Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Viking Jupiter. Puerto Madryn. Tour to Gaiman.

After a bit of late-night dancing, we slept in. We had breakfast in the Mamsen’s lounge because we were too late for all the other breakfast locations. Breakfast consisted of a fancy waffle with caramelized cheese curls, berries and maple syrup.

We changed our itinerary to go on today’s five-hour tour to visit Gaiman, one of the first Welsh settlements about an hour away from Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is in the state of Patagonia, has a population of about 100,000 people and is nestled on the sheltered harbour facing the Gulf of Nuevo, Argentina’s second largest fishing port during the mid 19th century. (Currently, most of the fish caught are exported as Argentinians do not eat much fish.)

The Argentine government encouraged European immigration to settle in the remote Patagonian territories promising them land at a very cheap price. In 1865 approximately 150 Welsh immigrants arrived in Puerto Madryn, led by Viscount Madryn settling 100 square miles of land along the Chabut river, including Gaiman. Puerto Madryn was the name for the estate of Sir Love Jones-Perry one of the colonies’ founders. Italians and Spaniards soon followed surpassing the Welsh in numbers, but the heritage of the original immigrants lives on in the region’s distinctive windmills and chapels. Several towns have retained their Welsh names. The river that flows through this area is called the Chabut river. The area is also known for its cherry production and as soon as we pulled into town, we saw lots and lots of cherry trees in full fruit mode. We saw many examples of the original Welsh homes that were made of stone which is a rarity in Argentina.

Our tour took us to a special Welsh tea house offering, among other things, homemade scones, sweet squares and welsh cake. The cake looked like our Christmas cake, dark colour, but very little fruit, lacking the rum and actually, lacking any sign of moisture. At the end of our visit a choir of about 12 people entertained us with 6-7 songs in both Welsh and Spanish. One was what I assumed was the Welsh national anthem plus several hymns. The harmony was sensational.

The children going to public schools wear white uniforms and those going to private schools wear coloured uniforms.

Another factor that led us to change to a shorter excursion was that the geography of the area was described as totally boring and it certainly lived up to that. Millions of years ago a volcano spewed about 5 feet of volcanic ash and spread it on the steppes or plateau-like landscape that used to be the bottom of an ancient sea. Basically, it’s a flat desert. Part of the road was quite rough but then smoothed out a short bit later. Our guide Nora pointed out a highway that was supposed to be finished 10 years ago but corruption and misdirected money put an end to the construction. On the way, Lee saw a couple of 5 Guanaco which look a bit like Llamas, only taller. There was the possibility of seeing some pumas but no luck. Dinosaurs have been found in this area, among them one claimed to be the largest Dinosaur in the world named Argentinosaurus. Wikipedia advised the length ranges from 30 to 39.7 metres (98 to 130 ft) and weight estimates from 50 to 100 tonnes. It was a member of Titanosauria, the dominant group of sauropods during the Cretaceous period. (The smallest were the size of Hummingbirds!) They found more than 100 skeletons.

One of the most popular drinks in Argentina, is, as in Ecuador, Mate. Leaves for this popular drink come from a tropical tree which grows to approximately a metre and a half. The mate tree grows in only one area of Argentina and in fact in the world. The area is called Missiones near Iguazu in the very northeast of Argentina by the border of Brazil. It’s from this area that they export Mate leaves to Brazil to Uruguay and Paraguay. The drink is said to help the liver plus keep you from becoming thirsty and importantly for bus drivers it helps keep them awake. As a result, most bus drivers suck this down all day long.

The drive back to Port Madryn was uneventful. In the 1970s the city was very prosperous because of the aluminum plants and then, in the 1980s, it became a significant whale watching town. We passed by large spectator stands where people could view the whales in the bay as close as several hundred meters away. During the breeding they can be frequently seen breaching and swimming with their newborn calves.

The beach in Puerto Madryn runs for about five or 6 km. It is very wide and unfortunately, at low tide, the beach is left strewn with a lot of seaweed which turns the beach green and rather stinky. However, they have tractors with drags that clean it up in the morning so people can enjoy the beach. The temperature got close to 30°C by the afternoon so there were all kinds of people on the beach.

We spent a very enjoyable afternoon by the infinity pool on the back deck with a pleasant temperature and no wind. It was a lot of fun to be in the infinity pool looking out the back of the ship.

We attended the 6:30pm lecture by the resident astronomer on the topic “How Big is Space”. Quite mind blowing and difficult to follow but hopefully we will remember a few of the facts.
After dinner we went to hear Andy Hackbarth a classical Guitarist and comedian. He entertained us for an hour.Read more