Thewesternprovinceblog

A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷

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A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷 in 🇨🇴

  • Exploring Hyères

    Bonjour tout le monde! For todays blog we do a little exploring in beautiful Hyères (E’re as it be pronounced). 

    So this is quite a cute little town that has a distinct medieval feel to it and in some parts did remind me of Valparaíso in it’s back streets but there isn’t much street art to see.

    Now one of the big parts of history of this region is the crusades, Many famous crusaders came from this region and played a big part in more or less all of the big crusader missions to the holy land including the first crusade and the Provencal crusaders even established a crusader state called the county of Tripoli in modern day Lebanon.

    This town also has a castle from the days of the crusaders and naturally I decided to have an explore up there. It took about an hour to hike up there and it was a good hike but bloody hot. It’s currently around 35 degrees down here so had quite a sweat on getting up there.

    This castle is called Potence and it has a great Panoramic view of the town and areas around it. There isn’t much history of it on site but from what I can find out, it was built in the 12th century then ended up under the rule of Count Charles of Anjou in the 13th century, before it was eventually dismantled in the 1620’s under order of king Louis XIII. 

    After this I went back downhill into town and had some ice cream and a light lunch before meeting back up with the family and once more blobbing out on the beach.

    Later that night we went back into town for some tapas which was absolutely lovely as well. We wrapped up in town quite early then went back and watched the world cup footy. While we were chatting Clive tells me they have some domestic stuff to sort out in the week so recommended I take a trip over to Marseille. I do just that.

    The next installment will take us to Marseille.

  • Act 8 – Homecoming Ft. The bonus Tour de France 🇫🇷

    Hola and Bonjour from Beautiful Provence in the south of France! We’ve returned to The Old World but we’re not quite finished yet. 

    Why France though? Well there was always going to be some sort of return Europe leg on this trip but I was unsure how it would have worked out. Back in April when I was making my way down the Cono Sur I ended up speaking to my distant uncle and good family friend Clive and remembered about his place in France. I asked about seeing if I could possibly stay at his place there for a bit before heading back to Blighty. After some talking it turned out him and his wife were in Residence there and also their onward travel plans happened to very much align with when I wanted to be getting home, so after asking Clive said he was happy to have us and also agreed to let me hitch a ride back with him after asking pretty please so as a result here we are in France 🇫🇷. Good thing he’s here to do the talking porque je ne parlais vous la Baguetteouix! Imbécil!!! 🥖💥‼️ Yeah really should have done a bit of Duolingo when I was bedridden in BA but eh es lo que hay!!

    So after we left off I flew back to Madrid a few days ago with Iberia and then took a connecting flight to Marseille where I was quickly met by Clive who picked me up and after an hour and a bit I was at his place in Beautiful Hyères! 

    Now it had been a bit over 24 hours of travel door to door from when I left the place in Buenos Aires to Clive’s place and true to form got no kip on the plane so the first day was now a fight to stay awake till at least 10pm to get the jetlag gone ASAP. Clive’s answer to this was a bit of Hydrotherapy.

    After I ditched my gear off and had a light bite to eat we jumped back in the car and headed to Plage de l’Almannare and man this was a lovely swim. It’s mid 30’s in degrees here and the water was north of 20 Degs too. Was so refreshing after the long travel day.

    After this it was back to the gaff and dinner. I brought some of Mendoza’s best Malbec with me and we cracked that open and that gave us the push we needed to last till half 10. I finally crashed after about 30 hours without sleep and got a good 8 hours kip in and the next day was a slow one with more rest and going to the beach again. 

    Honestly many thanks to Clive for having us here and this has will be a great way to end out this adventure. So what’s the plan now then?

    Well I’m staying here for about a week and this is mostly going to be R&R time but we are going to do a few trips inland and to Marseille. After this we will be hitting the road and spending a few days travelling up through inland France before taking the channel tunnel and finally home back to the Western Province 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

    Next blog we do a bit of exploring in Hyères. Au revoir por ahora!

  • El Cono Sur Recap and Post mortem

    Watch the recap video on Instagram. Read on for blog and summary on each place visited

    Hola todos! As my time in South America comes to an end it’s time for the post mortem recap of Act 7 – El Cono Sur. This will be the last post mortem of this blog though we still have one more chapter to cover.

    What to say about this one then? Well let’s start with the people. In general compared to other chapters of this trip people generally seemed to be more to themselves and generally showed less interest in what I was up to as I went through, especially in Argentina. I have to say I didn’t really talk too much with the locals as they generally were disinterested and as a result most people I hanged round with were more foreigners there.

