miðvikudagur, nóvember 28, 2007

Miramar

Puerto Madryn, 28.11.2007


Our next day in Miramar (loosely translated: Ocean view). We split up for a couple of hours as I wanted to check out the only Links type golf course in South America. I rented a golf set and headed to the first tee. There I met up with two old Argentinian golfers who graciously invited me to play with them. It was a lot of fun but I am not going to go into my performance here, it is strictly on a need to know basis ;). Coming back to the waiting wife, we headed out for Dinner in the very welcoming Soso's. A Sicilian restaurant owned by two brothers. On our last day the chef presented us with 4 very nice table mats as a souvenirs. Our third day, we visited Vivero dunícola Florentino Ameghino. 5.02 km² of woodland that is very popular for ppl. to go on weekend picnics as well as it includes the Bosque Energetico. A strange patch of apparently dead trees that make strange noises. the branches also have the strange quality to stick to each other. You can easily stick a branch into the ground and balance another one horizontally on top of it. It is a mystical place that also has been associated with witches and UFO sightings. uuuuuh! Our last day in Miramar we took a bus 30 minute drive to the neighbouring and nice sounding Mar del Sur. We planned to spend the most of the day there but when we arrived it turned out to be mostly consisting of one main street leading down to the beach. Everything except one restaurant was closed because of it not being the season yet and we could see the whole place in little less than 15 minutes. Its only interesting thing was an enormous (now run down and abandoned) hotel that was build in the 19th century by a German banker (and an optimistic one I might add). We then met a local guy who spoke very good English as he had been living in the US for some years and he told us about a piece of land there, that he had been trying to sell for the last 4 years. He offered it to us for the measly sum of 40.000 dollars. We politely declined his good offer and 2 hours after arriving we were back on the bus to Miramar. Where we packed and headed off to catch our night bus to Puerto Madrin.

Long distance buses in Argentina are very comfortable, you can get a "coche cama" where your seat will almost turn into a bed and they also serve food. This is very necessary for the long drives we take in this huge country.
The ride to Puerto Madryn took us about 15 hours and you will hear all about our stay there next. :)
pasta luego,
J&K
p.s. photos later.

posted by Nonni @ 7:05 e.h. 1 comments

föstudagur, nóvember 23, 2007

Back on the road





Miramar, Atlantic Coast, Argentina

Hello everybody,
Now as we have started our "longish" honeymoon, I suppose that I have to write a bit about it for those who still check this blog of mine who don`t seem to be many according to the comments on my last blog (what do you have to do to get some attention!! ;) ).

Anyway, we flew to Scotland on the 1st. of November and after having a relaxing time with Kathleen´s mother 4 a couple of days we headed to Liverpool for a few days. It was a bit rainy and windy but nice.The city has a vibrant feel to it and some very good restaurants and bars. We stayed two nights with Kathleen´s sister Maggie and her family, and one night in a hotel close to the centre. We had rented a car so it was quite easy to get around.

We came back on the 9th. to Motherwell and the next day we had a lovely wedding blessing ceremony in a Catholic church with Father Chromy and Kathleen´s family and friends in attendance. Gerry, Kathleen´s brother, had arranged a Bentley to pick us up from Hotel Bentley (a complete coincidence) and take us to the church and back to The Miners where the reception party was held. The Bentley, which was one of the most comfortable and flashy cars I have ever been in, used to belong to former boxer and heavy weight champion Chris Eubank. The Reception and party was a great success and the DJ was very good making sure that the dancefloor was more or less packed at all times.

After the weekend we headed down south to the coast, to Plymouth, to stay with Kathleen´s other sister Wendy and her family. We had a great time there too with warm, sunny weather which it seems to be always when we are there. One of our highlights there was that Wendy arranged for us to have a private cruise around the bay on a multi million pound, 70 foot yacht which was an unforgettable experience. The ride was extremely smooth and even if the yacht took a sharp turn she stayed level, cutting through the sea like a knife through butter. Friday we headed back up north, driving the 400 miles back to Motherwell. We had some more socialising with family and friends in Scotland, then...

Soon it was time to wave bye bye to British shores and last Monday we headed off to our first honeymoon destination: Buenos Aires. On route we stopped for a few hours in Dulles airport, Washington and I was very surprised to see that they sold Icelandic Water there. So we had Icelandic water and a Root beer. A root beer is one of the strangest drinks invented. The experience is a bit like drinking chewing gum. Basicly I think they take stale coca cola and desolve some gum in it before adding a quart bottle of mouth wash. Then they mix it thorougly and bottle as Root Beer. I can imagine it is good to drink after having some root canal work done.
Buenos Aires was nice and hot, a great change. The capital is noisy, chaotic, colourful but above all, very much alive. We had some interesting experiences like being charged in one restaurant, as part of our bill, for the rental of our place mats, plates, glasses, salt and pepper etc. We kid you not. Another was observing street people, coming out after dark, and rooting through other people´s garbage and recycling plastic bottles, cardboard, tin and glass. It was all very organised and we found out that the government pays these homeless people to even take the garbage to the garbage dump via the underground train system.

After two getting-organised days in the Argentinian capital, we packed our backpacks and headed south. 6 hours later we arrived in the delightful town of Miramar on the Atlantic coast. Now, remember that when you are in Argentina and head south it is getting colder not warmer. The day we arrived it was like a warm summer day in Iceland but today it has been windy, rainy and cold. about 10 degrees I suppose. The town is very quiet as the high season has not started yet; not for another 3 weeks. So we expect it to be even more cold as we head even further south in a couple of days.
Well off to buy some more warm clothes ;) . Take care everyone,
Jón & Kathleen

posted by Nonni @ 8:28 e.h. 5 comments