Trelew and Gaiman - Penguins and Tea Time

After spending six weeks in Buenos Aires we set off on our trip to Patagonia. Our first stop was a city twenty hours south of BA called Trelew. We went there for two reasons. One is the largest colony of Magellanic Penguins outside Antartica. The second was that just outside Trelew there is a little Welsh town named Gaiman that serves English tea and Gemma was craving a little taste of home.

We booked a tour with a lady at the bus station and were supposed to get picked up at 8am the next day to go see the penguins first, and then on to have afternoon tea. The next morning the bus arrived late and the driver came to our door and asked what time we needed to be back to the bus station for our onward journey. We told him we needed to be back from Gaiman by 5. He then proceeded to tell us this was impossible. Great.

We argued with him for a few minutes before realizing the lady had made promises that weren´t meant to be kept. We told the bus to go on without us and marched furiously back to this lady at the bus station. I thought Gemma was gonna grab her jacket and pull her across the counter but we kept our cool and in the end after a good twenty minutes of arguing with her we managed to get her to hire a taxi for us for the day at no extra cost. Private tour for two accomplished.

Neither of us had ever seen penguins outside a zoo before and once we saw the first one it was worth the trouble.

What up Pingu!

Everywhere you looked there were penguins. They use the bushes as houses and for protection from the wind. They dig little tunnels underneath the bushes and lay their eggs in them.

We were there in late February after the eggs had hatched and when the penguins are feeding and fledging. You can tell which penguins are the babies because they have furry feathers all over them. But alot of them were starting to lose these baby feathers and therefore feathers were all over the place.

Penguins swimming at sea.

And coming out of their nests.

Their can be up to a half million penguins here at the highest point in the year and only Antartica has more. The bad part about having a half million penguins around you is that you have a half million penguins pooping around you. The place smelled pretty bad if the sea breaze stopped for even a few seconds.

The other bad thing about seeing so many penguins was that it was inevitable that we´d see nature at work. Sure enough there was a seagull eating a dead penguin whose head was almost severed off. Poor little guy.

We were able to get pretty close to them without them running off. By the way, watching penguins walk never stops being funny.

This was one of the little guys looking lost.

I forget what this animal is called but its in the rabbit family.

After we had our fix of penguins it was time to move onto the Welsh town of Gaiman. Who knows why there is a little Welsh town in southern Argentina. Probably the same reason why there was a little German village in Venezuela. They migrate over, set up shop and never move.

The place we went to was set on immaculately groomed grounds.

Inside Gemma showed me how its done. We were served unlimited tea and cakes by sweet old ladies.

Keeping the pinky out seemed the right thing to do.

The spread.

Gemma took a moment to remember Princess Di before we got back in the taxi and headed back to the bus station. Our next move is to bus over to the west coast and into Chile where we´ll be hiking and camping for five days in Torres Del Paine National Park near Puerto Natales. I´ll also finally get a chance to work on my Bear Grylls survival skills.

Iguazu Falls - An Unbelievable display of nature

We are back on the road ¨traveling¨again. We have been in Buenos Aires for nearly three weeks now and while its been great enjoying the big city convienences we were ready to hit the road and see something amazing. Iguazu falls is a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition and I hope it makes the final cut. It is by far one of the highlights of our trip and one of the most stunning displays of nature I´ve ever seen.

As soon as we got to the park we started seeing these little racoon-like creatures called Coatis. We entered our first trail and immediately were welcomed by a mother and her two cute little ones.

The little bitches lure you into a false sense of security with how cute they are because while I was taking this picture they were narrowing in our our bagged lunch. About one second later the mom had ripped open our plastic bag and started making off with our lunch! Luckily all they got was an apple before we could shew them away. We later saw this sign in the park. It should say run for your life if you see these aggressive little beasts coming towards you.

We started the day by walking the lower trail which offered ridiculous views of the falls such as the ones below. It was incredible being so close to the falls. It was impossible not to get wet but given that its was a hot sunny day we didn´t mind. Little did we know how soaked we´d get later.

