Argentina: Puerto San Julian-Buenos Aires

~31st January 2019~

Leaving El Chalten with a heavy heart as we drove away from one of the most identifiable mountain range. While looking longingly towards the mountain, I was thinking of how I could spend a couple of months here without spending my entire savings.

We had a few camping nights to look forward to before we reach Buenos Aires. It was a long drive before we reached a nice seaside town, Puerto San Julian, where we camped in a municipal campsite. It’s a cute little place with a beach and a promenade for walking and jogging. It was pretty much dinner, sleep, breakfast and on the road again.

~1st February 2019~

Long drive days are a killer to the body, so most people tend to just sleep or unintentionally dozed off. The next municipal campsite was in Camarones, a relatively long drive and I can see that everyone was getting a bit tired it. Overlanding with a large group of people was becoming my least favourite things to do.

Once we were at the campsite, it was routine to put up the tent then dinner and bed. There was excitement in the air that night because we’ll be visiting a penguin colony the next day before we head over to Puerto Madryn.

~2nd February 2019~

Breakfast was nice and early so that we were ready when the guide for the penguin colony arrived. The guide was a nice lady looked like she’s near retirement or retired and decided to educate people about the penguin colony as a guide. She spoke Spanish only, so Oli did the translating for us with Kylie helping from the truck cab.

The colony lives within a protected national park for wildlife like guanacos, hares, armadillos, rheas and many others apart from the penguins. There were broadwalks where the penguins lives, allowing visitors to get closer to them without getting in their way of life.

The penguins are cute and seemed so familiar with the presence of people around them. They just get on with their daily grind of digging out a home, protecting it and waddle to the beach to go fishing for food. We stayed there a while, enjoying the wildlife around us, the walk and being out of the truck.

On the way back, we were able to sit on the roof seats again to enjoy the surroundings. It was great to see people in other vehicles that passed us waving and looking in amazement of the truck. We dropped the guide back at the campsite and continue with our journey to northwards to Puerto Madryn.

We visited the travel agency on the way into town and arranged activities for the next day. It’s a large seaside town with everything you expect such as restaurants, ice cream stalls, beach bars, travel agencies, beach sports and a lot of people.

It was quite late and dinner was cooked in the dark so was putting up the tent. I saw that the campsite was busy and there were a couple of mini parties going on, I kinda knew it was going to be a restless night.

~3rd February 2019~

The campsite is on the edge of town so I thought it’ll be a bit quieter, nope! That didn’t help when people partying till the early morning on the campsite with no rules visible for partying till late night.

Most of us are heading off to do snorkelling to see the sea lions. The tour office kitted is out with two layers of wetsuits that seemed too tight and wet shoes. We were led out o the office towards the beach to board the boat used to take us out to sea. It didn’t take us long to get to the location where the sea lions were but still, a few people were getting a bit sick from the motion of the boat.

We were further kitted out with hoods, fins and snorkels before jumping into the water. It was great to be so close to the sea lions but none were interested in playing that day. Instead, they were just lounging on the rock sunbathing and stretching out to chill. The sea was a bit rough that morning and even though I know I can swim pretty well with fins, I was staying near the guides and floats.

On the way back, there were some green faces that looked like they were ready to empty their stomach at any time and one finally did when we were back on the beach. It was then a race to get the wetsuits off so that we could go to the loo. What a relieve to make it?!

The rest of the day was just chilling out with few people lunching and bar hopping. We met a lovely artist backpacking with a puppy, looking for a ride out of town so that she could hitchhike to Buenos Aires. I knew the answer would be no on our truck for many reasons yet some thought it would be possible. I saw the disappointment in her face when she was given a no on the lift out of town.

The truck was broken into when it was parked at a supermarket for cook group shopping. One of the bags got stolen was mine with laptop and money in it. It was fortunate that someone saw what was happening and called the police. The thieves didn’t manage to go through any of my stuff so everything was still in the bag. I’ve learnt a few things from this incident about myself and a few other facts that I have to keep in mind for the rest of the trip.

