Vacation Saga Part I

Let’s BeBop! Well, here it is. Whirlwind blogging. I currently write from the Trelew airport, waiting for my flight back to Buenos Aires where I will pick up GRACE and voyage madly. Here’s what went down so far: -Mama Roja wrap up. I’m not blogging about that because I think it would make trivial something that was incredibly powerful and moving. Let’s just say that I have never cried so much about “heart spiders” or had so many friendship bracelets burned onto my wrist in one day. Maybe as I start to look back at this, I’ll process things I want to share, but for now I need to focus on not going crazy with missing people/this weirdo life I’ve led for 3 months. -Meghan, Danielle, and I head to Buenos Aires on the most deluxe bus ever. Meals, movies, snacks, coffee, dulce de leche, you name it. Plus a pillow, blanket, and personal curtain. Worth it. After booking our hostel via bus wifi, we drop our stuff off and head to Siga la Vaca. Danielle’s system promptly decides she needs to be on her death bed and she spent some quality time with certain trash bins all over Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, I ate about 1,000 pounds of meat and even ate some pork that I liked. Meghan and I drank an interesting quantity of wine and also ate a “chocolate volcano” and “cheesecake” which we referred to as “cheeseflan.” The next day I went to the Recoleta cemetery. Pretty cool and gave me some ideas for my burial (tall pole with a tiny ship on top). Then, I met up with M&D and went to a place I saw called Be Frika where we ate…SALADS. This was pretty shocking. Also, fruit smoothies. Crazy. After that I peaced myself out of there, caught a taxi to the airport with a guy we met from the UK and flew to Trelew.

-By flew to Trelew I mean I sat in the airport for multiple hours during the delay and got in after midnight. There was a shuttle to Puerto Madryn, a few hours of sleep and then up early the next day to see…PENGUINS AND DOLPHINS!!! I went with a couple girls from Holland and a lady from Wales. Here’s the lowdown on the dolphins at Playa Union. Not so big, those ones. They’re black and white Commerson’s dolphins. They liked to swim under the front of the boat like they were racing it. We also saw sea lions and various birds and shrimp boats. Then we headed further south to Punta Tombo which is the largest colony of Magellanic penguins. They’re little guys. Probably came to my knee-ish. No bonding allowed, however, as they a) are probably damn tired of a million tourists tromping through their habitat snapping photos of them and b) they have veeeery sharp beaks. In fact, there is an ambulance permanently stationed at the entrance for those who don’t respect the penguins and learn the hard way. It’s their birthing season so we got to see eggs, babies, and adults. They were everywhere. The surprising thing was the climate…I always thought penguins lived on icebergs and such, but it was hot there. Upper 80’s lower 90’s hot. And it was sandy and scrubby…not unlike parts of Idaho. A 3 hour drive later and we were back in Puerto Madryn and I was packing for my bus.

-I bussed that evening to Trelew and then from their to the Welsh immigrant town of Gaiman. For those of you who don’t know about the Welsh, I’ll explain a little about how they spell things. Basically, centuries ago, people got greedy about vowels. Very greedy. So greedy in fact, that they hoarded almost all of the vowels and smuggled them out to other lands…like Hawaii. The people revolted. There was mass chaos in the streets because there were no vowels anymore, really, and the ones to be had were exorbitantly priced. So the overlords got together to try to figure out how to calm the uprising and they came up with 7-for-1. For every one vowel a person has, they get 7 consonants for free. This served its purpose. The people were satisfied and felt even a little indulgent and so began flinging extra consonants everywhere. It should come as no surprise that the name of the b&b I stayed at was Yr Hen Ffordd. I HIGHLY recommend this place. One of the oldest buildings in town on the oldest street in town. While there I visited some Welsh chapels (closed, therefore boring), visited the first house (coal-powered iron, anyone?), and ate the best pasta of my life. Gnocchi stuffed with plum, pancetta, and walnut in an onion, pancetta, tomato, cheese, cream sauce. I accidentally almost died. I also went to a Welsh tea house and ate way too many tea cakes and black tea. Yikes. All in all, I feel that I honored my Welsh heritage, even in poking fun at it. I rolled onto the plane to head back to B.A.

-In B.A., reunited with Meghan, we went with our new Italian friend to the Sunday San Telmo market. It was pretty cool and I carved my name into the table at Plaza Dorrego Bar. Then I picked up a lost Grace from the bus station and we all took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. It’s a small town with cobbled streets and lovely old architecture and a UNESCO world heritage site. We saw the lighthouse, old buildings, went to the beach, and flung ourselves into the laguna off of rope swings. We ate some delicious foods, like a chocolate/dulce de leche cake. Our last night, Grace and I decided to try the typical Uruguayan sandwich called “chivito.” At the restaurant we went to, this “sandwich” is the size of a prairie wagon and consists of steak meat, ham, cheese, and fried eggs on top. We ate about 20% of it and then asked for a box. Somehow, after this, it still seemed like a good idea to go to a tiny wine and cheese bar we had seen earlier. I think it was just to sweet to resist. Tucked in a little wall on “Street of Sighs” (translation) with only about 4 tables, we ordered one of the “smaller” plates and a week later I still haven’t finished digesting it. Which is why the 6:45 a.m. bus to Montevideo the next morning was so awesome, especially on 3 hours of sleep. Yet, somehow we made it to Montevideo without barfing and flew to El Calafate.

-El Calafate ended up being my favorite place. After 3 months of jungle heat, the cool, brisk wind of El Calafate was like electricity. The hostel we had tried to book was full, but they directed us to their sister hostel which was cheaper and just as great. We checked in, cooked some gluten-free spaghetti with veggie sauce, and then discovered the devastating news that the trek-on-the-ice tour was booked for the next day. TO BE CONTINUED