From the lower trail you can take a twenty minute boat ride which takes you up to both sides of the falls. Here we are still dry as we head towards the falls.

Immediately after this the driver takes the bow of the boat dangerously close to the waterfall. I´m not gonna lie. I was scared we were gonna get sucked under. I have experience driving boats and pulling up to docks or other boats without hitting them but this driver was either really confident or got really lucky because he zoomed right up to the edge before slamming on reverse. The falls were pounding down on us so hard you couldn´t even look up. Check out the video of how hard this water is falling. The tip of the boat went right up to the section where the water is falling the hardest!

Once I realized we weren´t going to die it was incredible to be so close to the falls. The boat took us back and forth to both sides of the falls a couple times and luckily the tiny little plastic bag I had around Gemma´s camera was enough to protect it from the buckets that got dumped on us.

We then headed to the upper trail that runs along the top of the falls. The walking paths are so close to the edge of the falls that you are almost standing over the edge of them. Behind you the river is as calm and peaceful as can be before it plunges violently over the edge.

We even saw a double rainbow which I didn´t even know existed. Here is a video where you can see the second rainbow faintly above the obvious one. Gemma kinda points it out at the end.

These pictures and video are of the section of the falls called the Devils Throat. It blows your mind away how powerful it is and the sheer force which the water moves is incredible. It reminded us of a scene from the movie 2012 when all the water is crashing down and destroying the world. At first you come up on the Devils Throat and see a huge body of water just disappearing into the earth.

Then another 100 feet or so and you see water tumbling over the edge. It is nearly impossible for the pictures to tell the story but the video tries its best. The sound was almost deafening. You really must go see this place with your own eyes!


The white haze at the bottom is the mist rising up. Unfortunately the mist is so thick that you can´t really see the bottom half to two thirds of the falls in these pics. But in person every so often the wind blows the mist away and reveals the falls in full.

The land you see above the falls in this pic is Brazil. You can go to there for the day to get a different view but Brazil charges Americans a $134 visa fee so we didn´t go.

On our second day at the park we hiked a trail off the beaten path to a waterfall with a natural swimming pool. I don´t think most people do this trail as we hardly saw anyone else while hiking and there were only a handful of people at the waterfall once we arrived. The picture after the sign is a gigantic spider. You really had to watch your head because these massive spiders had spun their webs over nearly the entire length of the 3km path. Gemma was not a fan of this and had the most terrified look on her face for a solid thirty minutes.

At the very beginning of the path there was a warning sign advising you to watch out for snakes. I hate snakes and the sound of rattlers surrounded us the entire time. At first I doubted they were actually rattlesnakes but the sound coming from all around us sounded exactly like a rattle. I later learned that the sound was made by crickets. So I guess I can see why not many people venture down this trail.

Once you got to the waterfall it was amazing. I´ve had the chance to swim in a waterfall on one other occasion that I can remember in Costa Rica and its something you should always take the opportunity to do if you have the chance. This fall was about three times higher than the one in Costa Rica and about three times more painful to be under. The water was freezing but the scenery and sound of the water crashing down around you is exhilerating.

I could have sat here all day.

Its hard to be in a waterfall with your girlfriend and not be loving life.

After our swim we walked over to the Sheraton Hotel in the park. While we couldn´t afford to stay there, we could afford to go to the bar and get a few drinks before our Full Moon tour of the Devils Throat that evening. Below is the view from the bar. In the distance (but more visible in person than in this photo) was part of the falls. It was a great way to unwind and kill a couple of hours.

At about 9pm we went back to the park entrance to start our Full Moon tour. Once a month for the five nights around the full moon they let in a small number of visitors to walk the path leading to the Devils Throat. I didn´t have my wide angle lens to let in all the moon light and despite my best efforts it was pretty impossible to get a good shot with Gemma´s point and shoot. But the scene was just as impressive as it was during the day only a tad bit more magical. The sky and clouds were lit up and the water glistened under the moon light.

It was definitely a highlight of our trip and one of the most amazing places I´ve ever been. Any trip to Argentina or Brazil must include a trip to Iguazu Falls.

