Smooth sailing into 2024

In this blog update we hit the road with new purpose and see the Atlantic ocean for the first time on this trip.  That is not the only thing we saw, we saw capybaras, guanacos and penguins among many other animals in the wild and experience Argentinian campgrounds.  Most importantly we celebrated Kendra's birthday with Hot springs, BBQ and wine!

January 1- On the road again!

We checked out of our Airbnb and hit the road. Since we made getting to Ushuaia our new goal it was time to travel south.  Buenos Aries was still asleep, since most people did not start drinking until midnight and the parties continue until early in the morning the roads were quiet.

We made it to the Atlantic!

We drove away from the city and towards the Atlantic Ocean. A fun fact about the GoGoGauthiers is that none of us have seen the Atlantic Ocean from Canada.  We have experienced it in the United Kingdom and spent time on the Caribbean Ocean in Mexico/Belize/Panama/Colombia, but today was our first time experiencing the  “real” Atlantic on this trip. We arrived in the community of Mar Chiquita and went right for the ocean. It was as cold as we imagine the Atlantic being in Canada during the summer so doing a short walk in was enough for us.

We found a spot at the municipal campsite and wandered around the cute town. Not many places were open but it felt like we were in Grand Bend, Ontario. Houses close to the water and family homes with multiple cars parked outside. It was a little resort community.  The municipal campground was also set up uniquely. You pay per person to camp and you can pick any place to camp. There are no designated sites which initially felt odd to us, but it makes complete sense. Friends and family and large groups can camp with each other and they do not need a special reservation.  The campground also had hot showers, flush toilets and a pool, although we have grown weak when it relates to the cold and being around 24 Celsius was too cold for us to go for a dip in the pool.

It's a real campground, like back in Canada!

A brewery only 15 minutes walk away!?

We spent the night at one of the local craft breweries enjoying delicious food and drinks and made our way back to the campground for one of the best night’s sleep we have had in a long time. Our van did not flash any new warnings today, our dog is not dying, and everything is good, no new stress. It was a good start to 2024.

 

January 2- Hankies and Hela2

Adding our handkerchief for good luck

It was hard leaving the municipal campground, especially since check out time was 5 pm, but we had itchy feet and were excited to hit the road again. We left around 11 am in the search for a few things. We went to Sierra de los Padres to leave a handkerchief (one of Rupert’s old bandanas) at the Gruta de los Panuelos with prayers of health and safe travel.

 Next we went to Laguna de los Padres to see wild carpinchos. From our understanding they are wild capybaras that live along the lakeshores and in the lake.  It was amazing to see them in the wild, since we have seen them in a petting zoo in Kelowna. The wild ones definitely do not want to be pet or approached.

While visiting the lake the ice cream shop nearby opened and we all known that latin America has the best ice cream; how could we not purchase some?  Next it was time to try and find a colony of sea lions. Google and ioverlander said we should see them along the coast, but due to ship’s being loaded at the port and lack of parking at the beach we were unsuccessful in seeing sea lions today. 

We continued our drive south and we were amazed at how busy all the beaches were on the coast. Parking lots were full, ioverlander camping spots were not accessible due to the number of cars so we drove, and drove. Eventually we found Playa El Remanso which was not busy and camped beside the Atlantic Ocean. We cracked open a bottle of “fermented colon juice” as we call it, which wasn’t a bad wine, just an unfortunately named winery and slowly watch the sun set behind us.

What an interesting...
aroma 

Getting the shades ready for sunset

January 3^rd – Preparation for someone’s special day

Great place to wake up to!

After examining all the potential campgrounds between us and the next 600 kilometers and discussing where the best spot would be to spend a couple nights for Kendra’s birthday we decided to have a long driving day, hoping to drive almost 600 kms.  We left Playa El Remanso and just started driving south watching community after community pass us by.   We only stopped twice once in Necochea to finally see a sea loin colony battle each other for supremacy and just outside of Bahia Blanca for fresh olive oil.  We did think about stopping in the “big city” of Bahia Blanca but knew shortly after arriving that would not be a good idea.

