Playas Hotel Pinamar

Today we have a day off, having completed the first 250 miles of our 11000 mile trip. Villa Gesell (VG) is a very beautiful town on the Atlantic coast of Argentina that is apparently heaving in Summer time. It is still the off season here, so lots of the Hotels are closed up. Joolsie, official Hotel room locator managed to find us a nice-ish Hotel (Royal) on the main drag with a big gated backyard to hide the BMW. <br><br>We have been for a walk along the Boardwalk ...

... private beach (the one in town was always heaving so this was a great bonus). As well as that, there was a family of kittens living on the site that we took a bit of a shine to (quite possibly the cutest thing ever, if only all campsites had them.......). All in all, our week in Villa Gesell was great, despite a couple of days of rain. We felt like we totally re-charged the batteries and were raring to go when it was time to move on to our next stop further south, Puerto Madryn.

... Enfin, je suis mechant car ils restent tres courtois et, la encore, font tout pour que je garde le meilleur souvenir de Villa Gesell et des alentours. Alejandro a le coeur sur la main, a une emission de radio locale 3h par jour a laquelle il me convie en direct et a l'improviste pour que je partage mon periple et que j'explique le concept de couchsurfing aux quelques auditeurs du ...

... We would laze around reading our books until we got fidgety and then we would walk along the boardwalk in one direction or the other, before heading in to town for some kind of barbecued meat for dinner! We did find a quirky little bar right on the beach called Benitos where we spent a lot of time! It's really cozy inside, with an eccentric mix of log cabin decor, harbour equipment and chandeliers. Brilliant ...

We spent a few days at this coastal town, about 5 hours south of Buenos Aires, as a stopping off point to Puerto Madryn. The weather was lovely so we had a couple of very long walks on the beach, along with a few good seafood dinners. As we were off-season the town was quiet but there were enough people there for the weekend to make it feel lively enough. A really attractive place to chill out for a couple of days.

... We´re getting used to the way people organize their day. Last night when we went to dinner we had to walk around until 9 beforehand so that we wouldn´t be the first people in the restaurant. The craft fair in San Telmo was a trip, covering about 10 city blocks with street performers, fantastic jewelery, artists and antiques of all sorts. Kyle picked up a handsome leather "man-bag" and Patience bought some striking oxidized copper ...

... Hopefully we will get better. The town is built amongst sand dunes some of which we explored on a quad bike. Even Mandy had a go and was a bit of a speed demon. It was nice to have all that space to play in after the hustle and bustle of Bs As. Made us feel like we were in the middle of the desert. Next stop is to Mar Del Plata to try and get a bus to Puerto Madryn.... fingers crossed the penguins are still there...

... its all reggeaton so you just hear that beat as you walk down the streets). I started talking to some kids cause EVERYONE speaks PERFECT english their cause their all kids from like 18/25 that went to american schools and spoke english for half of every day at school, so I met some kids and ended up talking to them for the rest of the night and they were so much cooler than everyone else in Pinamar. The streets were overflowing with jocks everywhere and slutty drunk ...

... avgangstavla. Men det viste seg at det var kun paa grunn av at det var en manifestacion (?), saa det var ikke noe problem. Den kommer snart fikk vi beskjed om. Det underlige var at den jo faktisk kom snart, tror ikke det var snakk om mer enn en halvtime. Saa vi var framme tidlig paa kvelden. Som ble nevnt i forrige entry (som det heter her i high-tech-land), saa er det altsaa jul, nyttaar, jule- og nyttaarsferie, sommerferie og jommen meg snart tre hellige konger ...

... and the weekend tourists had arrived in town, the place was packed. Our waiter from two nights´ previous made room for us, though...he liked having the chance to practice his English with us! N went for fish. Good, but yet again nowhere near as good as the steak. Just as well E was willing to share hers! Tomorrow we have to leave Pinamar. Sad but true. It´s time to drive south to have a look at the other resort towns dotted along the coast.