We left Buenos Aires on an overnight bus to a place called Puerto Madryn, a seaside town known for sea elephants and parasailing. The long-haul busses in Argentina are something to behold; they are double-deckers, and yet they only hold about 40 passengers owing to the extreme luxury each is afforded. They have great names like "Benevolent Luxury-Lord of Patagonia", and "Bronzed and Muscular Captain of the Andes". On the websites they list the maximum angle to which each seat opens. We got the 150 degree seats. Wow. It actually made sleeping on the bus possible! We fell asleep with visions of protractors dancing in our heads.
Not only that, we were lucky enough to get the front row of the second deck, giving us an incredible panoramic view of the highway and scenery, although the scenery was pretty boring for the most part (especially overnight). During the ride, the entire Shakira video library was played for us twice, including remixes and rare early dance routine footage. She is such a ridiculous person. Watching her dance makes me laugh out loud.
Just north of Puerto Madyrn lies the Valdes Peninsula which is all part of a wildlife sanctuary, although the land is privately owned and used as pasture for Merino sheep. Only one sheep per 4 hectares can be supported by the land, so there are not many sheep, and a lot of very dry, sparsely covered land. We took a tour around the peninsula, and saw a bunch of really great stuff, including armadillos, sea lions, sea elephants, Magellanic penguins, and very distant Orca fins. Orcas were feeding off of a point fairly close to the sea lion colony. I secretly wanted to witness a whale tearing a sea lion limb from limb. Don't tell anybody.
We spent the following day on the beach at the foot of town. It was very hot and windy (!!?!), and we got some reading and beer-drinking done under a parasol while our delicate northern skins were sand-blasted and baked by the southern elements. I think that some men shave their legs here for non-athletic reasons, but I'm not sure. More evidence needs to be gathered. Women definitely shave their legs here for non-athletic reasons. Okay, okay... I'll keep gathering evidence.
Jen's highlight of Puerto Madryn (if not the entire trip thus far) was finding really cheap wool! She's starting a sweater made from a nice turquoise Merino/silk blended wool; stay tuned for regular sweater updates. She bought $200 worth of wool (by Canadian standards) for about $20. Our already ridiculous amount of luggage was not made any less voluminous by the huge wool purchase, but it has made Jen so happy... and it's not very heavy wool, but the bonus gift of two Merino sheep has really complicated things.
We left Buenos Aires on an overnight bus to a place called Puerto Madryn, a seaside town known for sea elephants and parasailing. The long-haul busses in Argentina are something to behold; they are double-deckers, and yet they only hold about 40 passengers owing to the extreme luxury each is afforded. They have great names like "Benevolent Luxury-Lord of Patagonia", and "Bronzed and Muscular Captain of the Andes". On the websites they list the maximum angle to which each seat opens. We got the 150 degree seats. Wow. It actually made sleeping on the bus possible! We fell asleep with visions of protractors dancing in our heads.
Not only that, we were lucky enough to get the front row of the second deck, giving us an incredible panoramic view of the highway and scenery, although the scenery was pretty boring for the most part (especially overnight). During the ride, the entire Shakira video library was played for us twice, including remixes and rare early dance routine footage. She is such a ridiculous person. Watching her dance makes me laugh out loud.
Just north of Puerto Madyrn lies the Valdes Peninsula which is all part of a wildlife sanctuary, although the land is privately owned and used as pasture for Merino sheep. Only one sheep per 4 hectares can be supported by the land, so there are not many sheep, and a lot of very dry, sparsely covered land. We took a tour around the peninsula, and saw a bunch of really great stuff, including armadillos, sea lions, sea elephants, Magellanic penguins, and very distant Orca fins. Orcas were feeding off of a point fairly close to the sea lion colony. I secretly wanted to witness a whale tearing a sea lion limb from limb. Don't tell anybody.
We spent the following day on the beach at the foot of town. It was very hot and windy (!!?!), and we got some reading and beer-drinking done under a parasol while our delicate northern skins were sand-blasted and baked by the southern elements. I think that some men shave their legs here for non-athletic reasons, but I'm not sure. More evidence needs to be gathered. Women definitely shave their legs here for non-athletic reasons. Okay, okay... I'll keep gathering evidence.
Jen's highlight of Puerto Madryn (if not the entire trip thus far) was finding really cheap wool! She's starting a sweater made from a nice turquoise Merino/silk blended wool; stay tuned for regular sweater updates. She bought $200 worth of wool (by Canadian standards) for about $20. Our already ridiculous amount of luggage was not made any less voluminous by the huge wool purchase, but it has made Jen so happy... and it's not very heavy wool, but the bonus gift of two Merino sheep has really complicated things.
3 comments:
AHHH!!! JEN!!! AAAAHHHH!!! bring me back some of that, I'll pay you top dollar! Me love you long time! oh wait, what happened there...
but seriously, yeah, yarn. or a whole sheep.
c
We have named the sheep Aaron and Cindy, and they are adapting well to life on the road. But no two sheep could ever match the two of you for combined hairiness...
Are the sheep related to Frank Marino? Wait, no, it's... OK, forget it.
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