a special vest that a Delta Force commando might wear to hold all their guns and ammunition…only these people are loaded with sodas and frito-lay products.

We’ve come a long way from this down here in South America. Our last bus was a cama bus, only $3 more than the semi-cama and the hours were a bit better, and this meant that wine (much better for sleeping than a cup of coffee loaded with sugar) was included with dinner. Some of these buses like to play “dinner music” as the meal is served which is generally a mix of bad 80’s music videos. The most recent had Jill offer me (a child of the 80’s) an 80’s themed 30th birthday party if in exchange I would agree to provide the entertainment (with some friends, any volunteers?) for a NKOTB (That’s ‘New Kids on the Block’ for those of you who aren’t in the know) party for her 30th birthday. Assuming I can find 4 other able bodied gentlemen to assist me, each of our 30th birthday’s has been planned.

But really, this is about the food. When we do receive it there is often a “prepackaged” portion which we usually save to eat as breakfast, as well as a “fresh” portion; sometimes cold sometime hot, usually some sort of strange ham/cheese combination, or weird congealed pasta. Sometimes the meal is never identified.

This glacier is actually growing!

November 12, 2009 By Jillian

Two and a half days on a bus from Bariloche and we found ourselves deep in southern Patagonia. Barren plains with wind so strong the double decker bus shook violently with each gust, it wasn’t beautiful to look at in the traditional sense and yet we couldn’t take our eyes off the landscape. Flat and uninviting, you could see the sky for miles, which unfortunately for us, meant seeing the impending storms.

We finally arrived in El Calafate, exhausted, dirty and wanting a good meal. The town basically only exists as a entry point for the Perito Moreno glacier, so its touristy and in our opinion one of the more expensive places in Argentina. Almost everyone whose traveling through Patagonia comes through town to see the glacier, so its a strange mix of tour buses, independent travelers, backpackers and families on vacation. Everyone it seems wants to see the glaciers, and its widely joked that we had better see them now because they won’t be there in forty years. Admittedly I’ve had the same thought.

When we stepped out of the van at the national park and the biting cold and wind hit me, I assumed there was no way the glacier would keep my interest for five hours until the shuttle left for the city. I was wrong. Four years ago we stood on a hiking trail at Mount Rainer swathed in fog unable to see the glacier that was hovering above us, but we could hear it. Thankfully there was a brightly painted sign that we couldn’t miss, even in the fog, telling us to watch for falling rocks and ice from the glacier or we may have been hit by falling debris. To this day I don’t know what that glacier looks like but I’m about 99% positive that its not nearly has huge or impressive as Perito Moreno.

Perito Moreno glacier is enormous and although there are numerous walkways at all different levels, giving you a dozen different views of the glacier, you can’t really get a feel for how large it is. Pieces crack off and crash into the lake, but from the walkways the huge sound doesn’t seem to match the seemingly small piece of ice. That is until a boat pulls along side the glacier and the large ship becomes a small bathtub toy compared to the wall of ice. The glacier is 60m (180 feet) high and according to our brochure 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide. Even staring at it for several hours, its hard to comprehend the size of the glacier.

Perito Moreno is one of the only glaciers in the world growing and its constantly advancing across the lake, some sources say at up to 2m (6 feet) per day. Every few years the glacier connects to the land, but only temporarily, as the water flowing below the glacier eventually cracks the ice and huge chunks float away. Ironically, in a nearby valley is Upsala glacier, the famous “Al Gore” glacier from his “Inconvenient Truth” documentary. Somehow Perito Moreno didn’t make the film. Although the national park that protects Perito Moreno is big on recycling, it is the first place in the country that we’ve seen recycling bins and notices about water usage.

Maybe its ironic to discuss global warming in a post about a glacier that’s growing, and after telling you about all the cold, snowy weather we’ve been traveling in. And yet, every local we meet tells us that this weather is uncommon, that the summer starts later ever year and the winter comes earlier. There’s an awareness that the climate has changed at all levels of society: from the farmer who can’t plant his crops until later in the spring to the families near Cordoba that are right now experiencing a drought so severe that the rivers are drying up. Sitting at the glacier looking up two American girls sat next to us not realizing we spoke their language. Clearly impressed by the size and beauty of the ice, the girls remarked that the glacier was “awesome” and a sight unparallelled so far in their lives. Will their impression of the ice change their habits at home? Probably not, but maybe every once in a while they’ll think about walking to the store instead of driving, or reusing their water bottle instead of buying a new one. Maybe if we all do that these glaciers will still be there for our children.

