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Part 1 of 3: Puerto Madryn in the PM
It is one week before my birthday and I truly don’t feel it. Typically, as you probably know, I am doing a happy dance and grinning from ear to ear starting the first of October in anticipation. I like birthdays: the desserts, the celebration, the selfishness of it all. So, why now am I not flying high as per usual?
I think it has a lot to do with my location. 5,000 miles is a long way to be from the people I love. My favorite part about birthdays, I’m realizing, is that I get to hang out with my loved ones. They come, or I go and we celebrate together another year in each others’ lives. This year, I won’t get to hug my parents, body slam my sisters or kiss my dogs. I’ve decided it’s okay that this year is not about me, but mark your calendars for October 10, 2012 because I’m throwing a party.
My “spring” break trip was scheduled for Puerto Madryn and El Calafate. The bus, of course, was 30 minutes late, but we were just happy to be on our way. Traveling semi-cama style, we had at our disposal reclining seats and a large, flat foot rest.
Yes, Sarah, I was too long for it and kept having to scoot up to uncurl my legs, but that didn’t stop me from sleeping for a solid 8.5 hours. I didn’t miss much of the 22+ hour ride, though. Fortunately, I had a good book and they showed 4 movies (some dubbed in Spanish, some just with subtitles). Hocus Pocus came on and I was thrilled! Nothing jump starts the Halloween season like that classic.
In the morning, I was awakened by the bus pulling over to the one building for as far as I could see. I exited the bus to stretch and squinted into the morning sun. The bus behind me and the restaurant in front of me, I could see for miles and miles both to my left and right. The land is flat and covered in an unwelcoming prickly brush. Still mildly delirious from just waking up, I walked into the restaurant and stood in line behind the other passengers. I think it’s my Penn State instinct to get into the line before you actually figure out what it’s for. A pleasant surprise - it was cafe con leche y medialunas for breakfast. The driver, who heard us chatting on the way into the restroom gave us a meek “good morning”, and on the way out, was thrilled when we praised his English.
5 hours later our bus pulled over again, but this time, it pulled next to 2 men in pistachio colored uniforms. The were holding the leash to an official looking dog. Within minutes, the 2 men and dog had search and sniffed the whole bus for suspicious packages. I suppose they were looking for drugs, but I don’t really know because no one had any contraband items.
A couple of minutes later we were back on the direct, flat road headed farther south.
2 hours later than expected, we finally arrived in Puerto Madryn. We walked the block from the bus to the hostel. This place was the homiest hostel I’ve ever experienced. There was always someone cooking in the kitchen, so it smelled great constantly. Our room has 2 bathrooms and 2 extra bunks. The first was occupied by a guy from Chicago and the next a chap from London. The next night it changed to a newly graduated guy from Holland and a quiet girl from France. Even they think our Spanish is laughable and prefer to communicate with ease in English. I rarely practiced my Spanish on this trip.
Our first full day of vacation entailed sea kayaking in the bay. I was excited to stretch my muscles after the lazy bus ride. Thankfully, our tour guide provided us with all of the appropriate equipment to fight the cold and stay semi-dry. It was probably in the 50’s, but being by the water made it seem so much colder.
We wore special booties, spray skirts, and life jackets. Many layers of tops helped for my lack of pants (see pictures... Or don’t.). It was Sunday, not Thursday, but Eloise, our guide, suggested I wear only my leggings as opposed to my leggings and jeans combo.
So there I was, in my guchies paddling away in this kayak in the massive Atlantic Ocean.
(PS, I’m depositing Eloise in the Popovich Girl Baby Name Bank.)
Apparently, we were incredibly lucky to have witnessed the diversity of wildlife on the trip. We saw whales jumping farther out in the bay and many mother/child pairs by the shore. Oh yes, I was in the water with HUGE whales less than a volleyball court away. Dangerous, you ask? Yes, but my guide was really clear about when it was time to stop and take pictures and when it was time to paddle away at full speed. At no time throughout the day did I feel unsafe. At first, I was like woah. But, then I felt relaxed by their presence.
After passing 4-5 couples, we saw a huge flock of what I though were penguins, but were actually black and white birds resembling penguins. All but 2 took off from their perch as we passed. The stragglers looked around like - what happened, what happened?
We rounded a sharp edge of the rocky shore to find a pack/pride/group of sea lions. Oh wait, I think it’s a colony.
The one clear male was barking at us and nuzzled one of the females off the rock to go investigate. She approached us swimming just under the surface of the blue-green water, popped her head out and looked at us. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she raised an eyebrow and asked, “friend or foe?”
I guess we passed the because we paddled within 10 feet of the rock with little protest from the rest of the gang. Noticing their was another island a bit farther down, I steered the boat to pay a visit. We didn’t need to get close, they came to meet us! They were the most playful creatures I have ever seen (not including my dogs). They would swim over to the boat, pick their head up to look at us, then do a little flip out of the water. They always checked back in to see if we were still watching. One actually hit our kayak while flipping. They chased us around the bay and were sad to see us go.
Scaring the birds away again, we rounded the bend to see a pod of whales in the bay resting and one flipping like crazy. We pulled off to the side and had our picnic lunch (sandwiches, fruit and tea). It was delightful even before the baby and mama decided to slowly cross the shore in the gently lapping waves.
We were astounded and our tour guide was, too. How was it that I could be in that exact place at that exact moment and experience something so big and powerful in such close proximity? I felt not like I was imposing, but like I was apart of something real and something natural. Except for far off boats, I didn’t see one other person (besides my group) the entire time I was on the water. It was truly the most incredible experience of my life.
Realizing that we wouldn’t be able to top the whales, we took the next day off and hung out by the beach. We walked along the bay (in town) and took silly pictures by the water. We stopped to eat ice cream and empty the sand from our sneakers.
We had a picnic lunch at a random shrine. Leftover carrots and bread.. Mmmmm......
Haha you were too long.
ReplyDeleteLove the baby name bank. You'll thank me one day.