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Posted on April 25, 2012 by angela
There isn’t too much to do in Gaiman. So after giggling at the name for while, we decided to act a little more civilized. It was high time for high tea.
The town was founded by the Welsh, and although the town is about 5 blocks by 5 blocks big, it has no less than 10 tea houses. They are everywhere. We couldn’t not go. Still, MC and I had to do a bit of convincing to get the guys on board.
With high recommendations from the crazy cabana owner, we set off to one of the nicest places in town. Soon after we sat down in the very English parlor, trays and trays of pastries started to arrive. We didn’t even have to order. We had all forgone lunch in order to eat as much as we could, but we weren’t prepared for the amount of sugar that would be served to us.
Bode declared this his new favorite meal ever. And this is from a kid whose allergies prevented him from eating about 90% of the goodies offered. Still, he got scones with 3 different types of jelly, lemon pie, some sort of traditional fruitcake (which is actually a lot better than fruitcake) and tea with a whole lot of sugar.
When the check came, we were all a bit surprised… nearly $20 USD per person. There was no possible way we could have eaten it all, so we decided we’d get all the leftovers to go. And then, we all needed some exercise. Luckily, the playground is right across the street, and it has the steepest tunnel slide in the world – it just shoots kids out like a cannon. Full speed. Despite the only warning sign for kids I’ve seen in South America (6-14 years only), we all gave it a try. And all of us tried it only once.
We also peered into a closed-down park that was built with recycled materials. This was the reason I’d wanted to come to this town (thinking it would be a bit like Coco’s Corner). The artist died a few years ago, and the family kept it open for a while but couldn’t maintain it. It’s for sale now, and looks pretty amazing. Alas, this isn’t our opportunity. I would get too fat here with all these tea houses.
MC and Simon ended up staying in town an extra night (they are due in Osorno, Chile to meet up with their VW’s new owner) to celebrate Bode’s actual birthday.
Bode has had no less than 3 other birthday celebrations already this year, so this was going to be the final bash. The over-abundance is largely my fault. I don’t want him to miss friends and family on his birthday, so whenever we have been around either (Houston, Ushuaia) he got a party. Just in case his actual birthday is a dud.
Rest-assured he got exactly what he wanted on his birthday. Since he loved the tea so much, we surprised him with another (in-home) tea party. I’m not sure how many other 7 year old boys would be thrilled with a tea party, but mine sure was. BIRTHDAY CAKE for breakfast! Heck yeah, that’s how we roll.
Gifts of Legos, video games… and an entire day spend finishing Wii Super Mario Brothers with Simon. Later that evening we had a Wii Sports night. We will always and forever have strike and spare bowling dances inspired by MC.
Posted on April 24, 2012 by angela
The next morning we made it to Punto Tombo – yet another pinguineria. The differences between this one and Cabo Dos Bahias were enormous. There were tourists and tour buses. This place even had parking attendants (although it wasn’t crowded) and we were immediately directed to the ticket window. It was a bit pricey, but considering Dos Bahias was free (for us) it wasn’t a big deal. Then we were ushered into a modern museum where we saw life-sized replicas of all the fish and fowl in the area. Finally, we were allowed to drive about 1 km closer to the beach and enter the penguin area.
While Dos Cabos had about 9,000 pairs, Punto Tombo has 200,000 pairs of penguins. There were penguin holes as far as the eye could see. And downy white penguin feathers all over the ground. The grounds were enormous, but most of the penguins seemed to be missing. Also, there was no access to the sea where the penguins were swimming.
A few birds did meander through the walking trail, though. It would have been amazing, had we not been so close at Cabo Dos Bahias. I think we were all a bit disappointed on this stop. But still, PENGUINS!
A few hours north, and we discovered yet another hidden gem of a beach, Playa Escondita. We were the only ones there, so we popped the top and got comfortable. The guys tried their hand at fishing. Simon was the lucky one today.
Later, 3 commercial fisherman came back into the bay. We were hungry and Simon’s fish wouldn’t feed all of us, so we bought 2 sea bass and a huge salmon right out of the boat. So fresh, there was only one way to prepare it… sushi!
Who says 5 people can’t make sushi in a VW bus?
By the time we got up the next morning, we realized that this little gem wasn’t so secret. It was Saturday morning, and the beach was lined with local fishermen casting into the surf. Since it was a bit cold and windy, we decided we had enjoyed this place more on our own, and packed up.
Posted on April 23, 2012 by angela
Camarones had been described as a sleepy little beach town. It didn’t help that we arrived (as we always do) during the Argentine 4 hour mid-day break. It also doesn’t help that the tourist season is over in this part of the world, and well, they just shut things down until next year.
The tourist office was open, but unhelpful. The campsite was closed, but we weren’t sure if it was for the season or if we should wait on someone. Simon needed a new muffler, but had been quoted (at 2 different shops) the equivalent of about $500 USD back in Comodoro Rivadavia. So, he decided to go out and find a creative welder – small towns seem to be better for this sort of thing. We never get anything accomplished in a big city.
The first ‘professionals’ we found passed on the job, but then we found a guy that would fix it on a tree stump in his front yard. He insisted that the other guys in town were ‘too rich’ and didn’t want any new business. We had him fix a couple of things on Red Beard too, including bracing the pop-top brackets which were bent from all the wind*. We even had a spare rubber pop-top tie down.
Earlier, we had a made a bet that it would be impossible to buy shrimp in Camarones. Basically, just a demonstration/test of logic in South America. Well, I forget who won, but we did not find any camarones in Camarones.
