Ok, so we haven’t been on land in a couple of days since the whole Falkland Islands debacle and we were thrilled to arrive at Puerto Madryn in the Chubut region just about as much as I was happy to say “chewbutt” like a proper 12 year old boy every single time we walked passed a sign. Also, in the list of things to be thankful for - a proper port docking so no water shuttles. Shazam. Things were looking up.
We didn’t have an excursion today. Everyone frantically tried to score one when Stanley was canceled because this is our last viable penguin stop but…they were mostly sold out or WAY TOO long. Mike and Diana had one that was scheduled to be like 9 hours. What the heck. Turns out, everything is far away and you’ve got 2.5-3 hours drive there and back. Also, nope. So, doubling down on sad about the penguins but I had a sunny day in a gorgeous seaside town in an area called Chubut and it was time for a walkabout!
Jason and I opted to walk in- I honestly love walking a port. Sometimes they don’t let you. Today, they did! The water was a gorgeous array of blues and greens and as we stood admiring it I realized I was also staring at what felt like thousands of jelly fish! So many! The biggest ones I’d ever seen with massive heads and long, trailing tentacles. It was incredible to see! And I was thankful to be on land and not swimming with them;) Though I did briefly think a scuba dive underneath them to watch them swim would be so cool. I’m still trying to find someone on ship who got great pics of them - lots of photogs onboard with excellent cameras. Here’s to hoping.
A bit further down the pier, we came across a bunch of sunbathing sea lions. These dudes just hopped right up the steps, even opening a gate to go up higher.
Once we got to the beach, we took a left and followed along the boardwalk. We were told there would be 2 long streets of shopping and restaurants and it was true. Everything you could imagine - including an actual Columbia store with outdoor wear. Who knew?
We found a mini grocery and popped in and the most interesting thing happened. There was a security lady at the front and she saw my tote bag and started talking to me. I thought she said I couldn’t carry my bag in and would need to leave it up front. Ok, fine. So I pulled my phone out because I didn’t want to leave that and then she grabbed my entire bag and put into an even larger red bag and then - bam - snapped it shut with a lock and handed it back to me. What in the heck is this sorcery? This is BRILLIANT. I can keep my stuff but can’t sneak anything in. When done shopping, the cashier unlocks it and you go on your way. Why is this so smart and why didn’t I invent it?
We looked at several restaurant menus hoping for a solid linger lunch and settled on the one beach front. As we came around the block again, a spectacular wind appeared and gave us a great leg workout as we forced our way through it. Oddly, on the other side of the street where the restaurant was, there was absolutely no wind. Zero. Nada. Like - how is that? What’s going on down here in Chubut?
We got the perfect corner window table facing the beach and ordered delicious cocktails and food. We could have stayed there for hours but there was also one other thing happening which was Jason was profusely sweating as it was approximately 9304% humidity and no air movement whatsoever. I was beginning to long for the wind storm again just to have air flow. BUT, the food, drinks, and waitstaff were wonderful and we really enjoyed it. My highlight was having Argentinian empanadas in Argentina. So delicious. We would have stayed for a bottle of local white but alas, needed air.
When we left, I had flagged 3 shops I wanted to pop into and would you know that ALL of them were now closed? At the ripe hour of 2 PM. We couldn’t figure out if that was because it was Sunday, if there is a siesta time, or they just got tired of all us crazy ship passengers and called it a day. Regardless, another miss a buying something from Patagonia!
With everything being closed and the beach being chock full of jellyfish, we decided to head back to ship. By the time we made it back, we’d clocked close to 13,000 steps and it was only 3:30. Killing this thing. Everyone loved Puerto Madryn- a delightful little town with a gorgeous beach. If you’re ever in good ol’ Chubut, make your way over. Bring some jellyfish repellent.
Check out these amazing totem pole sort of things all along the beachfront - how cool is this?
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