Campo Formoso Week One: Rice and Beans

Ah, rice and beans, the staple of the Brazilian diet, how I've missed you....

My journey to Campo Formoso, Bahia, began at 8am, sleepily boarding a bus to Salvador. Thankfully I had my lovely friend Fernanda to help me to get my luggage there and sort out the formalities, I don't know how I would have coped without her! As was the case in Argentina, the long-distance buses in Brazil are really quite good - very comfortable seats which recline most of the way back, and regular stops to get food (or smoke a cigarette!), although they do insist upon over-air-conditioning to the point where I was actually far too cold most of the way. The other less comfortable aspect was the on board video. After about half an hour of traveling, they put on Legally blonde 2, badly dubbed into Portuguese. I was so tired that I didn't mind too much because I was able to sleep through it, but when it finished, they let the title soundtrack play on repeat for about 10 minutes before finally pressing play, and making us watch it again. If this is their idea of entertainment, frankly I'd rather be bored!

But if I thought this was bad, it was about to get much worse. I arrived in Salvador feeling pretty good, I'd managed to sleep through Legally blonde 2, twice, and felt quite refreshed from my sleep. But Salvador was about 5 degrees hotter than Aracaju, and more humid, and as I entered the bus station I realised that everyone in Brazil was also trying to travel today. I was the thursday before Easter, a holiday in Brazil, and the station was absolutely teeming with people. Every available patch of ground had a hot Brazilian person sitting on it, and with all my luggage, just trying to navigate as far as the bus company to buy my next ticket was quite an ordeal. When I found out I was going to have to wait here for 4 hours for the next available bus to Senhora de Bomfim, I was just about ready to kill someone. Thankfully for everyone concerned, I managed to find a place to store my luggage, which just about appeased me sufficiently to prevent a homicidal rampage. The 4 hours at Salvador passed slowly, but finally I boarded another freezing cold bus and got comfortable for the 5 hour journey to Senhora de Bomfim, where my new friend Aline was waiting to drive me to her house. When I finally arrived at nearly midnight, I brought my bags into the house and went straight to sleep. At least I didn't have to be up early the next day!


The following day, Good Friday, was also a holiday here in Brazil, so we went for lunch with Aline's husbands family, who own the small farm where we are staying. Although they didn't speak much English, they were very welcoming and more than happy to point out which of the dishes they were serving contained fish (which was most of them) so that I could avoid them. I have a feeling they only prepared a beef dish because I don't like fish!!

That afternoon they offered to take me up to a nearby mountain to have a look for some ant colonies. We set out in their pick-up truck and I quickly discovered that the Brazilians had dealt with the problem of driving up the mountain, not in the usual way of building long roads which wind slowly up the incline, but by simply putting a dirt track directly up the hillside. Nevermind that it was ridiculously steep and full of pot-holes! It was a beautiful sunny day, and from the top of the mountain the views were wonderful. On top of that we quickly started finding ant colonies and within a couple of hours had found 5. I was even lucky enough to see one of the dinosaur ants catch some prey!

The next few days proceeded in much the same way - time spent out in the field looking for ant colonies, and finding absolutely loads of them, and meals of rice and beans with various family members and friends. I started to put together a field work plan for the next couple of weeks while I had Aline to help me. Getting out into the field is great because there are so many dinosaur ants here, and it always feels good to start collecting data. I also found a second site, located in the forest, which is really good for data collection, and has an almost constant supply of cool, weird, tropical insects (and arachnids).

The only downside of my field work now is that the forest site is absolutely teeming with mosquitoes. More than I have ever seen in one place before. Unfortunately at the moment my field work involves a lot of sitting or standing around, doing behavioural observations, which makes me ideal mosquito bait. Yesterday I foolishly wore some slightly thinner trousers than I had been wearing previously, and apparently the mosquitoes can bite straight through them, because when I got home and had a shower that evening I found I was completely covered in bites. Luckily my body is starting to get used to them now, and they don't swell up quite as much as they had been doing previously, but they are driving me absolutely crazy.

As I mentioned above, I'm currently staying at a small farm in the town of Campo Formoso. Along with chickens and geese, they also have some ducks (including some very cute ducklings) and some tortoises which they found and are now taking care of. They have two adults who recently had babies which are now about a month old. After having lunch at the main farm house for the Father-in-law's birthday, I helped clean them out and they were just adorbale. There are 10 babies who, as soon as we took them out of the box, tried to make a break for it and scattered across the concrete floor.