Bahia Blanca looked like a disaster zone.  We originally remarked that the community looked like the poorest community we had been to in Argentina until a quick google search told us that the community had recently been hit with extreme weather and wind storm causing millions of dollars of damage and over a dozen deaths.  They were still trying to clean up their community so we continued south.

Unfortunately, by not stopping at all in Bahia Blanca we were running very short on gas by the time we arrived in our final stop for the night Pedro Luro.  The gas light was on and the gas indicator was at zero when after three attempts we found a gas station that was both open and would take credit card. 

We finally got to the campground and set up the van.  It was a long day of driving and we were so happy to be done and somewhere we felt we could celebrate Kendra properly.

 

January 4^th – Happy Birthday Kendra!!!

Today was all about Kendra.  She was able to relax and Paul did all the typical tasks required during a typical day on the road.  We only left the campground to grab a few things that we needed for the night, meat, charcoal, wine and cake.

The day was spent down by the river where the water was perfect.   We played games and had a BBQ.  One of the reasons we had picked this community to camp was due to a nearby hot springs but after enjoying our time by the river so much and losing track of time we realized that it would be more trouble than it is worth to try to find a way to a hot spring, especially when the weather was so hot and the river was so perfect.

The day was exactly what Kendra wanted, a chill day celebrating her “33^rd” birthday (because according to Kendra “the two COVID years do not count”).

 

January 5^th – We need to update the blog

It’s hard to write about days that are hard and there has been no shortage of those lately.  We know we are privileged to be able to jump in the van and drive and explore the Pan-American highway but to reminisce about bad days is not something we want to do or enjoy doing.  However, the goal of this blog has always been to create a written record of this trip for us to look back upon in the future.  We have committed to this format and want to see it through until the trip is done.  Today we did exactly what we needed to do, we sat down and looked at pictures and notes and started writing.  We mourned bad days and celebrated small victories that brought us to where we are.  As we were almost 20 days behind it took almost all day to write, consult and proof read but we did it.  We updated the blog in its entirety and hopefully this is the last time we need to think about the last month or so.  We no longer need to think about the days behind us, we only need to think about the present and the days ahead.

This trip has shown us, bad days don’t last. One year ago, we were sheltering in Sinaloa, stressed about the future of this trip, but we persevered.  We are committed to push ourselves through the tough days. We set a goal and we will achieve it, no matter what it takes. We are determined, stubborn and strong willed and looking back on the last month has been tough, but we have become tougher; inspired by the struggles and triumphs of those back home going through their own tough days and situations.

 

January 6^th – From the Salt to the Sand

So relaxing

It is unbelievable that we have stayed in Pedro Luro for three nights and had not gone to the thing that made us decide to stay in this community in the first place, the hot springs.  We left the campground right at 9am so we could be at the hot springs (resort) right as it opened.  Although there was English written everywhere around the resort we don’t think too many non-Argentinians go to this place as the first question we were ask when we arrived to the front desk was how did we know about these hot springs.  When Paul answered the internet, that was not a good enough answer.  It seemed like they want more tourists but haven’t quite figured out what works to advertise to them yet.

Paul experiencing Fangoterapia

The hot springs were amazing with different pools at any temperature point you could want depending on the heat of the day.  We had talked about only staying an hour or two at the hot springs but as we moved from pool to pool as the day got warmer we realized we would be spending the better part of the day in water.  There was even an entire pool dedicated to fangoterapia which we learned was mud therapy, so obviously we had to get a little dirty.

The nice thing about being so far south in the south American summer (Canadian winter) is that it gets dark really late, so even though we spent almost 4 hours at the hot springs we had lots of time to scope out the area we had planned to camp for the night, since we still have a rule to not drive after dark.  We ended up stopping in the small community of El Condor for some water, available for free at their visitor’s information.  Unsurprisingly, Paul ended up being pulled away by the people working at the office to answer some questions about our travels in the area while Kendra filled our water jug. Paul returned with maps and tidal charts for things we can do in the area, so we set off to check out what the locals recommended. 

