30 Jan Ushuaia

Monday 30 January  Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire)

Up at 5.30 as always, after a very cooold night. I slept in the weatherproof jacket inside the sleeping bag. All packed and ready to go and . .  Bob wouldn’t start!!

Gone are the tshirts of 2 days ago, replaced by every item of clothing and blanket/sleeping bag we can get our hands on

Freezing but smiling still

After going through the 'donated items' suitcase for extra layers, Koen got all dressed up in this bright poncho

Several hours fiddling with fuel lines and eventually we were off. Hour or so to first border post then back into Argentina. Sam managed to get them to put both stamps into tight corners, saving precious passport pages. The last page filled up with 3 carelessly placed stamps. Better still, we got HOT CHIPS and ketchup. Colin promised to beep when we came to the airfield from which the Argentines launched most of their airstrikes against the Brits in 1982, including the ones which caught the Welsh Guards on ships without air cover and also sank the Atlantic Conveyer.

The airfield turned out to be a widened part of the road we were driving on. Another made up lunch from a supermarket in Rio Grande and then a couple of hours to Ushuaia -  the southernmost city in the world. We are now 55 degrees south and have come 20 degrees since leaving Buenos Aires only 3 days ago.

The vegetation changed abruptly to some sort of scraggly pine forests – usually very close together so that little light penetrates – must be like the Black Forest? These were all wild forests not plantations. The mountains came closer, scattered with snow, then finally the port and the Beagle Channel, named after Darwin’s boat.

Lake

Bob - living on the edge

Coming into town - yay

Lots of alpine type houses

Seen these old busses everywhere

 A busy evening at the hostel, repacking for cold weather (zero degrees forecast for the next 3 nights) and planning our hiking and cruising activities while we are here.

We set out to try one of the lamb roastery places but ended up instead at the Argie equivalent of a steakhouse for the domestic market. This was riiiight at the end of the main street. There was a small conventional seating area round the back but we sat with the locals at a bar counter facing the cooking griddle behind.

 There was a big hotplate on the right where the chef was cooking burgers to order. HUGE monsters with absolutely everything. Ham, cheese, broken fried egg, salad, the works. On the extreme left was a stack of partly cooked meat quietly grilling away over dimly glowing coals. Black blood sausages, beef sausage, spreadeagled chickens and great joints of steak. J ordered a burger and chips, which was a monstrous great feast. I went for a "milk steak" on the waiter's recommendation. He took me to a diagram of a cow and showed me a section round about where I understand fillet to come from.

The chef asked how I wanted it done (in Spanish) and was smart enough to recognise "medium" in reply. He took one of the slabs of steak and considered it for a moment then drew a large knife through it near the middle. He put one chunk back on the grill and then sliced about a 2" thick slab off the other and popped it on a plate.The remainder also went back on the grill. He handed me the plate and that was it! No buggering around with chips or salads. This was steak Argentine style.

The meat was faintly pink in the middle and released clear juice. It had a slight "skin" around the outside which had sealed in the juice and then the inside part simply fell apart on the fork. We realised afterwards just how heavily salted everything on the grill was - minimum of about a teaspoon either side. No obvious seasoning other than that. It was cut unlike any steak I had ever seen before. More or less a 2" square cross section and about 8" long. Not huge but very generous by any measure (small change from $10 Australian). It almost "flaked" and had a delicious juicy taste. Perfect with a couple of Argentine lagers.

It was literally freezing outside but facing the grill we were toasty warm and the waiter and chef took time to give us Spanish lessons. It was a really pleasant couple of hours sampling a very authentic Argentine experience. We realised later that they don't open for dinner at all until 8.30pm! The chef said he had a 12 hour day around a 3 hour lunch break, about 8 hours off and then 6 hours on again. it was almost 11pm when we emerged but it was still twilight.

Apart from the salt, we noticed that the chef was knuckling some of the other 1" steaks that came raw from the back kitchen onto the hotplate to shape them, then wiped his hands on a cloth and put salad onto the burgers. Hmmmm. Oh well . . . he has probably been doing it that way for years and hardly any of his clients would have complained about fatal doses of salmonella

29/1 A volcano and another quarry

Sunday 29 January

Early start again – no brekky even. Breathtaking sunrise.   Stopped after a few hours for fruit & cereal and then another full day on the road. The scrub  shortened to ankle height and eventually groundcover, without ever leaving the soil bare. We stopped for lunch just off the road and Colin calmly told us there was a bit of a lake just over the small hill – it turned out to be a very picturesque volcano! It had two concentric rings, a very pretty (and apparently bottomless) lake and a lot of very craggy lava flows. Very interesting. None of the books mention it and apparently Colin stumbled across it by chance.

