Day 49 - Buenos Aires, Argentina to Punta del Este, Uruguay

We left the hotel at 6.30. The Alvear Palace has been wonderful and we really did not want to go. We arrived at the docks at 7am and were still waiting in line for our boarding cards at 8.20 and the boat was due to leave at 8.30. Another organisational blip by HERO? Five cars were left behind for the next ferry because there was not enough room.

We left late but it was a smooth easy crossing of the River Plate by hydrofoil to Colonia del Sacramento. There was a great reception party of dancing girls, musicians and large crowds to welcome us to Uruguay.

Crowds of school children waved at us as we drove through the crowded streets.

We stopped and got out of the car to watch the rally cars driving past. We saw Wilhelm and Barbara's damaged Landcruiser parked nearby. How they managed to drive all the way from Ushuaia I will never know!

It started to pour with rain. We arrived in Montevideo at lunchtime in the rain and we could see thunderstorms ahead.

 

 
We stopped for lunch in a converted market near the port. It was very good food which they cooked on the grill in front of us. The others had excellent meat and also chicken and chorizo. I had tomato salad and chips.

 The rain came down in torrents as we headed for Punta del Este. We arrived at the Conrad Resort and Casino at about 5pm.

 The Marklands arrived later. It is a huge hotel with quite a tacky casino on the premises. We ate in the hotel and played on the "dollar" machine afterwards. (No luck!) There was a beautiful sunset with wonderful colours.

Total distance 207 miles

Day 48 - Buenos Aires - Rest Day

Last day in Buenos Aires.

I walked with Tim and Colin to find the Ateneo, a bookshop in an old theatre. It was wonderful inside with books all through the centre and upper seating area and a cafe on the stage. It was very hot and the air-conditioning was not very efficient, so we took a taxi to Galerias Pacifico, a large shopping mall, to cool off. I bought a leather cosmetic bag in a very good leather shop and some film for my camera. Tim went to C&A for some clothes! We met the Robinsons and we all walked to the Sheraton to find out about the boat tomorrow. There is a nice outdoor pool at their hotel, which was very tempting as it was so humid.

We had lunch with Colin at La Biela, a famous old cafe. We sat outside and had a sandwich and a beer and it was cool there. Tim and Colin bought La Biela tankards. I went to the Basilica of Nuestra Senora de Pilar in Recoleta and took some photos.

We then got ready for the black tie reception at the British Embassy. We met the British Ambassador and also the owner of the Ateneo bookshop! It was good fun with wine, champagne and canapes. There was a prizegiving followed by tango dancers, a singer and some musicians. Later, we had a drink in the hotel bar with Paul and Charlie. Ready for Uruguay tomorrow!

Day 47 - Buenos Aires - Rest Day

Tim went out early with Paul to look at the Buick. We booked a sightseeing tour at 11am with a private guide. The people of Buenos Aires are called Portenos. Our guide, Evelyn Kollmann, arrived. She is an Argentinian of Austrian extraction and speaks perfect English.She is also a teacher and translator.

We spent the next 3 hours driving around Buenos Aires with Evelyn and a driver, Ilmar. We went first to the cemetery at Recoleta and saw wonderful mausoleums, including Evita's.

 We heard amazing stories about her. She died in 1952 and her body was finally buried in 1977.

The city is very attractive and we saw parks, squares, statues, Jacaranda trees and "drunken sticks", or palo borracho, which are odd-looking trees with thorns and orange flowers.

Then we saw the Casa Rosada and the balcony where Evita stood and addressed the people.

Evelyn told us many stories of bribery and corruption. Argentina is in dire financial trouble and we saw long queues at the banks. We drove on to La Boca, famous for its football team where Maradona played. Their opponents and sworn enemies are the River Plate team. La Boca has brightly-coloured houses with amusing looking statues on the balconies and in the streets.

 

In the evening we had a lovely barbecue at the Fox's house in San Isidro. We heard that Ricardo from the Portuguese film company has become a father ( a boy).

Day 46 - Buenos Aires - Rest Day

Tim had a massage at the hotel in the morning and I went for a walk.In a nearby square were large old trees called ombu with massive root systems spreading above ground. I met Yvonne and David at the shops, then Tim found me and we walked to the port for a late lunch. We went into the Sheraton, the official HERO hotel, and saw the Robinsons arriving from Mar del Plata. It was raining heavily. Paul's car is not looking good, but he is still hopeful. We had a drink with Paul in the Alvear Palace bar and were joined by the Moffatts, the Noors and the beekeepers (the Borns). Later, Paul, Yvonne, David, Tim and I went downstairs to La Bourgogne (the excellent hotel restaurant). I had beautifully presented avocado and langoustine.