I'll be spending at least another week here in Campo Formoso before hopefully heading to Salvador for a few days to celebrate my birthday with some friends from Aracaju, and then back here to get set up at a different (larger) farm closer to my field site where I will probably be spending the rest of my time in Brazil.

More updates soon!

Mosquito Bite Update
I finally summoned the courage to try and count my mosquito bites. I give you only a very rough estimate, because there are far to many to count now, but:

1 week in Campo Formoso; ~ 271 mosquito bites

A few days in Aracaju

After my wonderful 16 days of holiday, I headed up to Aracaju in the north east of Brazil to begin my fieldwork. I had a rather interesting journey up, as I took a flight from Rio but had to change in Salvador. I was expecting to have to pay excess baggage since I have such a ridiculous amount of luggage, but at Rio they didn't charge me. I thought myself rather lucky, and didn't question it too much. But when I arrived at Salvador they made me collect my bags and check them in again (*sigh*) and when I got to the counter the man told me than one of my bags would need to be retagged because it had increased in weight by 20kg since Rio! I told him I hadn't touched the bag other than to carry it from the baggage claim, and so I couldn't see it had gained all this weight?! Clearly the woman in Rio had cheated the system for me so that she didn't have to charge me excess, but I was surprised at how unperturbed the man at the check-in desk was about this miraculous increase in weight! It wasn't too expensive though so I paid the fee and got on my final flight. 

I arrived in Aracaju mid-afternoon and headed over to the home of my friends Hans and Becky, who had very kindly offered to let me stay for a few days. I spent the rest of the day chilling out and trying to feel human again after all that traveling. They were both quite busy that weekend so I had some time to myself to relax. They had the most adorable kitten which they had found on the street, who had most certainly learned that cute things can get away with almost anything, because he was constantly trying to play with everything - shoes, cables, my feet, and yet it was pretty much impossible to be angry with him for more than a few seconds. While I was checking my emails and generally faffing that evening, he fell asleep on my laptop cover, very cute!

The next day I did some much needed clothes washing (by hand, which made me appreciate my washing machine at home very much!) and then in the afternoon headed out to the beach. I managed to get about an hour of sunbathing in before a rather ominous looking black cloud started to approach and I decided to flee! That evening Hans and Becky took me to a party at a friends house which was really nice because it gave me a chance to socialise a bit with some lovely people and practice my Portuguese.

On my third day in Aracaju, I caught the extremely hot and bumpy bus up to the university where I met Fernanda, who had offered to have me stay at her house. That afternoon (or technically prevening, to quote Sheldon Cooper) we went to a free yoga class in the park nearby. It was really nice because the sun was just beginning to set and the air was cool and fresh, but there were mosquitoes everywhere which seemed to be relishing my exotic English skin, and it is rather difficult to follow yoga instructions in Portuguese! I also confirmed my expectation that I'm really not very flexible at all, but it was nice none-the-less.

The next few days I spent trying to organise heading south a little to a place in Bahia called Campo Formoso, where apparently there were loads of ants for me to study. Trying to find out about which buses to catch and buying tickets was an interesting experience but eventually it all came together, and I booked tickets to catch the bus that Thursday. I also got the chance to spend some time with Fernanda and her friends, watching films and drinking beer at a local bar, which was a lot of fun.

 On my last day in Aracaju, I had an unscheduled and completely unappreciated tour of pretty much every single bank in the entire city. My bank card had been rejected at a few cash machines, and I'd called my bank who told me that everything was fine at their end. So we went to one bank and spoke to someone there who said to go to another bank, where they would definitely know how to help. But, of course, when we got their they said they couldn't help and that we should go to another bank, where they would definitely know how to help. And so this continued all afternoon until eventually I tried calling my bank again, and within 5 minutes they fixed the problem. Why they couldn't have fixed it the day before when I called with the same problem, will forever be a mystery to me.

That evening, after showering and taking a nap, we finally felt human again. I went out for pizza with Fernanda and her family, and then quite a bit later headed out to see a local band play at a bar called Captain Cook's. Of course, before going to the bar we had to stop a petrol station for a few beers there, because apparently this is what people do in Brazil. The petrol station is the cool place to hang out! When we finally got to the bar, it was really good. It would seem most of Aracaju were there and the band was good and the beer was cheap. It was very busy and quite hot there though, and knowing that I had to catch a bus at 8am the following morning, I flaked quite early and headed home at about 2am.