For the bus ride back to Buenos Aires we decided to upgrade our seats to the bigger more comfortable seats in the bottom level of the bus. We had done this maybe once before but this was the first time we were served champagne! It was a great way to end an unbelievable trip up to Iguazu.

Buenos Aires - A tale of two cities

Buenos Aires really is a tale of two cities. One minute you´ll see parks, avenues and architecture to rival Paris. The next you´ll get robbed and step in shit. I´ve never been anywhere like it. Its like the city suffers from Schizophrenia and/or has multiple personalities. This city will take you out for an amazing night on the town and then rob you at gunpoint before kissing you goodnight. After being here for six weeks I have to say I still love the city but you have to really keep an eye out at all times. All the good stuff about the city can lure you into a false sense of security.

Day one aside, we loved Buenos Aires. I´m a big city kid and absolutely loved being back in a big city with modern day convienences such as Starbucks, decent internet, wifi in our hostel, an Expat Sports bars to watch the NFL playoffs complete with buffalo chicken wings, and good restaurants with international cuisine! I had sushi for the first time in seven months, we had Thai, Indian, Mexican and found restaurants who understand how to cook a delicious AND healthy meal. Its no wonder we threw our budget out the door when we got here.

But I have to say we needed it, deserved it even. It was a rough five weeks after getting robbed by the Venezuelan police and then having my camera gear and new watch nabbed. So screw it, we threw caution to the wind and balled out of control (or spent money like we were rich for my less ghetto followers). We justified every expense by converting our bill to Pounds which made it incredibly cheap at 6 Argentine Pesos to one Pound. Three weeks later we realized we´d spent More than DOUBLE our monthly budget. Ouch.

We also had lots to celebrate in BA. I welcomed Gemma into her mid twenties on February 11th by taking her out to dinner at Green Bamboo(thanks for the rec Caitlin). We´d eaten at alot of restaurants in BA in the four weeks we were there before Gemma´s birthday but she wanted to go back to Green Bamboo for the pork balls (pic below). I still crack up when she says she´s a vegetarian.





We also celebrated Valentines Day with a night of jazz at Thelonious Club. The cocktails there were by far the best we´d had in South America. My Manhattan actually tasted like a Manhattan. I once had a bartender make it with orange juice in Colombia. Gemma´s frozen Mojito was also quite good.


Further celebrations were called for when we met up with a couple of our traveling friends. I met Geoff (a fellow Brummie (or person from Birmingham where G´s from) in Guatamala and Gemma and I met the crazy Scot, Grant Dick in Ecuador. They were both heading the opposite direction as us in their travels but we all happened to be in BA at the same time so we went out for what turned into way too many drinks.

We also went out with a former coworker of mine who now works in BA for a crazy club night at Crobar. Thanks again for the hospitality David. (I wonder if anyone ever notices that I wear the same shirt everytime we go out or are going someplace nice? I think I´ll frame this shirt someday after the trip is over and hang it amoungst my favorite pics).

One of my favorite things about BA was how easy it was to get around the city. Lots of places were an easy walk from our hostel and if not the subway or buses were cheap and easy. The best part though is that some of the buses look like traveling strip clubs. You see a bus coming towards you glowing with blue lights, full of disco balls and polished silver poles.

Sidewalks look like bombs went off here. Don´t walk around town without watching your step. You´ll either trip on a completely busted up sidewalk or on a pile of dog crap that most owners simply don´t pick up. Its a quick reminder that you are not in NYC or Paris and are in BA.

But to be fair, there are many times and places in BA that would try their hardest to fool you.

The parks in Palermo are absolutely amazing. I dare say they are nicer than Central Park(I don´t mean it CP) and on par with the gardens in Paris. Gemma and I went there a few times to run around the ponds and walk about the rose gardens and over the greek style bridges.

There was also a nice little Japanese Garden that was decent. Not quite as good as the ones I remember in San Francisco and definitely not as good as the Japan exhibit at EPCOT but not bad. I tried like five times to get the little red bridge in the pic below inbetween us but the best I could do was to have it coming out of my ear. Not my finest photographic moment.

