Argentina – my next home

I apologised for the lack of blog updates due to Christmas and New Year and this one will start off no different but for lots of different reasons, which I’ll go into now…

After NYE we allowed ourselves a day to recover, pack and get a bus to Patagonia. I don’t know why people to do it, we’ve all done it but we’ve gone on holidays whether it’s for a week or 6 months in our case but everyone ends up flocking to a British bar or having a fry up, we and I say this hand on heart have not done either.

We have however, visited the home of our ancestors. History lesson coming up…

In the 1800’s hundreds of people from Wales upped and left in sight of a new home, tired of all the Rhondda boys driving around in their BMW’s and the shitty weather. When they got there they set up farms and established two villages called Gaiman and Trelew, with Trelew being the key city for sale of the crops that the famers had for sale.

(This is not exactly what happened but you get the idea…)

We had to get a bus to Trelew and then get another bus to Gaiman to experience the full Welsh atmosphere. We were told that Gaiman was the “welshest” of the two towns. When we got to Trelew it must have been around 35 degrees.  I tell you if our ancestors got there in the summer they’d have been back on their boat sailing back home, unless they were from the Rhondda then they’d have had their tops off by the time the boat had docked!  We had 30mins before the next bus to Gaiman so we thought we’d have a quick tour of the town and as we’d been told, there were welsh flags everywhere, even the streets had welsh names…

After getting the bus to Gaiman we expected a living version of St Fagan’s but sadly this wasn’t the case. In fact we got more a deserted town with tumbleweed. Fortunately for us, one of the welsh tea shops was advertised as being open and after a 1mile walk down a narrow lane being chased by dogs we arrived at “Te Ty Caerdydd”.  Marvellous I thought, there we were sporting our new Welsh tops proud as punch their going to love us. I imagined them saying –

“Come on in Rich, have a sit down. We heard that you may be coming. Do you want a welsh cake?”

Sadly this wasn’t to be the case, in fact all we got off the woman at first was a bit of a grunt and that it was going to cost £15 for afternoon tea. Anyway not to let this deter us we sat down and the woman came over, looked at us like we were eejits for wearing our welsh tops and took our order for two afternoon teas, then told us that the toilet was through the corridor and we might want to go and wash our hands – it was exactly like being at home!

Anyway as much tea and cake was brought out to us while we sat there staring at the surroundings. Lady Di had visited there in 1995 (a good job as Leah said because she wouldn’t be going there a few years later) and since then the place had become a shrine to her.  The exact tea cup that she’d used was stored in a cabinet for all to see, along with the napkins she’d used and the toilet seat she’d put her royal arse on. After a while, I was full and the creepy ness of the place got to us and we needed to head back to our hostel with full bellies (and a doggy bag of cakes).

To get to these villages we decided to stay in a little place called Puerto Madryn which would be our base for the few days we were down on the east coast of Argentina. When we got there early in the morning, the staff were really helpful and told us about all the different tours that we could do, from penguin watching to whale spotting. The woman was busy explaining that there was a colony of over a million penguins just around the corner but if we wanted to see them we needed to be quick as they were going to leave to go to Brazil to follow their food. Leah kept her mouth shut and was overwhelmed with all the information, when the woman finished Leah asked the infamous question:

“How do they get all the way to Brazil? Its miles away…”

When we explained to her that they swam, she couldn’t get over it, but it left a lasting impression with the woman on reception and Dave, one of the lads that we’d been traveling with since Christmas. Once she’d pulled herself together, the woman explained that we were outside of whale watching season but people had been fortunate to see them the day before and baring a huge storm then we were most likely to see them. After we returned from Gaiman and Trelew we went to get some food and a birthday card for Dave (everyone should have a birthday card on their birthday! – shouldn’t they?) The skies opened and the biggest storm the area has seen for a while come in and cut off the power. (We were told that night that they only have 6 days of rain a year and we were there for one of them!) This didn’t bode well for the next day but we went to bed excited about seeing penguins, seals, sea lions and whales.