We swear we are not in the Canadian Prairies

As a bit of an aside, one thing we have noticed as part of this trip is just how disrespectful some other travellers were (or maybe it is general unawareness or lack of consideration for others).  After we had filled up our water some Germans in a giant converted motor home pulled up and started to rinse off their toilet (the portion that diverts urine) at the potable drinking water tap.  We were flabbergasted, but were driving away so we did not say anything. Eww, gross.

The entire region we are in is eastern Rio Negro and is what we would assume Saskatchewan/Manitoba would be like if they were located right beside the ocean.  There is lots of grain farming (the wheat is coming off now, the canola is starting to turn yellow, and the sunflowers are beginning to bloom) and there are no hills or skyscrapers to block your view.  The seaside communities are small and other than locals to the area relaxing at the beach they are pretty quiet.  El Condor was one of the bigger communities but mostly reminded us of Moose Jaw.  Its mirador looked out to the farmland which seemed really funny to us since you couldn’t see the ocean from it and one of the most popular non beach things to do in the community was to visit the war memorial highlighted with a fighter jet.

A hole representing each person
 who died 

Obviously there are no Snowbirds (the RCAF acrobatic jet team) in Argentina like there are in Canada; the jet and the entire memorial is to commemorate the war for the Isla Malvinas that occurred in 1982. This set of islands is known as the Falkland Islands by the rest of the world.  It is amazing how contested these islands are in Argentina and how serious they still are that they want them back.  Ever since entering Argentina we have seen signs everywhere proclaiming “Las Islas Malvinas son Argentinas” i.e The Malvinas (Falkland) islands are Argentina’s.   

The other popular thing to do in the area is to see all the parrots.  We are not too sure at what point of this trip seeing wild parrots was significantly less interesting to us, but retrospectively it is amazing that the most frequently seen bird of many areas of south America is the parrot.  These birds are everywhere, like robins in Canada.  El Condor is supposed to have cliffs full of the birds but due to the avian flu many areas are closed off to visitors so there were not too many to see.

After a pretty mediocre pint at the local brewery and some route finding for where we would camp we started driving far down the beach, what we had hoped would be a paved road turned into over 100 kilometres of gravel but eventually we found our perfect spot to camp.  There was an issue, the road to it was a bit sandy.  After walking it out we thought it may be alright, but we were wrong.  After lots of pushing and troubleshooting we were so stuck in the sand the only way out was to get towed out.  GREAT!

Oooooffffff

This was another bit of a blow to our egos but we were fortunate to be near other Argentinian campers many with 4x4 trucks.  We swallowed our pride and walked the 150 metres to the first camper we saw who, as we approached said “You’re stuck, I was wondering when you’d make your way over here”.  The couple dropped everything they were doing and after 10 minutes of talking and hooking the van up to their truck towed us out of the sand.  We tried to offer them some tokens of our appreciation, but they wouldn’t accept anything, just staying to pay it forward when we see someone who needs some help.

We did think about camping near our saviours but in the end decided to go a bit further down the road as we were exhausted.  When we finally found a spot it was almost sunset, this had become a very long day since sunset happens around 9:00pm.  We hoped to end the day having a glass of wine watching the sun set but alas one final issue had to present itself.  As we were about 2 minutes away from finishing cooking our propane ran out.  Looks like we have another task to complete: find someone to fill our north American propane bottle. 

Nothing like eating raw-ish or extremely al dente noodles while you are covered in sand from trying to dig out our vehicle. The sunset was beautiful and the wine was mediocre so it was an okay end to the day.

 

January 7^th – Kebab's on coals

Finding a place that can fill our propane bottle is always a little nerve wracking because it can be difficult.  We purchased an adapter while we were in Colombia but that adapter is for Northern South America, Chile and Argentina both have different threads from the north (and from each other) so we knew this may be a process.  This would also have to be a process we started tomorrow as some quick googling made us realize that any place that may sell propane would be closed as it is Sunday today. 

The pictures do not do it justice, the beach was packed

Obviously we wouldn’t be able to cook out of the van so we looked for a campground where we could walk to a restaurant for dinner.  The spot we choose was only an hour or so from where we camped last night so on a whim we decided to go to a community that had a giant billboard advertising it on the side of the highway called La Grutas.