I didn't realise at the time just how grateful I would be for that extra bit of sleep, during my extremely traumatising 17 hour journey to Campo Formoso, but that is a story I will save for later!

Update: 1 week in north east Brazil; 25 mosquito bites

Relaxing in Rio

For the final part of my holiday, I took a short flight from Iguacu over to Rio de Janeiro for a few days relaxing in the sun. After all my traveling I was quite tired and so I decided to take it fairly easy here and not try to do too much. The first day I arrived, I settled into my hotel in Copacabana and in the late afternoon I headed out for a stroll along the beach. I walked along the famous Copacabana beach all the way to Ipanema, where many of the wealthier Cariocas (locals) now live. I arrived here just in time to watch the sun set over the beach, which was very beautiful. My initial concerns about safety in Rio were quickly overcome by how beautiful the beaches were and how lovely the sunset was. That evening I went out for dinner in Ipanema and then headed back to my hotel for an early night.

Although I mostly wanted to try and relax here, I had two main things on my agenda which I felt I absolutely couldn't miss - Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) the famous statue of Jesus which overlooks the city, and Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain). However, my guide book recommended visiting both of these attractions on clear days, as the views from these mountains are very beautiful. Unluckily for me, the forecast was fairly bad for both days - hazy with a good chance of rain. When I woke up on Thursday morning, this forecast was confirmed and it was quite foggy. But I decided to bite the bullet and try to visit Cristo Redentor anyway, at least there was something to see there other than the view! I took the bus up to the base of the mountain where you can catch a cog train up to the top. However, when I arrived I quickly found out that there were more extensive tours by car, which stopped at several locations on the way and included an English speaking guide, for only R$1 more (about 35p).

So I joined a group of Dutch girls and together we headed up the mountain. We stopped about half way up to admire the (slightly misty) views, and bumped into some quite friendly monkeys, which were very cute! When we arrived at the top of Corcovado mountain, the statue was really very impressive. It can be seen from most of the city, and the mind boggles at how it was possible to get this 600 tonne statue to the top of the mountain! The views of the city from here where quite good, but I could only imagine how much better they might have been on a clear day.

After visiting Christ, we headed back down the mountain to visit a lake nearby, where we sat and enjoyed the sunshine and the views for a few hours with some delicious fresh fruit juice, before heading home.

If this post seems a little less superlative than some of my previous ones, I have to admit it's because Rio didn't grab me in the same way that some of the other places I have been did, or in the way people had told me it would. Perhaps it is because I have been so spoiled by beautiful scenery and surroundings everywhere else, but Rio was just not as magical as I had expected. Perhaps it was also partly due to how tired I was at this point - I had pretty much run out of energy to be thrilled by a place anymore.

The following day the weather was slightly better although still quite foggy, but I decided, as it was my last day and so my last chance to visit Sugar Loaf mountain, to go anyway. After a short (but crowded) bus journey, I arrived at the base of the mountain. Here I had to take two cable cars up to the top of Sugar Loaf mountain, with a pause in the middle to take in the views. The cable cars were pretty packed with people but it was still lovely to see the views on the way up. At the top, I spent an hour or so enjoying the scenery and watching the vultures circling in the thermals next to the mountain. It was lovely, and in most directions the views were actually quite clear. 

After lunch (a home made proscuitto and cheese sandwich because money is getting seriously tight!) I took the subway over to Lapa where I went to see, what can only be described as the single most hideous cathedral I have ever seen, and then took the Bondes, an old tram, up to Santa Teresa, one of the oldest parts of Rio. I had been warned it was quite dangerous in this area, because the hillside surrounding Santa Teresa is home to one of Rios several favelas (slums). However, I wanted to go anyway to see the old Portuguese architecture, and try out the ancient tram. For just R$0.60, I took the 15 minute ride up the hill past beautiful old Portuguese buildings. I spent about half an hour wandering the main (safer) streets of Santa Teresa, and doing a little gift shopping, before heading down. The ride back down was not as pleasant as the one up because the Bonde was so full of people. Some people simply clung on at the side without getting a seat, and had to press themselves against the tram at certain points to avoid hitting the walls and barbed wire fences we passed. Health and safety would have a field day with something like this in the UK!!

That night I made it back to my hotel early to pack (for the final time) before my flight up to Aracaju the following morning.

Off to work we go...

Today I fly up to my field site in Sergipe, on the north east coast of Brazil. Here I'll spend 3 months catching, tagging and watching giant ants...

