Sometimes you have to go east to go south. In a few days, I will meet up with my friend Doug, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania down in the southern most city in the world... Ushuaia. Doug is the second person to come visit me while I've been away and also to deliver a taste from home... Mom's Christmas cookies (although a little late). So after saying goodbye to my good friend Yngve from Norway, I left Bariloche and find myself at the Atlantic Ocean again in the city of Puerto Madryn; famous for whale watching, penguins, sea lions and other assorted wild life that come here to feed and breed at Peninsula Valdes.
During the bus journey here, I met Liat, a nice girl from Israel, and then two more girls in the hostel, Lee and Caroline. We decided it would be a good idea to rent a car for a couple days to cover the long distances around the peninsula and to the places where the animals hang out. This, as it turned out, was actually NOT a good idea, however, I have now added a few more words to my spanish vocabulary!!!! Those words being 1.) Volcar 2.) Vuelco Vehiculo 3.) Pincha, and finally, 4.) Grua.
"Volcar" has several meanings, however, in the automotive sense (which applied to us) volcar means to roll over. After that happens, you have yourself a "vuelco vehiculo"...an over-turned car. Occasionally, in situations like this, one may notice afterward that you have a couple "pinchas", or flat tires. Finally, the "grua" comes to pick up your sorry ass and your stupid little car... grua means tow truck or car carrier. Our little mishap was not as bad as it looked and everyone was fine and came out without a scratch. But the car was screwed. After catching a ride in a tour bus to the sea lion colony at Punta Norte, we were all able to jump into other cars and finish seeing the peninsula and get a ride back to Puerto Madryn.
All is well. Note to self: do not rent car with three chix and let them drive on loose gravel roads. I'm off to USHUAIA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!