    One of the more unique things to the Cono sur was the changing geography going from Altiplano to fertile farmland in the north to Flatlands in the centre and then the mountainous Andean regions which had volcanos, hot springs and in places glaciers then the vast steppe lands of Patagonia. The geography is exciting but at the same time gets boring rather fast especially on the Atlantic coastline.

    Food has been a bit on the bland side here as pretty much everything is salted meat to a degree and yes is great but sometimes you need a salad just to get the vitamins in but here meat is cheap and greens are expensive so yeah have had a fair bit vitamin deficiency through this leg especially the 2nd Argentina leg once we crossed back in from Chile. That said while it has been cheaper than Peru it hasn’t been that cheap and Patagonia especially was one of the more expensive legs of this trip, in fact Chile was the most expensive country of the trip by a fair bit.

    Overall though it has been one of the less exciting legs of the journey minus Patagonia as generally not much happened, was a slow but relatively easy drift to the end, not having the higher energy of other parts of this trip such as the extreme climates of Peru and Bolivia or having to navigate through sketchy places like in Colombia or parts of Centroamérica. That said there is definitely revisit potential and while it does not look so on a map this region is huge and especially in Patagonia, even the furthest south I gotten it was still 1500 miles to the very bottom. 

    As much of South America as I have done there is still a whole lot more to see and I have a feeling I will be coming back here in the future. When exactly I do not know but it will be a fun time when I do that much I know.

    Summary of places visited:

    Argentina 🇦🇷:

    • Humahuaca – Humahuaca I only stayed one night in on the way down to Salta after crossing the border from Bolivia. It is a pretty nice town though if I will be honest it felt like an extension of Bolivia being still on the Altiplano. Well after all the province it sits, Jujuy did used to be part of Bolivia back in the 1800’s! Another note though is there is a lot of nature things you can do around here including another salt flat similar to Uyuni though I skipped on these having already done this back in Bolivia.
    • Salta – Salta is where you end up in the north of Argentina when you properly drop off the Altiplano, Salta was a very relaxed small city and had a European vibe to the place, honestly felt like you could have been in Northern Spain or somewhere like that, Salta was probably my favourite spot in the north of Argentina.
    • Termas de río Hondo – Another place I only stayed a few nights at. Now this place sells itself on being a hot spring destination and there is a public pool in the centre with hotels apparently having their own pools with springs too, the weather was a bit crap here and of the communal pools only one small one was open when I was here so didn’t get in the water, of other things to see here there is a casino and a classic car museum which is a fair way out of town so I never went there. Apparently there is also another Dino park near but was also shut. Honestly it felt like the kind of place Argentinian Boomers go for a holiday which meant it was rather boring and I moved on quite quickly from there.
    • Córdoba – Córdoba is a fun city being a combination of a history colonial city with a large new side of it that is a big university city. Córdoba has a lot of history in it’s old town as well as a vibrant nightlife scene and lots of green space in its new part. I enjoyed Córdoba and met some cool guys here. Okay I would later have a falling out with one which would then kill the group but hey was fun while it lasted.
    • Mendoza – Argentina’s Vino Country. Being in a desert microclimate at the foot of the Andes it is one of the best places in the world for winemaking and it shows. The main attraction here is as you can already guess, vino 🍷 and lots of it, particularly vino tinto. Red wine. It is a hill I will die on when I say vino from Mendoza is the best in the world. There are over 1000 wineries here so take your pick if you visit and definitely do a vino tasting your you won’t regret it! As great as the vino is here there didn’t seem like much was going on outside of it though there are some tours you can do into the mountains I passed on it given the distances and timings involved.
    • Bariloche – After going into Chile and entering Patagonia from the Chilean side I came back into Argentina at Bariloche. Bariloche is an alpine city sitting on Lake Nahuel Huapi and is still in the Andean part of Patagonia. Bariloche is a cool small city with a central European mountain vibe and while it is a cool place the real attraction is not the city but what’s around it, in the national park there are mountains, glaciers lakes, woodlands etc lots of outdoorsy stuff you can do and in the winter you can ski there too. I liked Bariloche and spent about a week here and there was still enough I didn’t do for another week though I would say if I came back here or any region of Argentine Patagonia for that matter hiring a car would be the way to go as these tours did clean me out of cash quite quick and that was with the discount of paying in efectivo!
    • Trevelin – The first town I visited of The Welsh Patagonia settlements in Chubut, collectively known as Yr Wladfa 🇦🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇷. It is a small and sleepy town but it is rich in history from the colonial times and was a relaxed place, while I did get to some waterfalls out of town there is another national park and other places I didn’t get to. Once again if I come back here hiring a car is a must.
    • Comodoro Rivadavia – The furthest south I went on this trip and as far as that is it’s still nearly another 1500 miles to the very bottom of South America. This was purely a one night pit stop place to avoid a night bus that arrived at a stupid hour in Trelew so while the place seemed okay it didn’t feel like there was much to see as a tourist there.
    • Trelew – The biggest of the Welsh towns of Patagonia, Trelew has grown into a modern city and is the largest city in Chubut from what I could see, as such there is not much of its Welsh past left here save the old train station now turned into a museum, it is a typical small working city outside of that so while not much to see here it is a good central spot to base yourself in while visiting the Chubut valley.
    • Gaiman – Gaiman is the most famous of the Welsh Patagonian towns and is by far the best preserved of the time period, visiting here is like stepping back to the early 1900’s. You can spend a full day here getting immersed in its history and go inside the different buildings from the day. I wrote a full blog post covering each place here in detail so read that one for more information (The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa: Gaiman).
    • Dolavon – Dolavon is a smaller version of Gaiman, like with Gaiman I did a detailed blog post on what is here so will refer you to that however not one to skip.
    • Rawson – One of the towns of the colonial era you probably could skip is Rawson, just an ugly place with lots of government buildings that look like they were built in the 80’s and houses not much else. There is a beach called Puerto Rawson but I never got there so can’t really speak on that.
    • Puerto Madryn – While it is the first of the Welsh settler towns of Chubut like Trelew it has developed into a modern city and largely lost it’s past save some old buildings and a monument to the settlers on the waterfront. It is known for whale spotting excursions but I never went on any in my short visit here as the weather turned foggy after arrival.
    • Río Colorado – Another pit stop destination while leaving Chubut and heading northwards out of Patagonia, not much to see here but an okay place to break up a journey somewhere further north from Puerto Madryn.
    • Bahía Blanca – This is another modern city but not much to see here from a tourist perspective, my take on it was it is another pass through place you might spend a night or 2 before travelling to Buenos Aires or further south.
    • Buenos Aires + Tigre – If I’m being honest I’m struggling to write about Buenos Aires because while my time here was a little underwhelming it certainly does not mean the place itself was a let down, I think the reasoning behind this is because firstly on both of my stays here I had a bit of bad luck, first with the passive aggressive Airbnb landlady on the first stay here and then getting sick and being bedridden for half of the second stay here. Secondly while there is a lot to see in terms of history, museums and different cultural stuff you can do here I had pretty much more or less already done it on different legs of the trip. Museums? How many more pre Columbian pots do we need to see? Dancing? We did enough Salsa in Cali and should I have learned Tango? Well if I wasn’t snotting every 2 seconds with a cold I probably would have given it a go. History? Well a lot of it we learned through other places in Argentina. What about meeting people? Well it seems like as it’s probably one of the most popular destinations for gringos after Mexico city it generally seems like the locals want to distance themselves from the foreigners who have came here in numbers in more recent years with the increase of remote work and digital nomads. In general anyone I did talk to here were just foreigners passing through. The tinder scene was also dead for me here. Your mileage may vary though if you visit.Given Buenos Aires’ popularity it is often an entry point to South America for people doing backpacking trips such as myself though didn’t really meet any backpackers as Winter in the northern hemisphere is the most popular time to visit here. Fair chance if my trip was done the other way round going south to north fair chance it would’ve been the first stop instead of Mexico city and I would have probably had a lot more to say about the place. Oh well es lo que hay!There didn’t seem like much out of town stuff to do here either outside of going across to Uruguay but there wouldn’t be here as think of it as a city comparable in size to London or New York that said one day trip away you can do and I would recommend is going out to Delta Tigre and doing a boat trip. It is an hour away on a train or bus and offers it’s own vibe, maybe stay out there if you have time and want to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life.
    • Buenos Aires + Tigre – If I’m being honest I’m struggling to write about Buenos Aires because while my time here was a little underwhelming it certainly does not mean the place itself was a let down, I think the reasoning behind this is because firstly on both of my stays here I had a bit of bad luck, first with the passive aggressive Airbnb landlady on the first stay here and then getting sick and being bedridden for half of the second stay here.  Secondly while there is a lot to see in terms of history, museums and different cultural stuff you can do here I had pretty much more or less already done it on different legs of the trip. Museums? How many more pre Columbian pots do we need to see? Dancing? We did enough Salsa in Cali and should I have learned Tango? Well if I wasn’t snotting every 2 seconds with a cold I probably would have given it a go. History? Well a lot of it we learned through other places in Argentina. What about meeting people? Well it seems like as it’s probably one of the most popular destinations for gringos after Mexico city it generally seems like the locals want to distance themselves from the foreigners who have came here in numbers in more recent years with the increase of remote work and digital nomads. In general anyone I did talk to here were just foreigners passing through. The tinder scene was also dead for me here. Your mileage may vary though if you visit. Given Buenos Aires’ popularity it is often an entry point to South America for people doing backpacking trips such as myself though didn’t really meet any backpackers as Winter in the northern hemisphere is the most popular time to visit here. Fair chance if my trip was done the other way round going south to north fair chance it would’ve been the first stop instead of Mexico city and I would have probably had a lot more to say about the place. Oh well es lo que hay! There didn’t seem like much out of town stuff to do here either outside of going across to Uruguay but there wouldn’t be here as think of it as a city comparable in size to London or New York that said one day trip away you can do and I would recommend is going out to Delta Tigre and doing a boat trip. It is an hour away on a train or bus and offers it’s own vibe, maybe stay out there if you have time and want to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life.