.

..and sitting on the beach, sipping cocktails :)

Iguazu: Waterfalls and Wildlife

After a lovely few days amidst the dramatic scenery of Calafate, I headed north east to the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where the stunning Iguazu falls can be found. I arrived early evening at the Hotel Los Troncos, in the small town of Puerto Iguazu, and was immediately met with a warm welcome. The hotel was beautiful; fairly basic but charming and made almost entirely out of wood. I had my welcome drink - my first caipirinha of the trip.

The following morning I got up as early as I could drag myself out of bed, and took the 30 minute bus ride to the National Park where the waterfalls can be found. I began exploring the 15 km of trails in the Iguazu national park with the lower trail, which brings you down the hill side to view the Adam, Eve and Bossetti waterfalls from below. The views of the falls were absolutely stunning, surrounding the Rio Iguazu there are waterfalls cascading down almost every cliff, with thick forest peeping out in between.

At the bottom of the lower trail I took the opportunity for two boat rides. The first, known quite aptly as the 'shower' takes you up close to the waterfalls, and includes a seriously intense dip into the waterfalls themselves, in which it is impossible not to get absolutely drenched. Mostly this was incredibly fun and exhilarating, although for the most intense dunking I found it quite difficult to breath! After my shower, it took me nearly 3 hours to dry out completely, although my wet clothes provided some welcome relief from the heat.

The second boat trip was much shorter and less intense, and took me across the river to the San Martin Island which sits in between the falls. Here I took a short hike up the island to view the falls from another angle. Hundreds of vultures circle the island constantly, and I was lucky enough to see one perched on a tree quite close to the trail. The paths nearest the falls are constantly showered with a light mist of water from the neighbouring waterfalls, and the paths were quite slippy. At one point I lost my balance and spent a few seconds fumbling to regain my balance. Luckily I managed to stay upright! 

Heading back up the trail I stopped at the cafe for some lunch, where the tourists are constantly badgered by a small relative of the racoon, known in Argentina as the Couti. They were adorably inquisitive and friendly, coming right up to you and even climbing onto the tables to try and steal some food. The adults are about the size of a medium-sized dog, accompanied by lots of babies. Many of the other tourists seemed to find them a nuisance but I thought they were very cute.

In the afternoon I continued up to the upper trail, where you can see the falls from above. This tested my vertigo a little in places, but the views were spectacular. Finally, I caught the train up to the main attraction - the Garganta del Diablo, or devils throat. Here 1500m3 of water per second flows over a horse-shoe shaped cliff and plummets 150m to the river below. The water is so powerful here that it is impossible to see the base of the falls because they are obscured by a contant mist. This trail is quoted as taking 2 hours, however the walk itself takes just 10 minutes; you need at least an hour to come to terms with what you're seeing.

My day ended with a quiet dingy ride back down the river to view wildlife and appreciate the river at a slower pace. This was lovely, and during the ride we saw Caimen, Turtles and a Toucan.

The Iguazu national park was opened in 1934, and covers 67,000 hectares of sub-tropical forest, housing a miriad of different wildlife, including Puma, Armadillos, Birds of Prey and many more. The national park on the Brazilian side adds an extra 185,000 hectares of forest under protection. This might sound impressive, but it covers just 7% of the original size of these forests, and conservationists are still working to determine how severe an effect this level of deforestation has had.

On my second day in Iguassu, I headed over to the Brazilian side. They say that while Argentina got the waterfalls (80% of the Iguazu falls are on this side of the border), Brazil got the view. Only on this side of the border can you really appreciate the scale of the falls.

The short trail culminates in a view of the devils throat from a greater distance, and a close up view of the Brazilian 20%.

Viewing the falls, from both sides, is mesmerising. In contrast to the beautiful, but static scenery I have seen so far on my trip, the waterfalls are in constant motion, and it is easy to become entranced watching the motion of the water.

The Brazilian side of the waterfalls has a much less extensive set of trails, and takes only a few hours to view in its entirety. So that afternoon I was transferred to my hotel and had the afternoon free. I decided to visit the Bird Park, which was conveniently only a few minutes walk from the hotel. Here they have 5 acres of land housing numerous aviaries set amongst the forest, some of which you can walk in. The best of these was the first walk-in aviary, where they had about 30 Toucans, who are comically friendly and curious, and hop about on the trees and railings close to the path, begging to have their photo taken. I made friends with one in particular, who posed for a photo, let me stroke him, and only after about 10 minutes together did he tire of my presence and start trying to eat my top. 

