Feb 28, 2013 - Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Feb. 28, 2013 Puerto Madryn, Argentina We ordered breakfast in our cabin so we could be off the ship for our 2.5 hour ride to Punta Tombo to see the Magellanic pinquins. Again, the tour guide on the bus gave an informative non-stop talk about the history of Patagonia Province, the native people, politics, economics and family life as well as information on the pinquins at the Punta Tombo colony. There are 1 million breeding adults, 300 thousand juveniles and 1.4 million chicks that are near full grown. The breeding season is in October and...

Feb 24, 2013 - Puerto Madryn Argentina and the choir debut

Well we finally have warm weather but the skies definitely have a lot of black clouds so we should expect a downpour sometime during the day. After breakfast we all stroll into town, no tours today as they are all very far afield and we don’t need to see more penguins or sea lions. We are in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. It a relatively small town, they say over 100,000 but it certainly doesn’t look that big. It is a resort town with a large beach and boulevard with beach bars and restaurants everywhere. You could see this would be a great spot...

Feb 2, 2013 - Puerto Madryn

2/2/2013 Driving through the Patagonia can be discouraging. Kilometer after Kilometer of nothing. Highway 3 is sometimes 4 lane mostly 2 but in good condition so we were able to make or 300 Kilometers in good time. We arrived in Puerto Madryn in early afternoon. A Princess Cruise ship was in town so the passengers made for a very busy city. The beaches were full, weather great and a good campground. A very relaxing evening.

Jan 1, 2013 - Puerto Madryn to Punta Tombo to see Magellanic Penguins

It was the longest bus trip of the cruise, some 3 hours to get to the rookery and 3 hours back. Slept some of the way there and most of the way back. Madryn and many of the towns were settled by Welsh immigrants in the late 1800's. Spanish is the main language and Welsh is still taught in schools. At the rookery there were about 400 other tourists. There were marked walkways and bridges we had to stay within and volunteer guides to make sure no one went astray. The penguins had right of way as this was the end of the breeding season and...

Nov 27, 2012 - Week 9 - Bariloche, Puerto Madryn (Argentina)

This week we’ve been extending our ‘dorm etiquette’ rule book – 1) Do not press snooze on your alarm 10 times 2) Do not treat your dorm bed like a private double if you’re a couple 3) Do get a private if you snore…. Other than that we’ve had a brilliant week, starting with a stunning 7 hour bus journey from Puerto Varas to Bariloche. Leaving Chile behind and heading back into Argentina, the road wound over the Andes to the border then down through the Nahuel Huapi National Park where it continued following the lake shore into Bariloche, a...

Apr 12, 2012 - Puerto Madryn

Tout d'abord, merci à tous pour vos messages, cela fait super plaisir ! Pour ceux qui se le demandaient, le voyage en bus s'est très bien passé. Il était très confortable et comme le trajet était de nuit, cela a finalement passé assez vite. A notre arrivée à Puerto Madryn toutes les boutiques étaient fermées et nous trouvions cela bizarre, cela avait un peu l'air d'une ville fantôme. Le deuxième jour, après avoir regardé les horaires d'ouverture sur les vitrines, nous avons finalement compris que la plupart des magasins sont ouverts...

Feb 6, 2011 - West Point

Saturday, February 5, 2011 We were supposed to dock at West Point, on the Falkland Islands tomorrow. We won’t get there. I was beginning to feel more ship movement before going to bed last night, so I put on a patch behind my ear, plus I was wearing wrist bands for sea sickness. Before waking I felt the ship lurching severely. Waves were crashing so loudly against the ship it sounded like the ship was going to split in two. When I looked out my port holes the waves were reaching up to my 4th floor deck. Trying to stand up was futile. At...

Feb 4, 2011 - Puerto Madryn

Friday, February 4, 2011 Our tour today would take us to the Peninsula Valdes, with a guide whose name I didn’t understand and it was never repeated. We do not have organized rotation on the buses, but depend on the honor system of not occupying the first seats on the bus all the time. I was seated farther to the back with the sound not always the best. Each of us has a transceiver with earphones that really help in such situations and when we are outdoors with a guide. The guide has a microphone and transmitter and does not have to shout...

Dec 7, 2010 - Puerto Madryn

After a wonderful stay in Cabana Hospedaje Celi across street from bus terminal in Esquel, we got on 8am bus for 9 hr ride thru some truely amazing, beautiful country. The terrain chg was huge outside Esquel...shallow ponds, flamingos...our trip enhanced by panoramic seats - front of bus, above driver - plus a very coop cloud cover which going E. Makes viewing easy. Sun not blinding us and not super hot either. Wide open grasslands, tons of sheep just sheared, & cattle. 4 sightings of rhea (bird like ostreich but smaller), very tough to see...

Aug 24, 2010 - Argentina - Puerto Madryn

Hi all, Hope all good back home. Last time we wrote, we were about to embark on a long journey to Buenos Aires which we just about made in one piece. We had a fun first few days in the capital, and then it was back on the bus down to Puerto Madryn in Patagonia. We´re now back in Buenos Aires for a few more days, so we´ll do a joint entry for here in a week or so. For now though - whales... We had a brilliant time in Puerto Madryn seeing whales at unbelievably close quarters. It was pretty exciting seeing my very first whale, from the beach,...

May 25, 2010 - Puerto Ballenas

Buenos Aires 2584. C'est ce qu'un panneau affiche sur le bord de la route. On s'endort dans le bus, avec ce chiffre en tête. Quand on est réveillés par le lever du soleil à 9h, on roule sur une route vide au milieu du désert. Ariane ne peut pas s'empêcher de faire la comparaison avec l'Australie: uen route droite sur des milliers de km, au milieu d'un décor plat, rejoint au loin par le ciel. On arrive à Puerto Madryn. Aujourd'hui, c'est la fête nationale, et en plus c'est le Bicentenaire: il y a 200 ans, l'Argentine a proclamé son...

Nov 5, 2009 - Leaving Puerto Madryn

We have booked the bus to Ushuaia when the day we arrived at Puerto Madryn and today is the day we are braving through the 31 hours bus journey. The bus journey will be broken into two parts - 17 hours to Rio Gallegos and after that 14 hours to Ushuaia from Rio after a two hours break. The first leg of the bus departs at 13.30 so it was pretty pleasant to have a morning hanging around at the hostel after all the dashing about in recent days. We have a fair bit of photo uploading to catch up with and of course, some surfing on the internet...