    Chile 🇨🇱:

    • Santiago – My stay here was shorter than I initially planned it to be due to falling out with those guys I was hanging around with from Córdoba. What to say about the Chilean Capital? Santiago is a decent enough place from what I seen of it and you have enough to do here in terms of sightseeing with historic streets, museums and miradores. I can’t however say much about the nightlife as was in a quiet part of town and having to cut my stay short here.
    • Viña del Mar & Valparaíso – while I stayed in Vina del mar I spent more or less a full day out in Valparaiso so might as well put these together. Viña del Mar is a smaller, more modern city which looks like it is quite a popular holiday destination in the summer with a beach and different hotels while Valparaíso is a very historic city famed for it’s street art and the port which was one of the biggest in south America for a while. Valparaíso also looks European due to it’s design being influenced by the different European groups to emigrated here during its construction. I have done a full blog on the streets of Valparaíso so read that for a more detailed account on the place.
    • Concepción – This place was a pit stop on the way to Chilean Patagonia. I only stayed 2 nights here and if I’m being honest as a traveler that’s enough here as it didn’t seem like there really was anything for a tourist here only a mirador which I never got to because the weather was boggin’ when I was there. Now what Ed Sheeran told me is it’s a different experience if you have friends there and he has a few down here. Shame he didn’t hook me up so I could have seen for myself but oh well is what it is I guess.
    • Pucón – This was the best place for me in Chile and I almost never come here; I only found out about this place because the tour guide in Valparaiso recommended it to me but I have to thank her for that because this place was very much my kind of town. I have done several blogs from when I was here but to sum it up it’s a quiet town in the mountains that sits on a lake and is near a snowy volcano. Despite it being a small place it has everything you need and a good nightlife scene for the size of it. Around it there are loads of cool places to go such as hiking trails, mountains and of course lots of hot springs too, though like other Patagonian places to properly do it hiring a car would be needed as while there are colectivos They don’t drop you exactly where you need to be and I personally don’t want to hike 2 hours up a road just to get to the trailhead on these hikes. Still if there was any place I could live in Chile this would be it.
    • Puerto Varas – This place has to be one of the strongest contenders for biggest let down of the entire trip given how everyone from Salta to Pucón Who I told of my travel plans talked it up only to be met with discrimination and disappointment when I actually got down there. Read the vibes of Puerto Varas blog for the full story but the Tldr here is the town is pretty enough but everywhere I went I got told buy more food or we won’t serve you a drink and they weren’t doing this with anyone else it seemed. Not worth it if you ask me but your mileage may vary if you visit this place. One thing I did miss out on was some of the tours you could do in and around here which includes Chiloe island, more hot springs and hiking trails.

    Uruguay 🇺🇾:

    Montevideo – Now Montevideo was one of those places that I flip flopped on quite a lot through these last 3 month as to if I would even get her or not. If I’m being honest has Buenos Aires been a better time right off the bat and Ed Sheeran wasn’t close enough to link up with fair chance I wouldn’t have come here but come I did and so how go sum this one up?

    Well Montevideo is quite a sleepy place for a capitol city and especially for a city of a million people but that is also good especially if you were looking for a break from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires. As for what there is to do in Montevideo itself there are several museums and parks one could visit, there is also the fort on the other side of the bay which is interesting for the history buff. It has a pretty decent nightlife scene here for what it is too. Though one downside is it is quite an expensive place and you can find yourself paying prices comparable to Western Europe here. Staying a week here was a little long and if I hadn’t had company I think I probably would have done 4 days here and maybe 2 in Colonia if I was on my own. Despite that though I did like Montevideo and could happily go back and do more of Uruguay.