Overnight buses

November 10, 2009 By Danny

Leaving Bariloche we had a 15 hour to our next stop, Comodoro Ridavia, which we were only stopping in to break up our journey further south, an additional 10 hours in bus the following night. That second bus ride encountered some road work and although we did sleep on the bus, the bus didn’t move between the hours of 9pm and 5am. Thus we began driving around the time we were supposed to arrive. Between these two bus trips and the ensuing 5 hours to reach our actual destination we spent nearly 40 hours in bus over a 48 hour period. This has inspired us to write about our friend, the bus.
We discovered the convenience of the overnight bus on our very first night of this trip where our decision to take the bus was made for us. Since then we’ve come to rely on the overnight bus as the most efficient form of transportation for our time and money. We move while we sleep and don’t have to pay for lodging. At this point, traveling 10 hours during the day is simply unthinkable for us.

At the start, buses were generally what you’d think of if we told you we’d taken a coach bus. Seats 2×2 with a bathroom in back. These were still generally more comfortable than an airplane just on account of legroom. These buses, are called ‘classic’ buses. Now in the far south, we have a few more options. Semi-Cama, Cama, and Super Cama (cama means bed). Semi is still 4 seats to a row, 2×2, but there is a little leg support thing that comes down in front of you to make your chair infinitely more comfortable. Cama is basically the same except there are only three seats to a row, 2×1, and so the seats are much wider and generally do recline a touch further. Super is like flying international first class, the leg support that comes down to give you a lounge chair feel can actually go completely horizontal with the back support nearly hitting 180 degrees as well. This is the ultimate in comfort as you’ve basically got your own bed with a private television.

Which brings us to another great point of these buses, the movies. Countries seem to vary in their preference for watching movies in their original language or dubbed into the local language. Here in Argentina and Chile subtitles seem to win over dubbed films but this is not always a good thing. When we hear English, we can’t seem to pull our attention away. One time we were forced to watch Grease 2 in English, that was hell. We’ve now seen Transporter 3, four times, you’ve probably never seen this movie and believe me…you don’t want to. The movie before bed is often violent and bloody and if it doesn’t involve death it is still generally quite psychologically disturbing. We have seen some great movies though, it is a real shame when some of these are dubbed…like Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire. (I think there were about 5 different voice actors used to cover Robin’s different voices).

The buses here in the south generally include a meal (the topic of our next Foodie Friday) of some kind which is rather good of them. This we did not have until we reached Peru but have come to enjoy not needing to pack food immensely. While these nicer buses have affected our “bus preparation” some the process is generally the same. Leave toothbrush/toothpaste out for use either on bus or immediately before departure along with the neck pillow and earplugs. If the salesperson told us there is a blanket on the bus we’re always sure to check that out before handing our luggage over to the baggage people…we’ve been disappointed in the past. Another thing we always do is to make sure our valuables are below the bus.

This last part generally surprises people but it seems to us the safest way to travel. Every (by every I mean all but one) story we’ve heard about thievery on the buses involves people stealing things out of your hand luggage. If its down below, usually no one is going to touch it. Now, we do generally watch when we make interim stops to make sure that no one walks off with our baggage but this seems to not happen. The one exception we’ve heard to this rule was in Ecuador where we met someone who was robbed by a child who had been packed inside a piece of luggage, under the bus, and left for some hours with intent to rob as many bags as possible. As there is simply no defense for this, we don’t defend for this. This is of course our opinion, but we feel that our things are generally safer under the bus rather than on the shelf above our heads.

Some of our favorite bus stories are not from overnight buses at all though, but daytime buses. There was the ride in Bolivia, 7 hours, where the windshield broke at the start and we continued the whole way as the remaining pieces fell out…all this while a couple of indigenous women decided to play “annoy the gringo” with me and use me as their seat, nice. There was the time in Peru that a baby lamb was on the bus. It defecated in the aisle and I was curious if any veal was going to be served on account of the incident. The same bus trip also featured a small alpaca placed in the luggage compartment, we’ve seen chickens but this was very special. Leaving Argentina for our first entrance in Chile we waited at the border (10,000 feet) with the A/C running for over 4 hours. In Guatemala our bus broke down and the driver only gave each person back enough money to pay for the next bus. When our entire (full) bus jumped on the (full) next bus to pass they didn’t think to take money (this is just how they do it there) as people got on…you can imagine how much fun that ride was. This was also the site of Jill’s first thwarting of an attempted pick pocket.

In truth, traveling in this method really has saved us a load of money and time. In our 8 months of travel we’ve spent approximately an entire month’s worth of nights on a bus, if we had to do all of this during the day we’d see and do less and just be way less happy. Now in the south these buses are incredibly comfortable but even where there was no bed seating they were still always good enough. Our next voyage will be to Africa so our last night bus in Argentina will probably be our last overnight bus for a while!

More penguins, a lot more!

It’s the end of the world as we know it!

Foodie Friday- You Thought Airline Food Was Bad

This glacier is actually growing!

Overnight buses

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