If you look closely you can see
parrots in those holes

The caves carved by the ocean

We've never seen pools like this 

The community was a very busy seaside town with beaches full of people.  Somehow we found an amazing parking spot near the beach and went down to marvel at how busy the beach was.  The beaches of this area are famous for the sea side caves which give the community its name.  The caves were neat to look at but we couldn’t get over the “natural” pools the community had carved out of the rocks that filled up at hightide and became swimming pools next to the sea at low tide.  We felt we could not leave this community with out swimming in these pools.

We couldn't not go for a swim

Now this is a seafood feast!!

By the time we finished swimming we were hungry and since we couldn’t cook anything and we were on the ocean we searched the nearest best reviewed seafood restaurant.  Even if we had propane we are glad we had this lunch, it was a good paella and was better than some we had while in Spain! 

It was at this point we had an idea. We had green peppers, and onions. We also have skewers that we have had since we started this trip.  We also had charcoal.  If we picked up some meat and tomatoes we could have kababs (and yes we will spell meat and vegetables stacked on a stick a different way every time in this post) for dinner for a fraction of the cost of going out for dinner.  We had a plan.

We decided to camp in the sleepy beachside community of Playas Doradas at the “famous” according to them campground of Camping Patagonia.  For the place being famous we were surprised how few people were at the campground but we soon learned why, it was very expensive (the $17,400 Argentinian pesos- which today is the equivalent of about $17usd).  Without too much of a plan we decided against the campground and drove down the beach hoping to find somewhere to camp for free.  Within 10 minutes we found the perfect spot, someone had even made a fire pit. 

The plan was executed perfectly, we ignited the charcoal made the kebobs and slowly cooked them to perfection.  We should almost run out of propane more often if these are the types of meals we make for ourselves.

Probably the best kebab's we
have ever had

Kendra prepping these
 beautiful kebab's

 

January 8^th – We got moved along

We had read that a lot of people had luck getting propane in the community of Puerto Madryn, and we are happy to say we get to count ourselves in that group.  After seeing the propane bottle and the adapter they said they’d be able to fill our bottle.  They even remarked how surprised they were to see a Mexican propane bottle, we don’t think they had ever seen one before even though we told them it was from North America. 

Next we decided to get more cash, as we have mentioned before getting cash is a bit of a process in Argentina as there are multiple different currency exchange rates depending on where you go and the peso was recently devalued.  The best rate is with crisp $100 US bills (980 peso to 1 USD), 2^nd best is through Western Union (950 peso to 1 USD) and the worst is through the banks (799 peso to 1 USD).  These rates (other than the bank rate) are known as the blue rate and they change daily based on people’s demand for a stable currency.  Argentinians can’t buy much, if any stable currency, and the Argentina peso is facing historically high inflation causing a government exchange rate (black rate) and the on the street exchange rate (blue rate), we won’t even mention the MEP/credit card rate.

Fat Stacks!!

Getting cash always feels like we are doing something illegal (just like how getting gas in Bolivia also felt illegal, even though it is not). Paul asked at tourist information where we could exchange currency and was given a name, location and phone number.  When we got to the location there was a guard at the door to check our passport (and the goods [US currency]) and then he radioed someone inside.  It felt like a dentist’s office but with one room for currency changes.  We were surprised to learn that their exchange rate was 995 peso to 1 usd so we ended up walking out with a lot of cash, especially since the largest bill is 1000 pesos.

Having completed the main tasks of the day we found a campsite near a natural reserve we wanted to  go to tomorrow.  We parked made some lunch but before we could finish our meal we were greeted by two park rangers.  Turns out where we had planed to camp was another protected area where camping has recently been outlawed and this rule is now being enforced.  However, pets were not allowed to be in the protected area so we had to leave, but at least we didn’t get a fine, instead they gave us a map showing the boundaries for the protected area which was nice of them. 

Our next option was also a bust, it was in a campground in the resort community of Puerto Piramides, but we learned it was full.  It seemed our only option was camping around the south east part of Puerto Madryn which turned out to be where all the Argentinian long term van lifers stay. It felt like we were pulling into a trailer park as we scouted our spot for the night.