  • The Last Week in South America: a summary on Buenos Aires

    Hola todos! As I write this I am preparing for the flight to leave Argentina. As this is chapter comes to an end like all others there will be a post mortem blog on the Cono sur which will come later but for this one it is worth a post to sum up our second week in Buenos Aires.

    After I got back from Uruguay on Sunday I began to come down with a real nasty cold which meant the next 2/3 days were basically spent bedridden while I popped pills and vitamins and cooked myself some simple basic meals in the evening. By about Wednesday I had recovered enough to start doing stuff again.

    Thursday I went into the traditional city centre and visited a few of the museums and while I am sure I could probably write a lot about them the truth is most of it we’ve already seen in some shape or form on different legs of this journey so I will largely skip over that.

    Friday I did was the last proper excursion of this trip, I took a half day boat tour of Delta Tigre, that place where Ed and hubby stayed a few weeks at. This was quite interesting, firstly I’m picked up on the bus there and I’m the only one who is not Brazilian so this tour is being done mostly in Brazilian Portuguese – I feel like I can understand about 80% of what their saying but having a conversation with them I can’t really do too well, which is a bit of a shame as some of the Brazilieras on this trip looked well smart. I here will also say I did on several occasions flirt with the idea of going into Brazil and trying to move my exit point to Sao Paolo but it was a bit of a step too far taking time and money into account however Brazil is on my list for next time I visit this continent!

    On the trip itself we’re first taken to Tigre city where we have a bit of a look round and do a little shopping in the artisan market. Soon after this we are on the boat. This place is a series of islands on the delta as the name suggests, there are no roads on these islands and as such the only way to get around is by boat which creates an interesting look. There are lots of houses on stilts here. As it was a short tour we are back on the bus to Buenos Aires after about an hour but it was good to see the place I have to say!

    Saturday was a bit of a lazy one all I really did was chill and hang around the parks near my gaff and then go out to watch futbol in the evening with the world cup being on. I dont normally follow footy but these world cup games have been very fun and entertaining to watch.

    Sunday I take a little visit to the famous San Telmo Market, it is in one of the oldest parts of the city where the streets are cobblestone, going into the market it is pretty rammed busy and it’s mostly a food market with some stalls selling tat. I end up sitting at a stall and having some drinks and a big ol’ Choripan watching España VS Saudí Arabia and Spain win 5-0 which was good to see.

    Monday morning ends up being a final bit of admin ahead of flying on Wednesday, then in the afternoon I end up going to watch Argentina Vs Austria and that I have to say was a very intense game and by no means was it a walk for Argentina though fair play to them they won it 2-0 in the end.

    Tuesday was my last full day in the new world and I went to the centre and ended up buying one of those tourist sightseeing bus tour tickets. I’ll be honest that tour was a bit meh all things considered but what else are you going to to pass the time?

    At the time of writing this I am just about to go out for my last meal in BA. Wish me Buena Suerte con el vuelo mañana! It’s gonna be a hard old day!

  • Return to Buenos Aires – The Countdown back to Reality

    So as I mentioned on the previous blog it was quite the fun one getting back to Buenos Aires. After our sendoff sesh with Ed Sheeran I woke at 10 am realising I needed to get my ass in gear and get over to the bus station. I’m soon there get checked in and have some time to wait so it’s a maccies breakfast for me and a coffee. Fast forward it’s soon time to get on the bus and soon I’m crammed back on the Colonia Express bus and it’s 2.5 hours of not being able to see anything having the merry shakes. Fun fun fun! 

    Next we arrived at the ferry terminal and like it was coming here both sides of immigration are handled on the outbound port so your on your way quickly when you actually land. This was a bit tedious but soon were stamped and on our way. About 3pm we are finally shipboard and I decide some hair of the dog is in order and have a gentle beer as we pull off leaving Uruguay behind. It’s about an hour back to Buenos Aires. We soon arrive and I’m soon able to get an Uber to my gaff. Check in is pretty simple and I go out for some dinner.

    All is well but yeah I was feeling rough at the end of that one but hey ho! Was a good sendoff all round!

  • The Last Side Quest: The historic sites of Montevideo plus a boozy finish!

