Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Today we visited Puerto Madryn (pronounced [PWUR] + [TOH] MADREEN) a small town in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina. Patagonia is a vast region on the southernmost tip of South America. The eastern side is comprised primarily of Argentinian grasslands, while the western side is made up of Chilean fjords and rainforests. 

Founded 150 years ago by Welsh settlers, it is often referred to simply as “Madryn. (Especially of note is the fact that these Welsh settlers arrived in a ship named “Mimosa”! Go figure…)

Both (Argentinian) Spanish and Welsh are spoken by its 80,000 residents. The two most notable things about Madryn are its colder temperatures (61 degrees today), and the abundant marine wildlife that can be fond in the area. (However, Karen and I opted to enjoy the town today rather than to partake of one of the many available wildlife excursions.)

Argentina’s currency is the Argentina Peso (ARS) which is currently valued at ~$800 pesos to one US dollar (USD), making this a very inexpensive place to visit. Also of interest is that many (most?) of the world’s currencies use a comma to separate dollars from cents. Do you know how sometimes Americans write cents as a superscript with a line under it? Want to know why?

After a pleasant walk along the “La Rambla” seafront promenade of Puerto Madryn, we stopped for empanadas at the Lizard Café. Afterwards, we explored the town a bit more. One of our friends joined us later in the day, and bought us an early dinner of paella at the absolutely fabulous Chona Restaurante.

So back onboard, we are gearing up for Antartica. Due to weather predictions, an itinerary change was announced today. We will skip the Falkland Islands, and head straight to Antartica, then visit the Faulklands afterwards (in a week or so). Time to get out the winter clothes!

“Fair winds and following seas mates!”