Firstly, commiserations to all those of you who are reading this in the UK, where I understand there is rather a lot of snow and some pretty low temperatures. I bet you're expecting me to rub salt in the wound a bit by telling you just how hot and sunny it is over here, but guess what... It's actually pretty cold! When we finally arrived in Ushuaia (after 20+ hours of bus travel) it was 4 degrees. 4! That's about 30 less than it was back in Sierra de la Ventana! And it was kinda raining too! There, I bet you all feel a bit better to know that I share your suffering :)
I think I last wrote from Puerto Madryn. After that, we went to Gaiman - a small place of Welsh heritage (it really plays on this) where we had hoped to gorge on cake and tea. However, the town was in reality a bit of a let-down. I don't mean to offend all the Gaimanonians who subscribe to my blog - it's a perfectly nice place. Just not really very Welsh - I felt a bit deceived. Oh, I also had the cheesiest pizza I've ever had the misfortune to order, but I guess I can blame that on being a veggie in a country world-renowned for its meat. I got a picture of the pizza anyway... I'll upload it along with some other more interesting shots to the regular place later.
Gaiman is a small place; usually a day trip from the nearby Trelew (pronounced tre-ley-ooh, apparently). We'd chosen to stay there 'cos of the campsite, which was absolutely brilliant - set up and run by the local volunteer firemen, I'd recommend it to anyone :) Anyway, I started this paragraph intending to talk about Trelew, and already I've got distracted. Back to the subject. In Trelew, we went to the dinosaur museum (it has a fancy name, but I forget it). Really very, very good - the highlight being the (albeit partial) argentinosaurus skeleton. Photo uploaded to demonstrate just how outragously big this chap was.
After Gaiman, we took the overnight bus about 12 hours south to Puerto San Julian, which turned out to be a splendid place. Another quiet, lazy town, but big enough to support a few more activities. From here, we took a 2 hour excursion to see a magellenic penguin colony - usually occupied by something like 120,000 birds, although there didn't seem to be quite so many as that. On the same trip, we saw cormorants and dolphins. I had actually thought that this was the first time I'd seen dolphins, but in fact I seem to remember them playing in the wake of our ferry between Picton and Wellington when I was in New Zealand. Well, either way, this time it was much closer up, and a different species too - the Commerson's dolphin. Awww, they're well cute. Google it if you don't believe me, 'cos I didn't really get any photos good enough to prove it.
The other thing well worth me mentioning regarding Puerto San Julian was the best - and most unassuming - restaurant I've been to in Argentina. Don Vittorio is a little pasta place we happened across entirely by accident. It isn't mentioned in the guide books, but is sooooo good. Honestly, if you ever find yourself in this town, don't miss it. Not that I can remember where it actually is, or anything useful like that, but seriously. Ask someone, or something. They only do pasta, and they do it soooo well, and with exceptionally friendly service. I'm missing it already, and I was there only 2 days ago!
We actually left Pto San Julian slightly earlier than expected, just 'cos it was rather difficult to get seats on the bus for the next leg of our journey. After just one night at the municiple campsite (actually quite nice - great sea views) we got a 1.30am bus (which actually left at about 2.30) to Rio Gallegos. From there, we boarded a slightly less plush bus to make the journey to Tierra del Fuego. Whilst it wasn't the most comfortable trip, the 20ish hours seemed to fly by. Some of the views along the way were incredible too, although by the time we reached the mountains the sun was setting. In some ways, this made waking up in the next morning a real treat, as of course it was dark when we arrived in Ushuaia. I had no idea when I went to sleep in the hostel how incredible the view would be when I woke up... it really is a beautiful setting.
Now I'm sitting in a fab little cafe/restaurant drinking the best beer I've had in Argentina - Cape Horn - and getting slightly tiddly as I try and write bloggage and upload photos. I have no idea if what I've just written makes sense as I don't proof-read this blog. If it doesn't, get over it ;)
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