    Hola todos! So this one is going to be a bit of a compressed blog as time is rolling on and looking to get things wrapped up. So after we did our walking tour on the Tuesday the next few days went as follows:

    Wednesday we had a bit of a lazy one on both sides and didn’t really do much in the day but met up for drinks in the night but kept it fairly chill.

    Thursday was a museum day around the old town, the notables being the Andes plane crash museum which was the infamous crash in the Andes mountain pass when the rugby team was flying to Santiago. What happened after that was the survivors being stuck in the freezing passes for nearly 100 days before eventually being rescued. Interesting as they have bits from the wreck and a climate chamber where’s you can experience -20 Degs C and howling winds to get an idea of what it was like.

    We also visited this art gallery place which was an old aristocratic house and we imagined this is what that castle might have been like back in the day in Sucre as it was stripped of all furniture.

    Friday we visited the fort on the hill on the opposite side of the bay, this fort is a military museum and inside can be found different weapons and artillery from the 1800’s as well as a collection of WW1 stuff. It was interesting though I cannot say we read everything there though the idea was it was built to protect the bay from attack and then got made a monument in the 1930’s.

    After getting back from this fort visit we made a tentative plan to hire a car and do a road trip to the Eastern part of the country but for various reasons on both of our ends this never quite came off.

    Saturday was a lazy day to begin with but I met up with Ed Sheeran in the afternoon and as this was my last day we ended up getting on the beers and hitting it pretty hard all day. I will skip over the details but let’s just say on Sunday when I had to go back to Buenos Aires I had a lovely hangover from hell having to get back onto that foggy bus.

    The return to Buenos Aires and what happened afte deserves its own installment so that will be the next one.

    While it feels I am rushing this one out know that it was a great send-off for both of us being able to get one last little adventure in before the end of both of our respective trips. To Ed, its been a top trip and if you ever find yourself in the UK hit me up as I will for you if I’m ever back in this part of the world.

  • The Last Side Quest: The Journey to Montevideo. Ft the return of Ed Sheeran!

    Hola todos! This is the first blog for the final side quest of this adventure. A trip to Uruguay!

    So after leaving little miss passive aggressive’s Airbnb I was soon in an Uber and went to the Colonia Express terminal where I was soon reunited with my good friend who is totally not Ed Sheeran and his husband and we had a good catch up and chinwag about what we had been up to since we parted ways back in Bolivia. 

    Well those fellas went up to Santa Cruz which is 8 hours north of Sucre and from what ed tells they had an *amazing* time there. Might have to visit the economic powerhouse of Bolivia myself if I ever go back! They stayed for a while then went into Argentina. 

    While I was in Patagonia they spent about a month in Buenos Aires then another few weeks in a place called Delta Tigre about an hour from Buenos Aires basically living in a hovel on stilts in a swamp next to the river, it was an hour boat ride to even pick up groceries from what they told me. They were glad to be moving on they said.

    Back to the present we had some time to kill before we could board the ferry so we had some breakfast and a cheeky celebration beer for getting out of our predicaments. Soon it was time to get ready, check in was quick and simple and so was immigration, it is done for both sides at the outbound port on this ferry so your quickly on your  way once on the other side. 

    It’s a bit of a bunfight but soon were aboard and like the degenerates we are we booked it straight for the bar and got ourselves some coronas since we weren’t exactly spoiled for choice here. It’s only a 1.15 hour ferry crossing to Colonia. Still we had to wonder what the record for how many beers someone has pounded down them in this short crossing was? We had a few but weren’t trying to beat it today! 

    The crossing was quite pleasant seeing the rundown parts of Buenos Aires leave us and hitting the muddy but open waters of the Rio de la plata estuary. Before long it’s land ho and we are soon docked up and are walked through a fancy walkway that resembles something of an airports arrivals hall then walked downstairs have to put our bags through metal detectors and then the best part? A 2 hour bus transfer to Montevideo! Yay! 

    While the buses were decent coaches they did cram everyone they could in there so we all got split up and also the windows were steamed up so you couldn’t see anything outside. Nevertheless we are soon into Montevideo, we quicky get our stuff together and grab an Uber to el centro where we go out seperate ways to check into our Gaffs and reconvene later for some more beers and grub. We get ourselves booked onto the obligatory walking tour for the next morning. 

    Long day but has been excellent to catch up!

  • Buenos Aires – Walking tours and Airbnb fun.

    Hola todos! First one for Buenos Aires. This first few days here were very annoying and I felt like I didn’t have a very good start to the place.