We got into a bit of a health kick in BA. We actually joined a gym! It was great to finally have a chance to work out and be able to eat some healthy food. In just three weeks I got pretty buff. We went to a little place in Recoleta called Pura Vida which had healthy wraps, sandwiches, salads and fruit smoothies just about everyday after our workout.

The architecture is also great. I think one of my favorite buildings in the world must be the Edificios Aguas Argentinas. This building was two blocks from our hostel and we had the pleasure of walking past it nearly everyday. It helped that Starbucks was just another two blocks further. Its simply stunning and if I ever got to pick any building to live in based on its outside beauty, this would be the one. My pics will never do it justice but please give it a visit when you come.

Speaking of favorites, BA also has one of my favorite sculptures I´ve ever seen. I told Gemma it was in my top 5 but then had a hard time compiling a top five list. All I could come up with is Michaelangelo´s Pieta and David and anything by Alexander Calder (who technically does mostly mobiles so not sure if that counts or not?). Anyway here it is:

And here it is again with Gemma jumping into the picture (which helps give you an idea of how big it is). It´s called the Floralis Generica and was created by Argentine architect Eduardo Catalano. It opens each day and closes at night. Its really big and very impressive.

And while I´m rambling about the wonderful architecture and art in the city I should mention the Museo de Arte Latinamerico de Buenos Aires or MALBA for short. While there was a great Andy Warhol exhibit which further confirmed what a complete weirdo that guy was, the art wasn´t particularily outstanding.

But the architecture of the building was fun and we loved these benches that were on each floor and connected to each other by vine like extenstions off their ends up and down through the atrium which was Guggenheim NYCesqe.

One painting that for some reason didn´t make its way into MALBA is this one below. It was hanging in the staircase of our hostel. Notice whats under the man or woman´s butt???? Odd. When our hostel got robbed by two men with guns one night they left this beauty behind. Luckily for us it was the night of Gemma´s birthday and we were out celebrating at the time.

This was also the same day my new camera arrived from the States. My mom was kind enough to ship a new one to me from my favorite camera store in Indy - Roberts. It scares me thinking what would have happend had I been sitting in the lobby of our hostel playing with my new camera when these two guys with guns came in and tried to take it from me. I wouldn´t have given it up easily.

These mini police cars made us laugh.

Buenos Aires, like Paris, has a very big cafe culture. The people from BA call themselves Portenos and you´ll find them at cafes drinking coffee and eating little croissants they call media lunas at all hours of the day. One night we went to Cafe Tortoni for a tango show. Its one of the older and more famous cafes in the city. BA´s famous for tango and there is no shortage of tango shows on offer. You have everything from street performances to big broadway like productions.

The show at Tortoni was much better than the first one we went to at Classica y Moderna, another well known cafe. The one at Tortoni actually had dancers performing. The one at Classica y Moderna was just an older lady singing what could best be described as ¨music to commit suicide to¨.

We didn´t bother taking lessons this time around. Tango is alot more difficult and serious looking than salsa and we weren´t sure we´d be able to reach the same level of domination that we did with salsa.

Speaking of domination. How about them Colts? I mean they didn´t win the big one, but we still had a good run. It was Gemma´s first year as a Colts fan and it just wouldn´t have been fair for her team to win a Super Bowl straight off the bat. We´ll make her wait one more year. I must give a huge recommendation to Casa Bar as the best place to watch sports in BA. The owner is great and the food and drinks were cheap. We were in BA for the entiretiy of the playoffs and it was a nice escape from traveling and a little taste of home.


Our favorite neighborhood in BA is unsurprisingly Palermo. Its trendy, full of nice restaruants and bars and has lots of shopping. Its like Soho in NYC and part of it is even called Palermo Soho. We spent alot of time and alot of money kicking it here. Our budget was crushed here. Our need and idea to get a job in Australia was born here. (Side note, we´ve both applied for and recieved our work and holiday visa for Australia which allows us to live and work there for a year which we´ll be doing after our time in New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The car below had wicker seats. I´d never seen that before. And after that a corner store in Palermo.