Back on  the road to the Chilean border, then a ferry crossing on the Strait of Magellan. Pod of Commerson's dolphins close to shore.  There was an embarrassing moment involving a lighthouse, for which I apologise profusely to the Government and people of Chile, and particularly the cleaning staff. It was about 7.30 before we reached our destination – another quarry. Steeper hills and less attractive sunsets but very pleasant nonetheless. People were cracking out their heavier jackets and the shorts disappeared and the circle round the fire was pretty tight.

Camp Bob from on high

28/1 A night in a quarry

Saturday 28 January

A looooong day cruising across a flat flat plain. The vegetation gradually flattened from thigh high scrub to knee height and the frequency of livestock decreased the further we went.

When there is scenery like this, all day long.........

this is what happens ....

 There was a flurry of excitement when we eased into an eroded valley and gradually came down to sea level at Commodoro Rivadavia. We stopped for 90 minutes outside a hypermarket where we had a very nice made up lunch of delightful crust roll, tomato and avocado, delicious choc mousse and even a Snickers bar – the one product we have seen all over the world. Later on, I was amazed to see a choc bar called Rhodesia! There would be an interesting story behind that.

Plenty of these oil pumps scattered across this region silently doing their thing

This is how we travel for 12 hour days - this is 2nd class and below is Chris on 'the beach' in the 1st class section

For our first genuine bush camp sans truckstop we parked in an old quarry. We had a really pretty sunset (and a good sunrise next morning).

The wind was pretty strong and grew fiercer through the night. We made a serious inroad into a new vodka and had a good singalong round a blazing fire. The Sweaty Minge song was dusted off for the first time in almost 40 years.

27/1 Puerto Madryn and the penguins

Friday 27 January

Early start anyway so they could go on the penguin tour at 7.30. I stayed to do the laundry then walked into town with Luke to use the internet. Now that I am back, 45 minutes striding it out, the campsite has got its free internet going!! Only 2 others didn’t go to the penguins and they are in town. I helped Colin and Scott make a new outdoors table. We had just got it sanded and ready to varnish when (instantly) the same wind that welcomed us yesterday blew up a fury and pelted us with sand.

Most of the group went to see the largest penguin colony outside the Antartic.  There are 1 million Magellanic penguins who come to Punto Tombo, Patagonia each year to nest.  We drove for a couple of hours through uninspiring flat scrubland arriving at the new interpretation centre, which had very good displays, at lunchtime.  The reserve is very well maintained with walkways and bridges and jam packed with fledgling juniors and patient adults.  I took far too many photos as usual, so here are just some of them.

Chick in burrow

Every bit of shade is sort after

Guinea pig sized rodent

Guanaco - like alpaca & llama only smaller

Feeding time for hungry babies

This youngster had a shoe/leg/trouser fetish

Yes they are mating - wrong time of the year though

Moonscape with burrows

These 2 looked younger than most of the others, so cute

We then travelled back towards Puerto Madryn and inland to the Welsh settlement of Gaiman.  After the flat desolate scenery that we had passed through today, this irrigated river valley was a surprise.  Pretty little historic town steeped in Welsh traditions.

Oldest building

Library, but guess what?  Yep it was closed.

Coffee shop

Robot slide

When we arrived back at the camping ground, we walked to the nearby beach to see the caves that the original Welsh settlers lived in.  Very nice views of the bay and a lovely sunset.

26 Jan Australia Day

Thursday 26 January Australia Day

We woke in the morning to find that the toilets in the nearby truckstop would not flush. This had something to do with the lake of sewage that had welled up and threatened to engulf our campsite. It was still trickling but the wind was obliquely across so we were spared the worst of the smell.

The scenery was a repeat of yesterday. Somewhat drier and a lot of scrub with the odd cow here and there. Late afternoon we reached Puerto Madryn, went shopping, paid for J’s penguin excursion tomorrow then into camp for the Aussie day barbeque. J gave out clinging koalas, somebody had glittery Aussie stickers, Yvonne made burgers & lamingtons, and we finished up with singing “Still Call Australia Home”, the first verse of the national anthem and whatever else came to mind. Leslie produced a PVC didgeridoo, complete with dot painting and wax mouthpiece, and proceeded to play it, including cyclic breathing. She is married to Scott and they ran trips across Broome-Darwin-Adelaide until recently.

25 Jan The long road south

Wednesday 25 January    Back in the truck

The usual. This time Sam got them to lay on early breakfast for us and we were on the road by 8. The scenery was flat flat flat. Late in the day there was a single distant hill but generally it was almost like a pool table. Sunflowers and soy with some cattle and sheep.

The overnight stop was the inevitable back of truck stop. I had co-opted the new trainee tour leader (French) into our group and had gone out on a limb making my signature Risotto. The bottom line was I was very happy to get enough rice to feed 25 with second helpings into 1 frying pan, it didn’t stick, and we had pre-cooked butternut and 2.5kg chicken. The flavourings needed to be multiplied at the last minute but it went off very well. Leslie whistled up a dessert with tinned fruit rolled in biscuit crumbs – next time we will all just chop and stir for her.