    To start things off I have a 9am bus ride here from Bahía Blanca and I’m set to get in around 6.30 pm more or less. Mrs lady who owns the Airbnb I’m staying in sends me the usual hello how are you messages then sends me a big long copy pasted list of house rules and extra charges if you do this or that or if you stay for more than 7 nights (I was booked for 5) which didn’t apply. Okay fair enough but I’m sent this list about 5 different times over the course of the bus ride up and have to send a reply to yes understand and read. This already isn’t giving the greatest vibe. Next thing even though I told her when I booked what my ETA was she seemed to be very pissy about me not being able to give an exact time as to when I’ll be there. Lady it’s a 12 hour bus ride I can’t control wtf happens on the roads can I? Best I can give you is half hour window depending on how much pissing about there is between getting off the bus and when actually arrive! She says fine and goes quiet though pretty much every interaction involved a passive aggressive tone from her right from the get go but as money was paid and it would be a bit late in the day time I got there kind of let it slide.

    Once I’m there I message her to say I got an Uber and will be at the place in half hour. I arrive at the gaff and it’s not her but a clumsy helper shes sending over with the keys. Her helper WhatsApps me says she’s on way but I’m kept waiting for a good 20 minutes after I’m there but say nothing keep it cool. Eventually I’m checked in and sorted but this whole nonsense didn’t set us off on the best foot here. My first night I do the usual thing of go out get food etc and see what the neighbourhood was like, the neighbourhood I was staying in, Palermo Soho was pretty relaxed and had lots of bars and restaurants about which again would’ve been great without Mrs ladys attitude.

    Day 2 here I do the usual thing get myself booked onto a walking tour in the centre though I opt for an afternoon slot as was a bit tired from the travel day, at midday the guide says he had to cancel and moved it to the morning of the next day. That was fine for me honestly a bit of rest was good. Later that evening I went to Mundolingo which is a language exchange but everyone was in tight groups and couldn’t really break in so chinned if off after an hour and went to an Irish bar.

    Day 3 we have the morning Walking tour of the Centre of Buenos aires, they show us round the cathedral, presidents house and other places though I’ll be honest here my head wasn’t in the right space and had to move some money about quick right as the tour started on the phone so most of the details kind of drifted over me but was interesting from what I could get. 

    Later that afternoon my mate Who’s not Ed Sheeran phones me up and we have a bit of a chat. I had been talking to him over WhatsApp the last few days and a rough plan had formed in my head which roughly involved going out to where they were after my stay in this place is up to hang out for a few days then go over to Montevideo in Uruguay 🇺🇾.

    We have a bit of a conflab and he says they need to be out of their place on Sunday (it’s Thursday at the time) and decide that it would be best if we went to Uruguay together. It’s decided then at this point I will cut my stay short by 1 night and travel to Uruguay with them for one last side quest before my flight back to reality. I soon get to booking the ferry and then comes the hard bit, I ask Mrs lady for an early check out and if she can refund me for 1 night not stayed.

    So as predicted she gets pissy about this then goes on about how kind they have been to me not charging me for a late check in (7.30pm in a country where people don’t have dinner till 10pm isn’t an unreasonable check in) and now I want to change the checkout? Oh the temerity of it I say!!

    She eventually says she’ll give me a partial refund then tells me she is paranoid about losing her super host status and that the last guests complained (I wonder why?) and that to approve my refund she wanted me to give it 5 stars. Ugh eventually I say yes though this point I just want away from there and I’m leaving on Sunday refund or not. Eventually that’s that business sorted but I have one more day here before we make for Uruguay.

    Day 4 here I just do laundry and get my stuff sorted for the most part then get packed up and all ready for kick off the next morning. I also have a big thorough tidy up of the place moreso than I typically would though this was so I could take a video just before I check out to show that the place was left spotless as I got the feeling she might be the type who would ‘Imagine’ something got damaged and try to charge you through the platform for it.

    On check out I do just that and take photos before my Uber shows up and I’m off to reunite with the bois. 5 stars all round was what it was won’t be coming back thank you 😁

    On to Montevideo!!

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa – Puerto Madryn and the road to Buenos Aires

    Prynhawn da and hola todos for the last post from Yr Wladfa and Patagonia. After doing the Welsh towns of the Chubut valley I moved over to Puerto Madryn for a few days. Unfortunately Puerto Madryn really wasn’t much to write home about, the only notables here were a monument on the waterfront to the Welsh settlers and the old train station opposite the bus Terminal. 