The Alvear Palace Hotel in the centre of Buenos Aires.

An interesting thing happened in the hotel. Outside the door of the room next to us is an armed guard who apparently is protecting guests.  We came out of our room as the guards were escorting a man and a woman to the lift. When the lift door opened one of the guards stood in front of the opening doors while the two guests were kept to the side to ensure that no one exiting the lift could attack them! We wondered who the guests were that warranted such protection.

Day 45 - Bahia Blanca to Buenos Aires

We left Bahia Blanca after breakfast and were making good progress until the Marklands' car started to go wrong. Here we are parked by the side of the road  trying to sort the Buick's engine.

We sat around for ages in the heat (31 degrees C), then set off, then stopped again. We ended up towing them which was quite stressful. They had to go through the Peaje (tolls) separately as it was impossible tied together. We then had no problems with the 2 tolls on the Autopista to Buenos Aires, but, at the last toll, which was in the city, they said we could not tow on the motorway and they called the police.

Finally, we had to drive separately in the city and we were afraid the Buick might break down in the busy traffic. The hotel was hard to find, especially with so many one-way streets, but we all made it in the end. The Alvear Palace Hotel is excellent. We had a junior suite which was extremely comfortable. The Noors were also staying there.

We had dinner at Las Lilas with the Noors, the Marklands, Colin and Ricardo and Sylvia Fox, who live in the city and are great fun.

Total distance 402 miles.

Day 44 - Puerto Madryn to Bahia Blanca

To Bahia Blanca.

We left at about 8am, together with the Marklands and Lennox (from Canada) on his own. It was quite a long journey - a straight road and unchanging countryside. We all stopped for lunch next to a petrol station. I had a good omelette but no wine as it was my turn to drive the rest of the way into Bahia Blanca. We saw cattle on the pampas and suddenly the scenery changed to agricultural land.

We checked into the Hotel Argos which was 4-star.

Our room was small but well-appointed. We went for drinks at the Marklands' hotel, the Austral, where the Doreys and Lennox were also staying. Lennox had a new navigator, Miriam from Venezuela. We had a good dinner at a local restaurant, then walked back to our hotel. We are ready for Buenos Aires tomorrow!

Distance driven - 254 miles

Day 43 - Puerto Madryn - Valdes Peninsular

Rest day.

Puerto Madryn is a very pleasant town. We went out early to look for whales in the same place as yesterday (El Doradillo Beach) and saw some straight away. Then we parked down at the beach and were very close to 2 or 3 of them and had a very good view. A tail came out of the water and made slapping sounds.

 I was concentrating on taking photos of them, which was not easy, when I looked down at my feet and a penguin was standing there watching me. He was only a foot away from me, then he swam away in the sea. We drove to a beautiful headland, but couldn't see any more whales, so we decided to drive on to Puerto Piramides, also on the Valdes Peninsula, 98 kms from Puerto Madryn.

It was a sweet little seaside place where Paul and Charlie had already gone on a boat trip and seen lots of whales close-up, so we bought tickets for the next boat.

Colin and the group waiting on the beach for our boat and the boat being hauled out of the sea by a tractor.

There were about 40 other people on the Hydrosport boat, some of them elderly Argentinians, and we all got on the boat while it was on the sand, then were dragged down into the water by a tractor.

The boat was run by Julio, an American who used to live in Hawaii. We were out of the bay before we saw the first whales which came very close to our  boat. There were one or two other boats there too, then one whale came even closer until it went right under our boat and came out the other side! It rolled over and then we could see an eye and one of its fins. We took several pictures of its tail.

They were medium-sized whales, about 30/40 feet long. Then we saw 2 together and one breeched and came right out of the water in front of another smaller boat.

It did it again, then another one, quite close to us, breeched right out of the water. It is quite unusual to see this and it is not known why they do it.

After about an hour, we headed back, having seen many whales including a mother with her semi-albino baby, about 2 or 3 months old. We also saw a few seals and sea lions on the way back. A great trip! We had lunch in Puerto Piramides, but there were lots of flies and dogs.

