3/10 - At Sea and 3/11 - Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Finally, a little bit warmer weather and SUN!!! We were able to hang out on the pool deck with a blanket at least, so I kind of looked like a burrito lying on towels on the deck chair, with a blanket wrapped around me on top so it wouldn't blow away, with only my face sticking out, hanging out by the tall speaker playing salsa music. The wind was pretty strong and cold, but the sun was warm and felt good after the past few gloomy days. There was no knitting outside because it would have blown away immediately! I had to tuck the heavy wool blankets under me just to keep them from blowing away! That was the extent of the sea day, just hanging out on the deck or knitting/shopping inside.

On 3/11, we arrived in Puerto Madryn, Argentina.

This was another laid back day, and our first beach day. We had cancelled our tour as we didn't really feel like going to the museums that were offered (I think they were paleontological and railway museums) and it seemed that any other options in the port were things we'd already seen in bigger and better form (penguins, sea lions) and were too far away (like 3 hour bus rides each way on buses that we were warned were not up to snuff on dirt roads, etc.)

After waiting for everyone who was doing tours to get off the ship (and some knitting in the meantime - little did I know Jim was "knitstalking" me for the picture while walking around the ship on his own)

we decided to have a laid back day exploring the port on our own. There was a shuttle bus that went back and forth from the port to the main area of "town" and so we took a ride on it. After walking down the beach about a mile or so,

we found this Warsteiner bar (more German influences) and decided to sit and have a beer.

After a tasty beer

and some knitting

we decided to order lunch. Hooboy, was it "interesting"! The menu was solely in Spanish, so we had a heck of a time guessing what to get. We went with calamari and what we thought might be a type of sausage "longinistas" as it sounded like "linguica" which I know is a type of really yummy Portuguese sausage. We ended up with calamari, all right, but in a form I had never encountered before "in the wild"

and the longinistas were actually shrimp

which surprised us as we knew the word for shrimp is "camarones" and we didn't see that word anywhere on the menu. So we ate a decent amount with some of the bread, which was saltier than bread I've had before but good, and then left.

After more walking around, we then went to this other cafe and ordered one of the local Argentine beers, Quilmes. This was "the" beer throughout Argentina.

It tasted OK (not great) but the bottle was way too big! The trend seemed to be for people to sit in the cafe and either read the newspaper or people-watch, and share one of these huge beers.

On our way back, we saw our favorite bartender lying like well, a (skinny) beached whale, or maybe sea lion, on the beach. He had come into port for a traditional Argentine roast beef lunch and was literally "belly up".

So this was our crazy day in Puerto Madryn. Lots of local color and culture!

Comments

[Michelle]

Looks like fun! and what interesting food!!!

[Jenny]

That looks like the most fun yet to me. I love exploring new places and trying out the weirdy food and shops.

[Adrienne]

I promise you I can feel the sun from these pics!!! I am loving this! lol

[Carol]

The funny food reminds me of the story my mom used to tell about the time her and dad went to Thailand. They were pointing at plates that other diners had in oder to decide what to have!

[Bobbi]

so tell me about the travel knitting. I'm trying to decide how much to take with me on my trip. Did you get a lot done? Did you work on anything complicated?

[Stacey_CrimsonPurl]

Gurl I just love your kniting vacation pics! :o)

And I would have freaked out when that food came on my table! LOL I like shrimp without the head please! HAHA!

[Kim]

Oh, the differences in languages as really used, huh? The food looks good, though. . .

[tiennie]

This post cracks me up. Knitstalking! Skinny beached whale! Looks like a fun time.

[Kasia]

Looks like you had a great time! Well after WW2 many Germans (as well Nazis) lived in Argentina, because it was the safest place for them. Maybe that's why they have their German beer? ;)

[knittymuggins]

Hee hee. Love the "knitstalking" photo ;)

Um. Interesting lunch! I'd say it was pretty adventurous of you guys to give it a try though!