Up next: Rio

On the final leg of my Argentinian adventure, I'm heading over to.... Brazil! I'll be spending my last few days of holiday in Rio de Janeiro.

Patagonia Part Two: El Calafate

After an exhausting day of travel, I arrived in Calafate - the most southerly point on my Argentina adventure. On the airport transfer I met two dutch girls, Suzanne and Marloes, who were staying at the same hotel as me, and when we arrived we immediately made plans to go for dinner together. It was so nice to have other people to have dinner and conversation with!

We had dinner at a small pizzeria in town, where I ordered a ham and pineapple (probably the best I have ever tasted!) and the dutch girls opted for a spinach pizza humerously entitled "Green, I love you green". After dinner we headed straight back to the hotel - we had a very early start the next morning for our glacier tour.

At 8am we were picked up from our hotel to make the 45 minute journey to the port on lake argentina where we would begin our boat tour. When we arrived at the port, we were presented with a rather upsetting reality - it was very windy, and the boat captain was not sure if it was safe to go out to the glacier today. We spent 10 minutes anxiously awaiting a final decision, fearing the worst. However, when the guide returned, he said we were able to go out in the boat afterall, and so we bought our tickets and boarded.

The boat tour began with an extremely rough 20 minutes crossing the widest part of the lake, but once we we reached the smaller channels, it calmed down considerably, and we were able to go out onto the deck and take photos of the scenery, which was absolutely stunning. Large, snow-capped mountains surrounded the lake on almost every side, and as we progressed, icebergs began to appear in the water. It was very beautiful, but it was still extremely windy and cold and being out on deck was a fairly intense experience.

After about an hour, we arrived at the first view of a glacier. This was the Upsala glacier, the second largest in the area. The huge wall of ice was incredible. It ranged from pure white in colour to a deep turquoise blue - this difference in colour reflects the age of the ice - older parts of the glacier are a deeper blue colour. Continuing on we passed more mountains, with a strange contrast between ice, mountain and thick forest. The colours were amazing. One part of the glacier we visited was particularly special. Here only a small edge of the glacier was visible, surrounded on both sides by mountains, with forest at the lower altitudes and snow at the peak. As it is autumn currently, many of the trees are beginning to turn a deep auburn red. A light rain was falling, and this formed the most spectacular rainbow over the glacier. We stopped here for about half an hour, before continuing on to the main attraction - the Perito Moreno glacier.

At the glaciers edge, a 60m wall of ice emerges between the mountains. The top of the glacier was jagged, whilst the walls were much smoother. Occasionally, large chunks of ice would fall from the edge of the glacier and come crashing into the water below. Perito Morena is the 3rd largest of the glaciers in the area, but it is one of the only remaining glaciers that in Argentina that is growing rather than retracting, at a rate of about 7cm a day during the winter months. It is also the only glacier here that is accessible by land.

After about 10 minutes of viewing the glacier, I started to feel rather unwell. I was developing what I now know as my glacier headache! The glacier is so white, it is almost painful to look at without sunglasses, and this combined with the rocking of the boat and the extreme exposure to the elements, started to make me feel quite ill. So I went back inside the boat, and tried to feel better. I spent most of the return journey sleeping, and when we arrived back at the hotel, I felt much better.

My second day in Calafate began with a 2 hour drive back into the national park and to Perito Moreno, this time to view the glacier from land. Along the way we stopped to see flamingos and some condors feeding! Once we arrived at the glacier, I had 3 hours to explore the trails, which offered various views of the glacier, some very close. This time, the ice falling from the glaciers edge was even more dramatic, although unfortunately just as we were leaving we heard a several huge crashes which probably would have been incredible to see up close.

That evening, my last in Calafate, I decided to go out for a meal and some drinks with my new friends, Suzanne and Marloes. We had a nice, if very expensive dinner at a crowded restaurant on the edge of town, and then headed back into the center (if you can call it that!!) to see if we could find anywhere good to go out for a few drinks. We stopped at one bar and had a beer, but it wasn't very busy and so we decided to move on elsewhere. By this point, I had reached the conclusion that Calafate was an extremely safe town, and after a couple of drinks and in good company, I started to let my guard down. Out of the blue, a man, who I hadn't even given a second glance to as he walked past us, tried to grab my bag. I'm not entirely sure how, but in the moment, I clung onto my bag, and he pulled me over onto the floor as he tried to run off. Luckily, he gave up and ran away, leaving me bruised and shaken, but with all my personal belongings. Apparently, this was only the second time anyone had been robbed in over 2 years - I must have been very unlucky!

