Puerto Madryn, Argentina

6:30

When I returned to the room, I spent some time sitting out on the balcony writing postcards. I watched a gigantic line get longer and longer and then shrink away. The pier is a long way from downtown and there was a shuttle service to transport everyone. My Dad and I didn’t see the point of rushing downstairs to queue up for an hour so we waited in the room until it disappeared.

We headed out to Puerto Madryn at about 12:15. We walked right onto the bus it wasn’t even full. We were dropped off right downtown, and we wandered around for a while. We stopped in at an Art gallery, and then decided to walk along the beach.

The beach is huge, and it was nice to put my feet in the ocean. The water was quite cool and there weren’t a lot of people on the public beach. We wandered around until we got thirsty and then decided to stop at a café for a beer.

We ordered 5 big beers (680ml) and five empanadas. The total came to $17US. I couldn’t believe how cheap everything is in Argentina, but with the currency problems a couple of years ago, I guess it’s understandable.

It was very hot when we left the restaurant. Most of the stores were closed up for a siesta, but we wandered around looking for a post office so that I could mail my postcards. Sadly, everything was closed up. I guess they’ll have to wait until Montevideo.

It became unbearable hot by 3:00 and the temperature was in the high 30s. The land is very much a desert, there are very few trees and much of the land is barren. We decided that we would head back to the ship, but wanted to pick up some beers to take back. We went to the grocery store. The prices were ridiculous. A 980ml bottle was 2.49 pesos which translates to less than one Canadian dollar. For some reason 330ml bottles were 2.45 pesos, so we went with the big boys.

After being hit with a wall of intense heat when we left the grocery store we staggered to the bus and back to the ship. We ordered some room service and I took a nap. I just woke up and I wanted to type this up before I get changed and ready for dinner.

We leave for Montevideo at 10:00 tonight. We have a day at sea tomorrow.