    It is possible to do a few whale watching excursions from here but these are organised tours and could be expensive. I went to see if any agents were open but being out of season their all working from home, which I have nothing against but a bit crap for me as stops us being able to get discounts from paying in cash. Also the weather turned foggy after arrival here so wouldn’t have seen much anyway so lo que hay wasn’t happening. At this point having done the last town of Yr Wladfa I have effectively declared mission accomplished on this trip but that doesn’t mean the journey is over yet. I still have to get to Buenos Aires, which is the exit point for our return to the old world.

    After those 3 nights I decided to start my way out of Patagonia a little ahead of time. I am largely skipping the events of the journey as nothing noteworthy happened on the journey until we started on the last day to Buenos Aires. It taken 3 travel days to reach here with day 1 being an 8 hour bus journey to Rio Colorado then day 2 being another 3 hour hop to Bahía Blanca with an overnight stay in both of these stops with a final 12 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires but that and what happened after that I will cover on the next one.

    From this point I was nearly in Bahia Blanca and I had to decide weather to go to Mar del Plata first or straight to Buenos Aires. The 2nd option won out and straight to Buenos Aires it was. A number of reasons for this, firstly Mar del Plata is  in the summer months a big beach place but it’s now winter here so there won’t be much going on, I’d wager if I went here even for 2 nights that day of looking round I’d most likely end up in a pub or casino at 2pm if it’s that much of a snore out of season. Also it was about 8 hours on the bus from Bahía Blanca and then another 6 to go from there Vs 12 to go straight to Buenos Aires.

    Also while in Puerto Madryn I had been in Comms with my friend who’s totally not Ed Sheeran. Turns out him and hubby went to Argentina after we parted ways back in Sucré. They were still in Argentina and not far from Buenos Aires and it looked very likely we could link up for one last side quest together and so the decision was made to push straight on to Buenos Aires. I would be getting here nearly a week ahead of time so could always revisit the first option if I so wished.

    To that end it was decided, I would get to Buenos Aires, spend a few days getting the lay of the land there then work out the next move with my friends from there. Shortly after getting into Bahía Blanca i booked the bus ticket to Buenos Aires and also an airbnb in a nice part of the city that my pals recommended I stay. 

    Things looked good……or at least they did on paper as we will soon find out!

  • The Fabled Lands of Yr Wladfa – Dolavon and Rawson

    Hola and bore da once again from Yr Wladfa! For todays excursions we decided to visit Dolavon and Rawson. Let’s go over these then.

    So firstly it was another colectivo excursion over to Dolavon, getting over here was simple enough jumping on a bus that first stopped in Gaiman then carried on over to Dolavon another 15 minutes away. We soon arrive and it’s time to look round.

    I decided to do the mirador first since the bus kind of dropped me at the edge of town and this was a short walk with a decent view point but not as good as the one in Gaiman. Like in Gaiman there is a trail where you can hike to Gaiman from. I think it’s about an hour to walk but didn’t do this.

    Next it was into town and there are a few small chapels like the one in Gaiman but they were not open. Walking through the centre of town there are buildingd similar to that of the ones in Gaiman including former offices of the Chubut Mercantile Company now turned into cafes and bars. 

    On the other side of town can be found another old train station turned into a museum, I had a look in there though to be honest the history was more or less the same as what was shown in Gaiman. One interesting bit they did have was a the seats of the difgerent Eisteddfods held here. There are actually 4 held at different times of the year in Chubut, if I recall they are held in Trelew, Gaiman, Puerto Madryn and Trevelin. Unfortunately none of them would be happening while I was here but interesting to know.

    Walking on past the train station there’s a river and a few parks, one of which had an absolutely sick mural I had to get some shots of which depicts the intermingling of the native and Welsh ways and the land itself.

    Walking back to town I found myself jumping on a bus back to Trelew and after a quick stop back at the gaff I went to the bus station and jumped on a colectivo heading to Rawson.

    So what is Rawson? Well it’s the provincial capital of Chubut and has this name after a man named Guillermo Rawson who was a minister in the 1860’s who helped the Welsh sailors map out the region of Chubut and set up the agreements that allowed the early colonies in 1865 to be set up. 

    Unfortunately the Town didn’t quite live up to the reputation of the man it was named after. Coming in on the colectivo all I really saw was ugly government concrete buildings that looked like they were mass built in the 80’s and residential housing. Rawson also has a beach but is a desperate town called Playa Rawson and would have had to take another bus to that. From what I read online you might also see dolphins or whales from there but as it was getting late in the day I never bothered heading over there.

    In Rawson itself I had a walk round for about 5 minutes then walked right back to the bus station and went back to Trelew.

    The next day I moved over to Puerto Madryn though as I previously said, it is a modern city similar to Trelew so there wouldn’t be too much to see here.