It started last Saturday night with a music festival in Buenos Aires. Headlined by the Arctic Monkeys and The Hives, PersonalFest 2014 was a small and yet fantastic affair. I arrived reasonably late Saturday afternoon, after taking my time walking around the Puerto Mardeo area in the early afternoon. The first show I caught was the latter half of James McCartney's - he's nowhere near his father, but makes some nice, if rather generic rock music. Next up were Echo & The Bunnymen, who were apparently famous in the 80s. I've never heard of them, and the best thing that came out of their show is that I met a group of american foreign exchange students with whom I hung out for the rest of the festival.
The ridiculousness started with The Hives. They put on a really fun show (even if at some point most of their songs begin to sound a tad the same), and really got the crowd going. My only pet peeve is that the front-man was rather in love with himself and his band, and wouldn't move on to the next song without some cheering about how much the crowd loves The Hives. Meh. The Arctic Monkeys, on the other hand, simply put together an awesome show. They played an amazing 21 song set, which included most of their hits and several lesser-known songs. The crowd was absolutely wild, and didn't stop moving / jumping / smashing / pushing everywhere. The encore was long and well done, with amazing effects during I Wanna Be Yours, and an extended rendition of R U Mine to close the night.
The next morning saw me wake up late and enjoy a stroll around town with two girls from the hostel, followed by an eighteen hour bus to Puerto Madryn. It was rather unremarkable - the views were rather bland, endless green fields and the occasional village. The bed service (Cama) buses are rather comfortable though - business-class level seats, snacks served, and wine with dinner. All-in-all nothing terrible, but I'm rather glad I opted for a flight for Puerto Madryn to Ushuaia. Puerto Madryn itself is a quiet little town, just under half way down the Argentine coastline from Buenos Aires.
The morning after arriving I went to one of Puerto Madryn's claims to fame: diving with sea lions in Punta Loma. Oh. My. God. It. Was. Amazing. The videos (first, second) tell the story better than I ever could, and the photos came out rather awesome as well. The sea lions (at least the females and pups) are remarkably curious creatures, and they just come right up to you and play with you. As they don't have hands or feet, they just nibble at your hands (or snorkel, or flippers) to see what they can find out about you. I also opted to take another dive afterwards, to a neat shipwreck they have nearby. Other than the fact the Atlantic Ocean is really bloody cold (7mm wet-suits, gloves, and hoods aren't optional), it was a rather fun dive, with some fish and coral as well.
Later that day I biked up to a vista point nearby named Punta Felcha - the views were very pretty, but I ran into some rather destructive headwind on my way back to town, which forced me to walk parts of the way back. The milkshake I had afterwards certainly felt well-earned. I met some other fun travelers during my stay in Puerto Madryn (a couple from Austria, two girls from Germany, three Israelis (whom I met again in Ushuaia), and two more girls from the Netherlands), and cooked some solid meals. It was out of the way, but well worth it. Major props go to Johnny and Inbar who suggested it might be worth a trip.
The flight to Ushuaia was a tad bumpy, but the views were simply beautiful (photos coming soon). It's simply a beautiful place - snowy mountains to the north, the beagle channel to the south, and even more snowy peaks on the mountains beyond. Simply gorgeous. Between arriving here in the afternoon on Thursday, a skype interview Friday morning, and the cruise beginning Saturday afternoon, I actually haven't hiked here at all yet; but there'll be plenty of time for that once I get back.
Next up: Antarctica. Eighteen days, including the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas, as they're known in the collective Argentine cognitive dissonance), as well as South Georgia, sometimes referred to as "The Galapagos of the Atlantic." It's going to be amazing. I'm stoked.
Introspection of the day: I'm not quite sure if (and how) I want to track my expenses on the trip. On one hand, it isn't about the money - it's about the experience. However, seeing that everything does indeed cost money, keeping some track of it makes sense. So far it's early enough that I still remember most of my large expenses (travel, attractions), and can approximate how much I've spent on hostels and living expenses. On one hand I want to have some idea of how much I'm spending and what's it being spent on, and on the other hand, I want to make sure the financials don't consume me, and that I don't mull every dinner out with how much I've spent so far.
Add into that mix the Antarctica trip, which dwarfs every other expense (and probably all of the trip-related expenses so far), and I have no idea and and how I should do. Friends and family who have traveled, should anyone ever read this: What did you do to track expenses? How did it work out?
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