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Day 1 Date : 30 Oct 2008 Hong Kong ~ Toronto
I arranged all financial matters in the morning and would take the Air Canada Flight at 3:30 p.m. My luggage was about 20kg. My seat numbers was 27B in the flight AC-12. Although the plane was not a giant one, it was spacious. The air hostess (Hong Kong) was beautiful and the food was delicious. I saw several movies during 14 hours flight. I arrived at Toronto at about 6:00 p.m. local time.
I was surprised that I needed to clear the immigration even in transit. I felt that the airport was very modern or it might not go to modern countries for a lone time. I just ate a Hamburger at $7.99 during the transit time. The final cost was $9 including various taxes.
I had made a firm determination in this trip. Resigning the work! There was three nothing : "No work! No $$! No Girl friend!"
I recalled my first long trip to the United States 20-years ago. It was in the first summer vocation of teaching. I only had about $20,000 saving in the bank. There was no idea of investment as well as no need to bother about finding a companion. I was very excited and happy. I stayed in Youth Hostel at the $US 10 per bed. Now I was no longer young and was already a middle age man. I did not know weather I still had the strength and stamina as in the past 20-years.
勇 ! 勇 ! 勇 ! in front of my heart.
I took the flight AC-92 at 23:55 to Buenos Aires via Santiago.
Day 2 Date : 31 Oct 2008 Toronto ~ Buenos Aires
The plane arrived at Santiago after 8 hours flight. I needed to take off the plane and re-board it after 30 minutes. The plane flied over Andes. The scenery was fascinating. However, my seat was not window and could not take picture. I arrived at Buenos Aires at 5:00 p.m. All gates had HSBC logo. I exchanged $200 US after the immigration that process took only 30 minutes. One peso, Argentina $, was about HK$2.4. I saw a HSBC ATM machine later and drew another $500 using my HSBC card. In fact, I could draw money from any ATM in Argentina.
I brought a bus voucher($45) to the hostel at the counter "Manuel Tienda Leon". The bus took 40 minutes to downtown and changed a taxi to the hostel. I arrived at 7:00 p.m. at the Milhouse Youth Hostel. One bed cost $36(HK$90) and including breakfast. My bed was in a four bed room with locker's space for storing large backpack. It was quite clean. Toilet and shower room were in the common area. Every place was clean and well kept.
I went outside walk after a shower as my normal practice. I took dinner at 8:50p.m. and ordered a steak at $48. It was not better than Cafe De Coral in Hong Kong. I sent email to home and checked bank account when I was back to hostel.
I spent only one hour in B.A. The city was not attractive to me as said in the Lonely Planet. The building was mostly about 6~8 storey height from airport to downtown. I had not lied on bed more than 40 hours and had to sleep at 10:10 p.m.
Day 3 Date : 1 Nov 2008 Buenos Aires ~ Iguaçu Fall
I waked up at 6:30 a.m. and took breakfast at 8:00 a.m. The breakfast had simple bread and tea. I also ate an apple and orange. I called a taxi ($45) to domestic airport and the ride took only 20 minutes. It was surprising the airport was new and modern. The plane took off at 11:00 a.m. and arrived at Iguaçu Fall at 12:50 a.m. Airport($15) to Peter Pan Hostel took about 30 minutes. It was $30 one bed. I had mixed feeling when I wrote my age in the register book as most clients were 20 ~ 30. My age was double the average!
As time was short, I went to Omibus station at 2:00p.m. after check-in. The bus ($4) went to Iguaçu Fall ( Brazil side ). When it crossed the border into Brazil, I needed to change bus($4.5). I arrived the fall at 3:00p.m. The entrance fee was $36. I needed to take shuttle bus to the fall. I started to walk at 3:30 p.m. There was a well-marked trail. The water of the fall was muddy. Although it was a great fall, I did not think it was so grandeur. I could not take good picture as the weather was cloudy. The walk only took an hour.
I came back to hostel at 6:30p.m. and took dinner at "Charo Restaurant". The set menu of steak was $30 only. The steak was unexpected delicious!
Day 4 Date : 2 Nov 2008 Iguaçu Fall
I took a bus ($10) to Iguaçu Fall ( Argentina side ) in the morning. The bus ride was 40 minutes and the entrance fee was $60. The entrance was not as grand as Brazilian side. I walked 15minutes from entrance to Estancian Cataratas in order to take the small train to Garganta Del Diablo. Each compartment consisted of 10 blocks and each block could sit for 8 persons. It was raining all the day. I got off the train after 10 minutes.