Back in Puerto Madryn, we walked along the front for a drink at a beach bar and met Wilhelm and Barbara. They have had the car roof jacked up and put in plastic windows. We had dinner with Colin, but it was indifferent with slow service. We leave tomorrow at 8am.

Distance driven 121 miles.

Day 42 - Trelew to Puerto Madryn

Only 2 weeks to go!

Before we set off for Puerto Madryn, another place with a Welsh heritage, we visited Trelew Dinosaur Museum. The present building is 2 years old with well-designed exhibition rooms.

 
There are many bones and fossils and some complete dinosaurs. We had a very informative guide who spoke good English.
  
We then drove about 50 kms to Puerto Madryn and the Hotel Tolosa.

Tim was not happy with the standard of the rooms and we enquired at other hotels but we could not book 2 consecutive nights anywhere else as the Rally was coming in for the 2nd night. We were forced to go back to the Tolosa where Tim made a fuss! This resulted in a very good room for us - spacious and simple, but acceptable - and a smaller one with a seaview for Colin. The Tolosa is actually not bad, but some or even most of the rooms are small and not great.

We drove 20 kms out to the beach to see Southern Right whales. There were quite a few but quite far out to sea and occasionally you could see the tail flukes rising out of the water.

Parked up and looking out for whales.

The Robinsons turned up from Comodoro Rivadavia and told us that a whale-watching "hut" here had been paid for by Princess Diana.

Other people from the Rally have also arrived early, including the Doreys who have clutch trouble this time. We had a good meal with Colin and Paul at Placido next to the beach. More whales tomorrow, we hope.

Distance driven 90 miles.

Day 41 - Comadoro Rivadavia to Trelew

We are still in Patagonia and heading for the penguin colony. We left at 10.30 with Colin driving, but he felt tired. Tim had a bad back, so I drove. We went off the main road to Punta Tombo, where the penguins are, but it was a gravel road and I have become quite nervous of gravel after all the accidents, so, after a while, Tim took over the wheel for the last few kilometres. We arrived at the Reserve, paid $7 each, then saw penguins walking all over the road!

We had to drive very carefully. It was a wonderful sight and we were very close to them. We parked near the beach and were absolutely thrilled to see Magellanic penguins everywhere. There are about half a million. It was a dream come true - penguins swimming, walking about, sitting on nests, and so on. We saw the eggs and also babies that had just hatched. Another real highlight of the Rally. It was great to see them walking on their paths down to or away from the sea. They looked very comical waddling along, then they dived into the water where they appeared much more at home. We did try to keep our distance and not stress them, but some of them walked right up to us, as if curious to see what we were like. Here is Tim contravening the rules!!

Down at the beach.

We took masses of photos, then, reluctantly, we had to leave and drive on to Trelew (another gravel road).

Following Paul on the gravel road from the penguin reserve.

On the way we saw guanacos, rhea with babies, "gopher-type"rodents and possibly an armadillo.

We were staying at the Hotel Rayentray - OK, but fairly basic - and Joanna Brown and Co.were there too.

Colin did not feel well, so Tim and I ate in the hotel. There were white tablecloths and chair "aprons" and the food was pretty good too. Paul and Charlie joined us for coffee.

 

Distance driven today 301 miles. We are now 1,175 miles from Ushuaia.

Day 40 - Rio Gallegos to Comadoro Rivadavia

We left at 8.30, but had to turn back after 15 minutes as the Marklands were still having problems with their car.

We all sat around for ages at a garage and then finally left at 11.30. We hoped the Buick would be OK after having one piston and a con rod removed, so it was now running on 5 cylinders. It was a long drive and we bought some bread and sandwiches in a garage to sustain us. We swapped passengers, having Charlie with us and then Paul. The landscape became slightly more interesting and we saw flamingoes. We also looked out for seals, but did not see any.

Before our final destination, we drove into Caleta Olivia, where there is a massive 13 metre high statue of an oil worker, known as El Gorosito. He is reputed to be looking towards the North, where all the profits from his labour end up.

We checked into our hotel, the Austral in Comodoro Rivadavia, and immediately saw the Robinsons in the bar!

We changed and had dinner in the hotel with Colin, Carolynn and Peter and exchanged stories. They are staying tomorrow night in order to rejoin the Rally. We are leaving tomorrow at about 10am to go to Trelew and hopefully to see penguins on the way!

Distance driven today 499 miles.