Having calmed down a bit, we went onto another bar as planned - supposedly the most 'happening' place in Calafate. The Argentinians are notorios night-owls, so we had been warned that things wouldn't really heat up until about 2am. So we had a drink and waited. Slowly the bar started to fill up, but with almost exclusively middle-aged men who looked like farmers. At about 2.30am, we gave up and were going to head home when we spotted another bar, and this one was much better. We stayed out drinking and dancing till nearly 6am! Luckily we had been told that there was no check-out time the following day, and my flight wasn't until 3pm, so I had plenty of time to catch up some sleep before heading over to the next stop on my tour - Iguazu.

Into the Jungle

Today I fly back up into more tropical clines, visiting the waterfalls at Iguazu (or Iguassu or Iguaçu, depending on who you ask).

My flight is slightly later than originally planned, since apparently the airline, aerolineas argentina, like to change their minds.... a lot!

Patagonia Part One: Puerto Madryn

Having settled into my hotel and had a much needed shower, I headed out to explore the town. My first afternoon in Puerto Madryn was free so I headed along the beach up towards the nearest peninsula, where I had been informed there were beautiful views, and a much anticipated nature museum, the Ecocenter. The views, were as promised, and the weather was lovely, so I really enjoyed my stroll up to the top of the peninsula. However, upon arriving at the Ecocenter I found that it was only open Thursday to Sunday, and then only from 3pm to 7pm. With opening times like that, it seems hardly worth bothering. Sadly for me, it was Monday, and I was leaving early on Thursday morning. So, I sat and enjoyed the views for a while, and, wandering around the perimeter of the museum I found I was still able to catch a glimpse of the skeleton of the famous Orca - Mel who used to rescue lost sea lion pups (usually a tasty snack for an Orca).

Heading back down towards town I stopped in at a museum that was actually open, detailing the colonisation of Puerto Madryn by the welsh in the 19th century. Did anyone else know that the Welsh colonised Patagonia? Because I certainly didn't. Apparently the were trying to escape persecution by the English. Its just a pitty that the European settlers didn't bring sheep to the area until much later, or they would have felt even more at home! The museum was quite good though, and just down the shore I was able to visit some man-made caves where the first settlers made their homes.

As an aside, one of the main problems that early settlers of the Chubut region had was a lack of fresh water. There is only one rather small river that serves the entire region, and even today water is a limited resource. Although this doesn't seem to stop the current residents from almost drowning their lush green grass and elaborate flower beds in water in order to maintain them!

Just after sun set I headed out into town to try and find some dinner. After getting a quick drink at a highly recomended bar called Margarita, where I enjoyed a cold beer and watched the owner change a lightbulb, I headed to a restaurant recommended in my guide book as serving the best pizza in town. This restaurant did not disappoint, and for the extremely reasonable price of 50 pesos, I had a really wonderful dinner. Early to bed that night though, as I knew I had an early start the following morning for my tour of Peninsula Valdes, starting at 8am.

An hours drive, and a chance to wake up properly, into my tour, we arrived at our first stop, the visitors center for Peninsula Valdes, where they have a skeleton of a baby (but still absolutely enourmous) Southern Right Whale, the whales which the area is known for. Unfortunately for me, it was out of whale season, so this was the only specimen I was likely to see. But, beggers can't be choosers, and it turns out this was exactly the right time of year to see baby sea lions. So we headed on, past Caleta Valdes, a bizarre mound of sediment deposited just off shore when the seas retreated some 90,000 years ago. Another 40 minutes later and we arrived at Punta Norte, where the sea lion colony was to be found. We had been informed that, if we were very lucky, we might get to see an Orca (or killer whale, although actually a dolphin, not a whale), as at this time of year they sometimes beach themselves rather dramatically in an attempt to catch a baby sea lion.

Seeing the sea lions was wonderful. As I said, at this time of year the mothers have young babies, who have just begun to enter the water alone, and watching them play in the waves was magical. They are quite a noisy bunch though! Waiting in tense anticipation, we watched to see if an Orca would appear. I wasn't quite sure if I should be willing one to appear, or not, as of course it would be an incredible thing to see, but equally the idea of seeing a sea lion pup being eaten was not something I relished. Either way, the orcas never turned up, and after about an hour, we headed home. 