I ran to the suspension bridge where I could see the amazing fall! There were various trails to appreciate the fall and the major trails were upper circuit and lower circuit. The feeling was wonderful in the upper trail which was 1.4km long. I was also impressed by the lower circuit (1.3km). The most impressive moment was that I had "0" contact with the fall and was wet from head to toes. As raining and the water level were too high, I could not go to San Martin Island which was more closer to the fall.
I went back to hostel at 2:00p.m. and brought bus ticket to Buenos Aires($155). I booked the hostel in Puerto Madryn on 4 Nov. I took dinner before getting on bus at 7:30 p.m. It was the first time to take long distance in Argentina while I had taken a year ago in Peru. However, this time was more comfortable. The seat of bus was divided into cama-class, semi-class & classic-class. Cama-class liked business in plane and hot meal was served during the trip. My ticket was cama-class and I would get a good sleeping during 17 hours from Iguaçu Fall to Buenos Aires. I slept at 9:00 p.m.
Day 5 Date : 3 Nov 2008 Buenos Aires ~ Puerto Madryn
I waked up at 7:30 a.m. It was a very good 10 hour-sleep. The scenery was not spectacular. It was only grassland, cow and house. Breakfast was served at 10:00 a.m. I arrived at B.A. at 12:00a.m. I asked several bus companies and finally chose "Andesmar" bus ($240) to Puerto Madryn at 18:00 departure. I stored up ($12) my luggage in the bus station.
Now I had 4 hours for the city tour. I had a steak set menu($26). The taste was not good. I went to downtown plaza and took some pictures. I also withdrew $600 (Maximum amount each time. But it could be drawn many times) from HSBC ATM. I took some photo before boarding the bus. I thought the bus station was the largest and there were 75 gates in which 9 gates were international.
Day 6 Date : 4 Nov 2008 Puerto Madryn
The bus came to a check point after breakfast. All passengers were required to take off and luggage was checked. I thought it was unnecessary! I arrived at Puerto Madryn at noon. I walked 10 minutes to Hostel Viajeros. $40 one bed for a night and the room was very small. I had not seen the roommates. I asked about the price ($230) of whale-watching and thought it was not cheap. I went out for getting more information at 2:30p.m. Other company's price were $280 and $325. So I decided to book it through the hostel.
I ate half pizza ( 4 pieces ) + coke as lunch ($19) and strolled in the beach later. The sand was fine and the sea breeze was comfortable. The scenery was very good in the sea shore.
I had asked the bus service to Ushuaia. However, there was no direct bus and I was advised to go to Rio Galleous (15:00 ~ 7:15) and changed bus there (9:00 ~ 22:00) at the price $208 + $150.
I brought some food from the supermarket "VEA". I went outside for leisure walk after dinner and asked the air fare to Ushuaia. It was incredible $1500!! It was surprising that a single flight of just 1 hr would cost $US 500 which was enough to buy a return ticket from HK to London in low season.
I saw my roommates at 10:30p.m. They were two beautiful Switzerland ladies. I had a short talk with them and I was too tired to sleep. I felt that they go outside again and returned at 2:30 a.m.
Day 7 Date : 5 Nov 2008 Puerto Madryn
I wake up at 7:00 a.m. and wanted to take breakfast. However, I was informed that it was 6:00a.m. in the morning. I knew that there was two time zones in Argentina and I slept an hour less. The travel agent picked up me at 7:20 a.m. and two more guests also stayed in the same hostel while the total number was 11 in the tour bus.
We arrived at Puerto Piramide at 9:15 a.m. It was a small whale-watching village consisting a few houses. All passengers were required to wear life jacket on board. The boat was made in USA and it could carry 50 persons. It was towed into the sea. The briefing was firstly in Spanish and secondly in English by a pretty girl.
I saw several seals after 10 minutes' sail. The boat had gone into rough sea after 40 minutes and I could see the first whale and its baby. They appeared just in front of our boat. We followed them for 20 minutes. The boat turned back. I supposed that it was the end and talked with the pretty lady guide.
All of a sudden, I saw some blowing in the far and also saw some whale's tail and they were playing. There were whale from far to close. The captain sailed closely to a large whale. This whale demonstrated a great show to us. Sometimes, it capsized, flicking it tail, flashing water, sideward swimming,,, it liked dancing.
I really felt the grandeur of whale and I had "0" contact them it. I though the largest one had 15 meters. They were called southern right whale. I saw more than 10 whales in the morning and back to shore at 11: 15 a.m.