We got up early to a dry town so it was on with our best summer wear as we’d been told it was always boiling hot after a storm. Our bus picked us up and we were off full of anticipation of the day ahead. I’m not the best first thing in the morning and neither is Leah, in fact until I lived with Leah I didn’t realise how tired someone could be in the morning. So there we are, sat on the bus going to pick up the next lot of whale spotters and something catches my eye. I did the usual double blink, rubbed my eyes and took a second look. I wasn’t hallucinating it really was a dog standing on the roof of a car, happy as Larry as the car passed the bus we were travelling in, doing at least 30mph! As you may know Leah is dog mad and so was Dave and they were hysterical when I pointed it out to them. I think if you were to ask Leah the favourite thing she’d seen so far this would be at the top of the list!

After we got to the first stop with the elephant seals it became quickly apparent that we’d chosen the wrong clothes for the day, trousers, jumpers and coats would have been a better option. Not to be deterred we stayed out in the freezing cold to see the seals wriggling along the beach and grunt at each other, after turning a dark shade of blue we decided that it would be better to move on to see the penguins, which for me were the highlight of the day.

After the penguin stop it was off to find some whales. We got to the harbour to get the necessary lifejackets on, when the woman who would be taking us out looked at Leah and I she asked us if we had any more clothes – now my father never said to me:

“You’re not going out dressed like that are you?”

However, if he ever did then I’m sure I would feel like we did in front of this woman. She was a kind soul and went and got Leah a nice little waterproof and warm jacket. While she was away I’d spotted a North Face jacket about my size sat on the back of a chair in the office and thought that my luck was in. How wrong could I be? Instead she gave me this giant size piece of orange tarpaulin that you could use to cover a garage roof. As she handed it to me she said “and here’s your cape…” A cape? A fucking cape? Now, Batman has a cape he uses it to fly, that’s cool, as does Superman. This was a piece of orange plastic that made me look like I’d been tango’d and not a super hero.

Anyway after the embarrassment of having to get on a boat with my orange cape with people pointing and laughing we set off to find the whales. It wasn’t what you could call an easy trip out to the open seas, in fact at times it resembled a sea saw! We’d gone from being blue in the morning to green but once we were out in quiet waters, it cooled down and we returned to our normal colour (and me with the orange cape) after an hour out at sea we saw a few penguins and a few seals, but not a whale in sight which was a little disappointing. So if you’re ever going there to see whales pray that a storm doesn’t happen the day you get there!

After returning to our hostel we made it straight to the bus terminal to get the overnight to a place called Bariloche, on the east coast of Patagonia’s lake district.  We’d been told that Bariloche was stunning but nothing actually prepared us for what we were to see the next morning.

Bariloche is a little town on the edge of a huge fresh water lake and is the biggest city within Argentina’s Lake District; it was founded by the Swiss and therefore resembles an alpine town, which included all the good and bad things of an alpine village. (Good: Chocolate – lots of it and Bad: Fondue…) In fact in the winter it’s Argentina’s main ski resort.

We’d heard about a hostel in Bariloche from a few lads that we’d met en route and they said that in the 6 months that they’d been travelling it was the best hostel that they’d stayed in. It’s pretty exclusive to get into, they’re not online and they don’t accept email bookings so all we could do was rock up and see if they had any space for us. Rather than me come along and look all awkward, we decided that it would be better if I was left to look after the bags in a café while Leah went off to sort it out. During the time Leah was out I’d made friends with the café owner Hernandez and when Leah returned in a bath of sweat after walking miles I was stood behind the counter eating ice cream and fixing Hernandez’s wireless internet.

The hostel is called 1004 and is the only hostel that we’ve ever felt comfy, check out these photos and the view from the balcony, all for only £10 a night!