24/1 Antique metro trains still in service

Tuesday 24 January

Like Rio, BA has a plethora of roads, squares etc whose names consist of dates. For example, here we have the Square of May which commemorates the location where Argentinians first gathered to argue the case for independence from Spain, and the Avenue 9 July, commemorating Independence Day 2 years later. There are many others and the maps of BA and Rio both look more like calendars.

Today over breakfast we joined the Geriatric Grumbling Group, which resolved that the children should listen more to us adults and refrain from drinking so much and making so much noise late at night (really all night long).

We took off by bus towards the district of Palermo, characterised by the homes of the wealthy. In fact we went right through the trendy shopping streets not knowing where to get off the bus and ended up at a train/metro station in the ‘not so glamorous’ part of town.  Too far to walk back to Palermo so we took the red metro line which had quite old style carriages, changed to yellow line which had similarly aged carriages,

Sorry, I know it is very blurred. No graffiti on this train.

then onto the original blue metro line.  We had been told on the walking tour that the stations and carriages are original circa 1913 and worth a look.  The stations are colour coded as back in those days not everyone could read, so the colour of the station was the clue to where you were.  The trains have wooden slat seats and the tiniest compartment for the driver to sit. 

Very atmospheric trains

The drivers box is left hand rear of photo

The engine drivers cupboard and controls.

From the last stop we walked the now familiar route back to the hostel for lunch and regrouping ready for setting off on Bob again tomorrow.

San Martin - the hero of Argentina.  Statue located in front of Casa Rosada

23/1 Coloured buildings & a cemetery

Monday 23 January Kulture and stuff

Apparently Dave got home at 5am, utterly rooted, tried to climb up to the top bunk, collapsed on Richard (bottom bunk) and stayed poleaxed until 2pm. We were oblivious to this. I found Stephie on Skyp very early and thence Warren, who mentioned in passing that Courtney had signed up with a modelling agency, which I knew, but he said she sounded excited about it. I thought I would check and just as well – it seems she had just got back from her first shoot for a national clothing chain! Wow ! I was quite blown away by that.

We took to the bus (what a pleasure to sit in a motorised transport vehicle and proclaim to all and sundry “Bus bus bus this is a bus” without fear of having to wear undies a la Superman). A short trip to La Boca, sharply contrasted with Rio by the calm driving and the ability to board fully and even reach a seat without being slung around like a pinball.

La Boca is a quintessential part of BA, characterised by brightly multi-coloured houses, restaurants and tango dancing. Also a lot of touristy souvenir shops. I should explain that we have noticed over the past few days that the Argentines have a strong cultural attachment to the Beatles and the Simpsons. Why? I dunno, but they keep cropping up in their art. And of course football (soccer).

Lots of balcony, window and door people, these are Maradona, Evita & Carlos Gardel (famous tango singer)

Tango at lunchtime

Four years after the Falklands war (England 1 - Argentina 0), Argentina met England in the quarter finals of the 1986 World Cup. Argentina won the match and the Cup, thanks to a goal by Diego Maradona that was very obviously handballed by him. He professed innocence, insisting that what the cameras showed was “The Hand Of God”.

The Argentines are delighted with the outcome and not at all phased by the controversy. The main wall of our hostel’s bar is emblazoned with a hilarious image of the goal (see under)

We managed to collect fridge magnets which succinctly captured the very essence of this cultural hotchpotch. Have a giggle.

We came back to the main city centre for lunch – splurging out on a sirloin steak (very nicely cut and perfectly cooked) and fish and chips. We noticed that there was no girly stuff on the plate – the steak and chips consisted of a steak and chips. Similarly the other plate was denuded of tomato, lettuce etc and just had chips and some very creatively textured fish pieces with random spirals of batter branching in all directions. All that for $20.

Then it was time to head off to Recolletto, the suburb most consistently recommended in guide books. It is a cemetery for the rich, including Eva Peron in her family crypt (Duarte) and a number of other former presidents and revolutionary leaders. We will just let a few pictures tell a thousand words – certainly the place was worth an hour or so and it had a decided spirit all its own.

Eva Peron's family crypt

Very elaborate crypts, some with underground caverns several floors deep

This is a recent addition, a past Argentine President

Above is adorned with Egyptian symbols and right is actually a pyramid with a portico jutting forward.  No clue as to who they belong to.

Professional dog walker dropping one of her charges back home - a happy lab

Back to the ultra cheap lolly shop, quick baguette dinner, happy hour cocktail (just one) Soho. Then down to the bar where there is a Spanish lesson/quiz/drinking session afoot. Apparently some Government office over the road has complained about the washing hanging over our balconies and now there is a 1,000 ($200) peso fine. Only one more day in BA then about 5 days driving south with 5 extra bodies aboard.