I went to Punta Cantor after lunch. It was temperature grassland and like a semi-desert within an hour drive. I was some American deer which was similar to Alpaca/Llama in Peru.
I went to look-out point after getting off the bus and saw five killer whale (Orca). However, I could not take good picture as the distance was too far. Moreover, there were more than 10 elephant seals sun-bathing in the shore. It was only a small number. I recalled the memory from the A1-channel that there were hundreds of them in there. Killer whale could come to the shore to catch the seal and towed it into the sea. In addition, the seal would be flown in the air several times before eaten by killer whale.
It took another hour drive to Punta Norte where I could see some seals. I also saw some Magellan penguin on the way to Punta Norte. I went back to hostel at 6:00p.m. The tour covered 500km within 10 hours including the whale watching cruise. The cost was $230 and it was value for money.
I took dinner in Mr. Jone's Resaturant. I ordered a steak ($34) and it was not so good. I had already come there for one week. I was surprised that I had not met any Chinese and see any Chinese restaurant. They main course was steak, pizza and potato. The cost of living standard was high. It was very different from Peru which had many Chinese restaurant.
Day 8 Date : 6 Nov 2008 Puerto Madryn ~ Rio Gallegos
I had no specific sightseeing in the morning as I would take the bus at 3:00 p.m. to Rio Gallegos. I went to the museum ($6 entrance fee) at 10:00 a.m. It had three storeys and the first floor had a very detail description of Orca. Orca caught seal could only find in Punta Cantor and a remote island in India. The museum was small and much lesser than that in Chiu Heung in Sai Kung.
I had a short walk on the beach and brought a take-away pizza ($20) as lunch. I only ate 5 pieces and reserved other for dinner.
I walked to the bus station at 2:15 p.m. and brought one 1.5l water ($6). The bus should be arrived at 3:00 p.m. I got on the bus at 3:45p.m. and decided not to take "Viatac" bus again. The bus was a semi-cama class and it was quite dirty. I could occupy two seats as it was not full. All passengers were taken off the bus after 1.5 hr at Trelew. We waited hopelessly for 30 minutes at the bus station. I thought the bus had went to clean.
The dinner was not good. Now, I was already in the Patagonia. The landscape was boring temperature grassland en route. There was no phone signal once I left the city. However, there was SOS station ( Phone station ) on every 10km in the highway.
Day 9 Date : 7 Nov 2008 Rio Gallegos
I waked up at 5:30 a.m. and saw the road sign that it still had 275km to Rio Gallegos. I thought it was difficult to arrive at Rio Gallegos before 9:00 a.m. in order to connect the bus to Ushuaia. The bus stopped 10 minutes in Puerto Santa Cruz at 6:00 a.m. Finally I arrived at 9:45 a.m. and asked various bus companies in Rio Gallegos. All bus was already left and I needed to go on tomorrow. I brought the bus ticket($150).
I asked the tourist information in the bus station and I was advised to stay in Hostel Cytheria. The dormitory bed cost $40. I walked 15 minutes to the hostel. The hostel was a home stay one and the room was very small. However, it was very clean and tidy. The kitchen was opened for use. I went to supermarket to buy some food for lunch and dinner after shower. The main course was spaghetti with ham and sausage.
I had a very sweet sleep (1.5hr) after lunch and walked to town centre at 3:00 p.m. The street had quite a lot of rubbish. The town centre had a few street only and the price of goods was similar to Hong Kong. I walked until the beach which was muddy one. I saw an exchange shop for the Chilean peso. The rate was $170/$220. The price different was too large! Surprising, I saw a HSBC bank there. It was so kind and nice to see something from Hong Kong. It was pity that it was closed.
I came across a restaurant. Its office hour was 12:00 ~ 15:00 & 19:00~1:00. Normally, the shop office hour was 9:00~1:00 & 17:00 ~ 20:00. It meant that there was at least 3 hour afternoon break which was for lunch and rest. I walked already for 2 hours and the whole down town and found a bakery near the hostel. It was only $1 for one bread and it was also the cheapest food since I came to Argentina.
I came back to hostel at 6:00 p.m. and took a rest till 6:30 a.m. to prepare the dinner (Spaghetti + 3 sausage + 3 ham). It was the fullest meal! I thought it was not too bad to stay a day there. I could cook myself and took a rest after 4000km bus ride.
『塞翁失馬，焉知非福。』
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