In 6 weeks I’d not been cycling once and it was starting to get to me and Leah even more! There were hundreds of cycle rental companies around so I went off in search of a decent chap that I was prepared to hand my money over to. We ended up finding a chap called Daniel who was about the same size as me and was a proper cycling nut, after 10mins we’d agreed on 6 hours cycling taking in some of the best tracks that the Andes had to offer and using his bike rather than the shitty rental ones he gave out to everyone else. I was now like a kid waiting for Santa to come, how would I (and Leah) manage the next day?

To keep my child like mind occupied, we went Kayaking on some of the fresh water lakes which was brilliant fun, I was of course captain of the kayak with Leah in front doing all the hard work (Boys – something I’ve picked up from the South American men. You should try it?!) The guys organising it were awesome, they took us out on to the lake and at ½ way we stopped and had mate, tea and medialunas!

One thing that’s been bugging us since we got to South America is that they don’t call croissants, croissants they’re called medi lunas and it took Leah ages to figure out why. For those of you that don’t speak Spanish, let me explain – ‘media’ is Spanish for half and ‘luna’ is Spanish for moon, so ½ moon! Clever hey…? Well the best medialunas we’ve had have been in Bariloche so we were over the moon (Excuse the pun…) when they pulled out a bag of them and if you don’t know what mate is Google it…

On our way back in the Kayaks we were talking to one of the guides and he was telling us about a local restaurant that does the best food and does a different special  each day, todays was lasagne. When Leah heard this, she was nearly in the water with excitement. Yes – she loves lasagne too!

Anyway after being dropped off at the hostel we had a quick shower and a chill out and got there before 8.30 the time that guy told us to get there. We walked in to an already busy restaurant full of locals, our food arrived fairly quickly and the guy wasn’t lying that the food was good, in fact it was the best food we’d had in Bariloche yet (probably because I’d been doing the cooking..)

Though one thing I can’t understand is the South American’s fascination with ham and cheese, you get it with everything. Every sandwich is ham, ham and cheese, ham, cheese and tomato the list goes on but Leah’s beef lasagne also had ham and cheese in it! How bizarre…

Anyway, we pay the bill which was something ridiculous like £15 for the pair of us we leave a tidy tip and then walk out to find the restaurant rammed around us and over 50 people queuing outside! Including the Kayak guy, who was at the back of the queue and wasn’t going to be eating before 11 that night. I’ve never felt so many people staring at me with disgust and impatience!

So, if you’re ever in Bariloche, please try out La Fonda Del Tio and try the Lasagne on a Friday or the Chicken Milanesa and if you’re names not Gavin Roberts don’t bother trying the full size Milanesa, just have the half (oh yeah and get there before 8.30pm)

Boring cycling talk coming up ….

The next day’s cycling was awesome, we took in some huge climbs, and we climbed over a 1000meters in the first hour! Saw some brilliant sights, rode some different terrain that I’m not use to and I only fell off once!

Some photos of my day out…

Cycling talk over…

Leah enjoyed her day at the beach too if you were wondering!

We’ve been away from home for over 2 months, visited four countries and tens of different places but Bariloche is the only place that I can safely say that I could live. I said this to the guys that we were kayaking with and their response was that if I could live there for a full year taking in their winter when it rains for 2 months constantly then I could pass as a resident. 2 months of rain? That’s nothing is it compared with Wales????

After our spell in Bariloche it was time to buy some chocolate from the numerous chocolate shops, some as big as a Tesco to help our 24 hour bus journey back to Buenos Aires, where we would be flying to Bolivia for 2 weeks.

Not only did I love Bariloche but I loved Argentina, yes I took a few days to get into Buenos Aires but in the end I got to love it too. The steaks, the beer, the cycling and the views of Bariloche, I’d be quite happy to be stuck at a desk looking out at some of those views!

With all the stuff that I’ve mentioned above you can see why we’ve not had time to sit down and write about what we’ve been up to!

Next up my review of Bolivia, not quite sure what to expect yet, we’ve been at altitude already so don’t expect to be too shocked in what it can throw at us. I expect it’ll be very similar to Peru and like Leah keeps saying:

“It’s proper South America….”