NOTE: In the last 6 hours (when we got currency to now) the blue rate has changed from 980 pesos to 1 USD to 1000 pesos to 1 USD, just to show you how quickly the rate can change.

 

January 9^th – Penguins up close and personal

SOOO CUTE!!

Although we are usually awake and are out of the van by around 8:30am we had been told by the ticket office that it would be in our best interest to be at the ticket booth by that time so we had enough time to properly explore the Valdez Peninsula.  For the first time in many weeks, we awoke to an alarm.  Although we felt groggy we were glad we had set an alarm as we awoke to see a cruise ship.  We knew that we would not be alone in the national reserve.

We drove the 45 minutes to the reserve entered the tourist information office to learn the best time to see all the aquatic life known to reside along the peninsula’s coast.  Turns out it is high tide when the animals are closest to shore, guess we could have figured that one out ourselves.  However, as we were leaving we saw bus upon bus enter the parking lot of tourist information.  We had one goal, make as much distance between us and them as possible, so we started driving to the various points of interest on the island. 

Just a couple curious Guanacos

They were so close to us!

The first stop was to see penguins, one of Paul’s favourite animals.  Never would we have guessed just how close we would be to these animals.  The Magellanic penguin colony on the peninsula does not fear humans at all and seemed to act as if we weren’t even there.  We watched them for an hour, waddling about, digging holes will their flippers and communicating with each other.  It was an immediate highlight of 2024 and Argentina. 

Next was Caleta Valdes known for seeing Orcas and Elephant seals.  Sadly, we only saw seals and sealions something we had seen many times before.  From this point we headed north to the aptly named North Point where en route we saw some guanacos, cousins of llamas and camels.  Once again we had hoped to see Orcas and closer up Elephant Seals but it was more of the same, we did however finally snap a picture of an armadillo, something we have been trying to do since Mexico but failing because they are so fast.

Finally got this photo!

Our day on the peninsula was almost done, but we thought to check out a few more miradors close to the community of Puerto Piramides.  Usually these are the miradors where you can see giant Southern Right Whales but they had migrated away from the areas so the only thing to see there was more sea loins.

Our filthy van

Before returning to our camp spot for the night we had hoped to get a car wash as our van was filthy and an oil change, but the spot we wanted to go to didn’t have time to do a carwash nor the correct oil for our van so we picked up some food from the grocery store and spent the evening watching the ocean and the cruise ship (Serenade of the Sea) sail away.

 

January 10^th – A clean van

The sand and salty air had really taken a toll on the van.  Its side windows were almost impossible to see through making it a little dangerous to drive in the city.  Our priority of the day was to resolve this issue.  Before returning to the carwash/oil change place we stopped in at an oil shop and were able to find oil for the van meaning we could get two tasks done at the same time.

Enjoying the boardwalk with the
cruise ship in the background

And yet there are people
swimming

After dropping off the van we had 4 hours to explore Puerto Madryn which we did by going to the ocean promenade and looking at the various artisanal shops that had opened for cruise ship passengers. When we explored this area a few days earlier there were no shops or stalls open, it is purely for cruise ship tourists. We walked down various streets, stopped at cafes and window shopped until before we knew it, it was time to return to the van.  Time actually flew by.

Our van, and our engine oil, was clean so we made our way to our next stop on our trip south towards Ushuaia, the Welsh community of Gaiman.  We had heard it is a great place to check out with a real interesting local history, but by the time we arrived it was closer to dinner time than we had hoped so we grabbed some charcoal and started a fire in a grill at the local community campground.  This place seemed like the perfect place to just hang out for a few days.

 

January 11^th – What have I, Paul, done

As some may know Paul was diagnosed with gout a couple years ago so he changed a bunch of his eating and drinking habits.  Foolishly during this trip he has fallen into some bad habit and today woke up with a bit of a gout attack.  We would have to put off exploring for a day or so.  This was fine as the campground had internet giving us time and ability to upload photos and doing other various tasks we had been putting off. 

Oh Paul...how your decisions have consequences...

In general, it was a good day to take a breath, take it easy and upload all blog entries right up to and including today!