My last day in Puerto Madryn was the trip I had been looking forward to most - a visit to Punto Tumbo and the largest penguin colony in Patagonia. After about 2 hours driving, the last half an hour of which was on a gravel track, we arrived at Punto Tumbo, a nature reserve south of Puerto Madryn. Here we bought our tickets and were given an hour and a half to wander through the reserve on specially laid out wooden paths. Immediately upon entering the park, we saw our first penguin. Right there next to the path, just minding its own business! It was amazingly close, and seemed totally calm about our presence. As I continued along the path up a small hill, there was another penguin. And then another, and another, and before I knew it, they were everywhere! Under almost every bush we passed there was a penguin or two, sitting or laying in the shade. At this time of year, the chicks have grown up and only juveniles and females remain, spending most of their time on land whilst they molt their feathers ready to head back to sea. Some of the penguins were looking a bit dishevelled, with half of their feathers missing, and the ground was absolutely covered in lost feathers. 

My initial excitement about the few penguins near the entrance was premature. Within the main part of the park, there were penguins everywhere. Apparently in total this colony contains about half a million birds, and it is hard to describe just what 500,000 penguins looks like, but it was absolutely incredible. Dotted about the landscape like pieces of black and white litter, literally everywhere you looked there was a penguin... or six. It was amazing. Best of all was how calm they were about humans. When you got too close, some penguins would look a little upset, tilting their heads from side to side in an attempt to judge how close you actually were, but we were still able to get within less than a meter of most of them, and it was amazing.

Last Day in Buenos Aires

On my last morning in Buenos Aires, the rains came. And in the tropics, when it rains, it pours. Despite this, I had a few last things I wanted to do before my bus left for Puerto Madryn that afternoon, so I caught the subway into town. First on my list was a short subway ride on a different line, where the original wooden cars where still in use. Sliding open the wooden doors by hand and sitting down on the benches inside was a little unnerving, but an experience I didn't want to miss. I couldn't help but imagine what it must have been like to ride the subway when it was first built, on these rickety wooden cars.

Leaving the subway at the next stop, Plaza de Mayo in the center of town, I headed towns San Telmo, where my guide had informed me there was an antiques market which was only open on Sundays. Despite the rain, the streets were lined with market stalls selling local crafts and souvenirs, for several blocks until I reached San Telmo. I'm not particularly bothered about antiques, and I certainly wasn't in the position to be buying anything much, but the market was definitely worth a visit. The market was already teeming with people at 11am, as well as street performers ranging from traditional tango dancers to digeridoo players. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time here, and after a fairly brief stroll around the market stalls, I had to head back.


Arriving back at the hotel at 2pm, I picked up my (excessive) luggage and took a taxi to the bus station, where I boarded my bus to Patagonia. I was pleased to find the bus was as luxurious as promised - large, comfy seats which reclined and air conditioning would definitely make the 17 hour journey more bearable. Food was served on board and we stopped several times along the way so I was able to smoke. In relative comfort, I managed to sleep for most of the journey, and awoke around 7am the following morning in time to have breakfast before arriving in Puerto Madryn, in the Chubut region of Patagonia.

On to Calafate

Today I'm flying over to El Calafate, where the one of the last remaining expanding glaciers is found. I'll be spending 3 days seeing the glaciers by boat and on foot. 

 

Unfortunately, there are no direct buses or flights from Puerto Madryn to El Calafate. I have to fly back up to Buenos Aires and then down to Calafate. I hope the bus I took to Puerto Madryn will at least partly make up for my carbon foot print!

Heading down to Patagonia

After 3 days in Buenos Aires, today I'm taking an overnight bus to Puerto Madryn, in Patagonia, where I will spend another 3 days seeing local wildlife, such as whales and penguins. Wish me luck on the 17 hour bus ride!!

Hola Buenos Aires!

My adventure began with one of the most hectic days of my life. Having returned to Leeds with just 4 days to prepare and pack for my trip, everything was considerably more last minute than I would have liked. The day of my flight began with some last minute packing, followed by a trip to Halfords on a wild-goose chase for some crocodile clips for my fieldwork. In the end, packing came down to the wire, and I just about managed to get everything together in time to catch my train to the station at 2pm. 