We decided to drive a bit farther and camped at the coast. Jason and Bode went off to fish (and lost all their lures after just a few casts). The rest of us headed out for an hour hike down the beach to see if we could spot elephant seals.
First, we spotted a dead sea lion and a dead horse. I had forgotten my rule about not following Simon and was beginning to worry. Luckily, after an hour, we spotted a huge group of sea lions. Unlike any other sea lions we have encountered, these were freaked out when they saw us. We weren’t even close, but they all stampeded into the sea. It was actually pretty impressive. The best part was that they left the 10 or so elephant seals sleeping on the beach. They looked up at us a few times, but really couldn’t be bothered to move. The babies and females are pretty cute, with big black eyes. The males… well, their proboscis isn’t as cute as it would be on an actual elephant.
Eventually a few of the braver sea lions returned, and then we could really see how big the elephant seals were – about 10 times the size of the sea lion.
Simon had been keen on trying touch some of the wildlife. For some reason, his translation from French to English had him saying ‘poke’ the animals. We did not correct him when he said he wanted to poke a sheep, but they were just too fast.
*we’ve still got a problem with the metal brackets in the very front center. They were also bent out of whack. We have bent them back to something close, but it still doesn’t close down correctly (and blows up when trucks pass). If anyone could trace a template or provide a profile photo of the exact shapes, we might be able to correct it. Until then, we’re still dependent on duct tape!
Posted on April 19, 2012 by angela
We stopped off at a small town outside of a big town. There wasn’t much to do here, so it seemed like a perfect place to stay for a few days. Rada Tilly seems to be the destination for weekenders from Comodoro Rivadavia and is full of fancy homes, but not much else.
The campsite had hot water, a quincho (a kitchen area for cooking and eating) and wi-fi, so why rush things? Besides, we all had some kombi work to attend to.
For us, those new CV boots we put on in Santiago… completely destroyed. We just duct taped some garbage bags on those and will leave that to another day. No parts here. We’ve been squeaking like crazy since Chiloe, so we had a grease job ($10 USD). Oh, and one of those brand new tires couldn’t seem to hold air. The valves in S.A. aren’t always the best, so we were hoping that was it. But the tire would be flatter and flatter every day, so we needed a gomeria. $10 USD. We also could not see out of any window. Car wash $8 USD. Oh, and we were out of clothes. $12 USD for a load of laundry. The Aux battery for our solar and fridge was just about a goner too, so throw in another $150 USD for a regular car battery.
Simon had to clean his carbs. He also discovered 2 tires in bad shape and had to buy new ones ($350 USD!) His muffler had some holes in it, but two different muffler shops wanted to charge him $500 USD for a repair. So he passed, hoping to find a welder in need of a few bucks to fix what he’s got.
Multi-taskers we are. The guys wanted to fish, so we hung up the laundry and waited for the tide to come in. For 2 nights, the guys fished for tiny pejerrey (sea water silverside). I admit, I was doubtful. I’m not a huge fish person, so tiny boney things aren’t my favorite. But MC and Simon cooked us up a fish fry you wouldn’t believe. Absolutely awesome.
Posted on April 18, 2012 by angela
We were glad we didn’t ask anyone if the dirt road north of the petrified forest was good. They would have told us to avoid it (they always do). This was one cool drive.
We got stuck at one point, but with everyone pushing we got through a sandy riverbed. Fern couldn’t quite make it, so Red Beard gave her a pull. I realize these experiences may not sound fun to everyone, but we loved it. In a week or so, we will be parting ways with Simon and MC, and days like this would be much less fun without someone to share it with (and push).
Once we got to the coast, we spotted a colony of sea lions so we pulled off the road to check them out. Just a regular day.
Posted on April 16, 2012 by angela
The major highways here are not Veedub friendly. And, they really freakin’ hate Westies. We continued to try to avoid Mother Nature’s attempts to make us a convertible.
Our next detour required about 100 miles of dirt. Although we were happy to be off the highway, the weather gave us one more kick in the pants with a major rainstorm. We were certainly happy to find Camping Paloma, which offered us a sheltered kitchen area. MC, ever the master of good food with what we have left, whipped up an awesome frittata.
The next morning the weather cleared and we headed to the main attraction. Parque Nacional del Bosque Petrificado. This barren wasteland used to be a lush forest in Jurassic times about 150 million years ago. Volcano, ash, some other minerals and then some rain…and -BAM- petrified forest. Just like that.
Initially, this detour was a hard sell to Bode (we’ll be seeing some penguins soon, and according to him our next destination is Rio de Janeiro), but once we got there it was a pretty amazing find.
My grandfather was an avid rock collector and had an affinity for petrified wood. Maybe it’s in the genes. The park had a strict policies on souvenirs, but outside of the National Park, everything was fair game. The best part was my kid’s excitement at finding cool rocks.
Posted on April 11, 2012 by angela
We had grand plans of driving all the way north off the island in one day. We had a long way to go and a short time to get there (for some reason, we watched Smokey and the Bandit in Ushuaia so this is in our head). And, we had 2 borders to cross. Still, we made time for a long detour to see the shipwreck Desdemona.
In the end, it was an amazing find. We only had an hour or so to explore before the tide came in. Dangerous, holey and tetanus-y. But really, when there is a rusty old shipwreck to climb all over, who isn’t having fun?
In all, our little detour took us at least 4 hours. Needless to say, we didn’t make it off the island.
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