~4th February 2019~

We’re camping for the last night for this leg of the trip from Santiago to Buenos Aires then hotel in the city where the next trip starts for Rio de Janeiro. It was the usual routine in the morning, all packed and hit the road for a long drive day.

Our campsite for the night was in Bahía Blanca en route to Buenos Aires. The campsite with a pool but the facilities would make you cringe, that’s how I remembered it. Oh…I was more than happy to skip the shower when I peeked at the cubicle.

For the first time I felt like I’m supposed to be somewhere else doing something else. Restless, that’s the word. I’m restless and the world around me suddenly felt foreign because there’s no purpose of me being there. Made me think and force me to focus on why I’m on this trip in the first place.

After a quiet evening to myself, tiredness seeped in and I fell asleep like a baby. My brain probably had enough by then.

~5th February 2019~

Buenos Aires, this was the first time I was looking forward to a city. Perhaps it’s a transition between two trips which will give me time to get my head together before the start of the trip to Rio de Janeiro.

Another long drive day and we were all too familiar with the routine stops for loos and refreshments. When we reached the city, everyone was happy to be checking in to a hotel to recoup from all the camping we did. Roomie with Emma, finishing the trip how we started by sharing a room.

Dee, Emma and I went out for a simple dinner that night then back to the hotel for a good night sleep.

~6th-8th February 2019~

There were a few things I needed to do in BA before we start heading to Uruguay. First thing first was to get my yellow fever vaccination for Brazil then see the city. It was easy enough to get it but the language barrier made it a bit tricky.

So, I went to the clinic early in the morning on the 6th and they told me I must have a prescription from the doctor. They recommended a doctor for me, gave me the wrong address and direction but lucky that I managed to find it. I had to pay for the prescription and it was still cheaper than getting it in the UK. When I went back to the clinic with the prescription, they told me I had to come back the next day midday for the jab. So I went back, paid a small charge and all done within 15mins.

The rest of the time in BA was spent exploring and scheming to do ‘not touristy’ things, which was hard. Walking around the different sectors in the city to get a feel of the cultures and history. To start was a free walking tour after visiting the clinic, then I was looking for something fun to do to end this spell of being tired of cities. Since I had to be back at the clinic at a certain for my jab, I planned to go to Recoleta cemetery and do a fun task of finding and taking photos with cartoon characters around Puerto Madero area.

On the way to the cemetery there is a beautiful bookstore on Av Santa Fe called El Ateneo Grand Splendid that certainly worth visiting. A converted theatre with its stage is now a coffee shop, the features preserved and lined with bookshelves. There was still a feel of the grandeur of a theatre but a bit less than I expected. Now Recoleta cemetery is one impressive place to visit. I love cemetery for its peacefulness (apart from the tourists) and it reminds me how fragile and temporary life is.

I appreciate the present because I knew death from a young age and the Ripper felt like an angel looking after me since father passed away. My closeness with death at times is questionable but the introversion reflective state of mind helped me stay in the present, appreciating the moments I have and live the life. I was wondering whether the feeling of contentment and fulfilled life might be temporary and it’ll just dissipate as I travelled the continent. It didn’t happen. Being in the cemetery reinforced that and if the Ripper decides that it’s my time to go then it’s time to go, hopefully in a peaceful state as father did years ago.

It was a nice stroll from the cemetery to Retiro area and back to the clinic before going off on a hunt for cartoon characters. When I crossed the bridge to port area, the scenery reminded me of Dublin with new buildings lining the canal. Once I found the first cartoon character, it was the thrill of the chase for the rest of them that kept me going. It was a fun non-touristy thing to do, something different from the normal sight-seeing and I have photo evidence of it all!

Buenos Aires…saying goodbye to some of the quirkiest people I’ve ever met and the start of the last leg of this journey around Latin America. Travelling with 22 other people taught me a lot about myself and behaviour in general. BA to Rio, there were 13 of us plus Kylie and Steve (Lewis left us for Santiago to do another trip to Ushuaia). The dynamic changed again with people leaving and joining the group.

Next stop, Colonia where we crossed the border to Uruguay.