Highlights of My Week in Puerto Madryn

Puerto Madryn is a cool beachside town, much smaller and more manageable than Mar del Plata and I like it better (not that MdP was bad).  The town receives over 50 cruise ships per season, and is packed with all the touristy shops and goods.  The cruise ships also seem to increase cost of living by about 50 percent relative to what I experienced in MdP.

I spent the first half of week staying at the Hi Patagonia Hostel, south of town and very near the beach. The hostel is owned by Gaston, a very amicable and gregarious fellow in his late 30s/early 40s who speaks relatively good (although somewhat broken) English and spends his free time scuba diving, rock climbing and mountaineering. The hostel has only been open about 7 months and previously belonged to a doctor with 7 children.

Every 3 days or so, Gaston throws a giant asado (BBQ) for all the residents of Hi Patagonia, where he cooks up a variety of bife de chorizo, sausage, blood sausage, chicken, potatoes, salad...

As the Argentine economy has begun its recovery since the 2001 devaluation of the peso (after Argentina defaulted on international debt payments) and as travelers and tourists worldwide have discovered how affordable Argentina is, local hostels, hospedajes and hotels have begun to pop up everywhere.

Due to a mix-up in communication between Roy (the day property manager) and Gaston (the owner), I ended up having to switching locations mid-stay and move over to the El Gaulicho Hostel, a respectable place closer to the downtown area but farther away from the beach. The mix-up was that I told Roy I was staying until Jan 30, but somehow that was lost in translation or never communicated to Gaston. Point being, Gaston booked all the rooms and I had no place to stay. However, Gaston was more than helpful and personally called up El Gaulicho and made sure I had a place to stay.

Every 3 days or so, Gaston throws a giant asado (BBQ) for all the residents of Hi Patagonia, where he cooks up a variety of bife de chorizo, sausage, blood sausage, chicken, potatoes, salad and all you can drink Malbec and other wines from Argentina. I attended all 3 asados during my stay in Puerto Madryn, and all were great occasions to meet fellow travelers and share stories and suggestions. During the first asado which was attended by all 18 hostel guests, I found myself talking with 3 med school students from Sweden (Magnus, Thomas and Christian) and a lawyer from the Netherlands, and well as 4 complete lunatics from Ireland, .....by far the craziest people running around this planet.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157603837805282/detail/

Two restaurant recommendations if you make it down include Mariscos del Atlantico, where I had an exceptionally good Marzuela Negra (Patagonian Toothfish) and bottle of Malbec, and El Clasico, which served an excellent lomo (tenderloin) along with a couple bottles of the dark, chocolatey Quilmes Stout.

A good watering hole is the Molino, a dive bar/dance club directly on the beach south of town that runs until 7am most days and is packed even on Sunday nights…..I got drug out there by two 21-year old students from Pepperdine University and a couple 19-year old college students from Denmark; I was definitely the granddad of the group.

Time to head south to Tierra del Fuego…the land of fire…