My journey to the airport allowed me to discover what is my upper limit of luggage. Unfortunately, it was slightly less than the amount of luggage I had. With a full size backpack, suitcase, padded case full of radio tracking equipment and hand luggage, I only just made it to the check in desk. Thankfully my bags were now checked in all the way to Buenos Aires.

Having boarded the plane, I quickly discovered that I had hit the economy class jackpot. Three seats in a row with nobody sitting in them! I almost felt sorry for the saps in first class who had actually paid extra to lie down flat for 13 hrs - I was able to do it at no extra cost! 

I arrived in Buenos Aires the following morning, exhausted. I checked into the hotel and decided to have a nap in preparation for the city tour in the afternoon. At 2.30pm, Analm, my English speaking tour guide, arrived to pick me up. For the next two hours we drove around the streets of Buenos Aires as she pointed out sites of interest, stopping a couple of times to take a closer look. We made a brief stop at Recoleta Cemetery, final resting place of Evita, and another at Caminito, the vibrantly coloured shanty town, once home to thousands of European immigrants. When the immigrants first arrived in Buenos Aires, they were given housing by the government for just 4 days before being expected to make their own way in the city. Understandably, this was a formidable task, and most of them ended up living communally in small shacks built from whatever materials were available, and painted using paint stolen from cargo ships. Caminito also lays claim to being the home of the Tango, and its vibrant atmosphere is quite contagious. 

The next day, I headed straight back to Recoleta cemetery, the "city of the dead", for a closer look. The cemetery is aptly named, as it the hundreds of mausoleums form disorganised streets and alleyways. A mish-mash of architectural styles, the cemetery really does have to be seen to be believed. The main tourist attraction is, of course, the burial place of the much beloved Evita, although the Government were initially unhappy about her burial here, and the mausoleum is hidden away on of the the "side-streets" making it quite difficult to find. Although it might sound strange, the cemetery is quite a pleasant place to be. Many of the "streets" are lined with trees providing much needed shade from the relentless sun.

For the remainder of the day, I decided to head to the numerous parks and gardens in the Northwest of the city. I began by heading to the Japanese Gardens, which are utterly picturesque, and as the day drew to a close, I wandered over to the BA botanical gardens. Unfortunately, this part of town is not well served by the underground network, and so I traveled everywhere on foot, and by the time I arrived at the botanical gardens, my feet were threatening to kill me! Upon arriving at the botanical gardens, I was a little disappointed at what initially appeared to be, well, just a load of trees. So I found a nice looking bench and had a little nap. Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after my sleep, I finished wandering around the gardens and they turned out to be a lot more beautiful than I had at first given them credit for. What a difference a nap can make!

On my last full day in the nations capital, I decided to head back towards the center of town to visit the historic parts of the city. I began in the Plaza de Mayo, the historical hub of the city, where the president's home resides, and the site of frequent political protests and demonstrations. The government office offers guided tours (although, not in English!) around the building, and so I jumped at the chance. We were allowed to tour the building quite extensively, including a brief visit to the office of the president and of his secretaries.

I got lucky and managed to tail an English speaking tour guide so that I was actually able to understand what I was looking at!

I ended my day with one final trip to the richest part of town, Puerto Madero. This area, next to the disused docks, has benefited greatly from a recent cash injection, and is now home to swanky restaurants, high-rise apartments and hotels, and boasts being the safest part of the city due to the many guards and security cameras. Immediately next to this is the Reserva Ecologica, an area of grass land which appeared, somewhat accidentally when the city tried to reclaim the land from the river, and then gave up half way through. It is now home to a variety of wildlife, and a beautifully relaxing way to escape from the bustle of the city. As the evening drew in, I headed back over to the main street of Puerto Madero, where I intended to find somewhere to have a nice meal by the harbour. Unfortunately, the restaurant I chose, although one of the more reasonably priced in this area, turned out to be pretty awful. The food was, OK, although a little salty, but most frustratingly,

despite being only the second customer in that evening, the food took absolutely forever to arrive. When it did, my pasta was so cheesy that by the time I left, I was feeling quite ill. Walking back towards the subway station, I tried to get some cash out and failed, repeatedly. I was beginning to hate BA. When I finally got onto my subway ride home, I was feeling tired, fed up, and a little sick still. Then, a man got onto the train and started busking with his acoustic guitar, tambourine and harmonica. Apparently, this was exactly what I needed, and it completely turned my mood around. By the time I got off the subway, Buenos Aires was back in my good books. 

Tomorrow I take the executive night bus to Puerto Madryn, in Patagonia!