Our hostel was located in Barrio Norte which is right next to the famous Recoleta neighborhood which is home to the famous Recoleta Cemetary. It is here that Argentina´s political and military leaders, wealthy families and Evita are buried. Its a big tourist attraction in BA and for good reason. The tombs here are like works of art. Most of them anyway. This is the way to go out, being buried in a tomb with magnificent statues over you. I had a good time explaining to Gemma just how I´d like mine to look upon my departure. She did not enjoy this so much.

Evita´s less glamourous grave is pictured below followed by one of my favorite shabby chic tombs covered in vines that seem to be growing there to make the pile of rocks seem decorated.

Just outside the cemetary is an art fair on the weekends complete with street performers and tango shows. There are also these huge old trees with the craziest looking trunks. I never did find out what kind of tree it is but there were pretty impressive.

In San Telmo there is an antiques fair on Sundays where we saw one of our favorite performers. It was this puppeteer whose puppet was a drunk old man who stumbled around the outside of his pub and fell off the box before climbing back on.

Another nice neighborhood to stoll through is Puerto Madero. The area was a bustling port in 1887 but when a new port was built in 1925 it fell from grace. The area was a bunch of old abandoned factories before developers turned them into trendy lofts and expensive hotels with nice restaurants. Thats where the pic below was taken. In it you can see our future boat. The small one of the left first, then maybe the one next to it someday.

There is also a nice boardwalk that runs behind the neighborhood next to the ecological reserve that we never made it to. Thats where we found a stand selling sausage sandwiches, or choripan as they call it, with a toppings bar that really kicked it up a notch.
Random picture of a cool old painted bus.

And last but certainly not least, an ode to Steak. I´d been dreaming about eating steak in Argentina since we first decided we were going to South America. In our South America on a Shoestring guidebook there is occsionally a ¨splurge¨ section which lists an expensive restaurant or hotel worth checking out. In the previous five countries we´d been in I don´t think I even read the box. It wasn´t in the budget.

In the BA section they mention a steakhouse called La Cabrera. We went twice. We ordered twice as much food as we needed both times despite getting advice on how to order. If we hadn´t been given these instructions we surely would have ordered enough for six. I think our problem was that we did as we were told in ordering the half portions, but then ordered twice as many portions. Don´t miss it when you come.

This is how happy I was to finally be there.

And this is why.

They give you about twenty of these little side dishes with your steak. Everything from mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, to quails eggs, beans, apple sauce, sauteed mushrooms and onions and I can´t even recall all of them. The waiters had to bring extension tables to the side of our table to fit all the food on. Its ridiculous and amazing.

This cow on the wall was like a cow shaped plasma screen that highlighted different parts of the cow and showed its respective name. Pretty cool.

There are two different locations for La Cabera, both on the same street. There is the orignial which is small and full of old time atmosphere and then there is the newer bigger location, still full of atmosphere but not as 1930´s feeling. Each time we went we asked our hostel to make a reservation for us. When the guy called, he said ¨I´m calling from Hostel Milonga¨ before making the reservation. Not sure why but it inevitably doomed us to the newer location where they stick all the gringos. Couldn´t he have said I´m calling from the Four Seasons?

The bill for our first trip was 250 Argentine Pesos which is roughly $65USD or $42GBP. We had an appetizer, grilled veggies, extra side of mash, half a chorizo, half portion of ribeye, tiramisu, and a bottle of wine and water. This same meal at Dylan Prime in Tribeca would easily have been $175USD. So it was well worth the splurge. The second time we went we tried to tone it down a bit, and our bill went down to 200.

We were in BA for a total of six weeks (We broke it up with a trip to Iguazu Falls which we´ll write about next). We´d always wanted to stay in BA for about a month but the huge snow storm in Washington DC actually kept us there a couple weeks longer. Great Britian now outsources their passport services for South America to Washington DC for some reason. And since the federal employees in DC didn´t go into work for a good week during and after the storm, we were stuck there waiting for her new passport to arrive. There are worse places to be stuck. I hope you go there someday soon and tell me about your trip. Be sure to look for our Iguazu Falls post next, it was an incredible place and experience.