Home away from home

Day 147

The wind makes me squint my eyes. It feels like doomsday in Necochea, the small coastal resort where we are. This morning there was such a violent thunderstorm and storm that we feared for the palm trees on the promenade that were about to be blown away. Huge puddles around me.

It just started raining again, so I had to move from my beach spot to a nearby café. Climate change incoming.

Just over a week ago, an incompetent bus company drove us crazy, causing us to leave the area around the Valdés Peninsula a day later than planned. We didn't realize until later that this would annoy us even more than it already did. We arrived in Viedma with the second attempt to catch the bus, a city described as "nice" in our travel guide, mainly known for its fancy cafés and chic houses. It was also supposed to be home to the largest parrot colony in the world with 35,000 birds, which made us curious because we didn't expect such a thing in South America or at least not in the far-southern part of South America. If we didn't have so much time in Argentina and were only here for a few weeks on vacation, we probably would never have thought of heading to this town. But Viedma was on our way north, we had time, didn't want to waste too much time in one place, but wanted to see something new, so we ended up in this undiscovered small town. Which turned out to be an extremely wise decision.

We arrived and went to our accommodation without expectations, where we arrived late in the evening. We ended up in a residential area on the edge of the "Rio Negro" river, which separates the province of the same name from the province of "Buenos Aires". A fifty-something man approached us and smiled, telling us to follow him to the accommodation. He opened the front door, where an excited dog greeted us and later a woman and a boy the same age as us. They were radiant and happy that we were there. The man, who introduced himself as "Hector", led us up to our spacious room. We were given towels and had our own bathroom. When, like us, you book your accommodation on the internet a few days in advance, you never know what to expect and you are clueless when you arrive. In this case, we found a kind of Airbnb, as we simply lived with this family in their house, which, incidentally, was not small and poorly equipped. We paid less for the night than in any hostel. After looking for something to eat in the city, exhausted from the bus ride and therefore relieved about the nice place we were staying at, we returned around 11:00. In the living room, the adults were sitting at the table with another couple, and the boy was sitting on the couch with another slightly younger boy watching soccer. When we arrived upstairs in the room, we both knew that it was already late, but we still wanted to join the locals, so we went down to them and were immediately integrated. First, Hector told us about our travel plans and everyone sat eagerly around us. We showed them our hometown Lübeck and the Holsten Gate, and they exclaimed how "beautiful" it was. Hector told us that we were their first European guests, while Joaco, the son, was fascinated by German movies on Netflix. So there we were in Viedma with six Argentinians, and on TV, Moritz Bleibtreu was playing. Of course, we also talked about soccer, and Joaco was very amused by Germany's early elimination from the World Cup. Before going to bed, we asked Hector and Andrea, his wife, if it was true that the largest parrot colony in the world nested nearby. They confirmed this and gave us the departure time and bus line that would take us to the beach 30 kilometers away, where this was supposed to be the case.

After having breakfast the next day, Hector drove us to the bus stop, and at 11:00 we headed towards the coast. Once there, we arrived at the beach after about 15 minutes' walk, where huge rocks towered up. The rocks stretched for kilometers along the water and were covered with countless holes. There were thousands of them. There were no parrots, but their nests, which they must have somehow hammered into the hard rock, testified to their existence and created an incredible natural spectacle. We weren't disappointed that we didn't see any parrots because this beach, with its countless holes decorating the cliff like a pattern, had its own unique magic. It was a wonder and a blessing that the travel guide didn't mention anything about it. When the clouds closed in and it started raining heavily and even hailing, we just wanted to go back to find shelter somewhere. After leaving the completely soaked beach and facing a long way to the next bus stop, a car suddenly honked at us, and as if by magic, it was Hector and Andrea who guided us into their car and drove us, wet and dirty, towards the city. Why the two of them were there at that moment, in that town 30 kilometers away, and how this coincidence came about, we never asked ourselves, as I realize now, in astonishment. We were simply happy and grateful and didn't think about it at all. The two of them complained about the weather and, as compensation, took us to a beautiful lighthouse, a monument, and a small river, always reporting on the various stops, and Linus and I felt like we were on a tour bus. Just a short while ago, we were on our way to catch a cold in the cold, windy hail, and shortly afterwards we were sitting in the warm, comfortable car of our "host parents".

They drove us to a supermarket and then back to their house in Viedma.

In the evening, our bus unfortunately left Viedma. Although we had booked for two nights, due to a certain bus company, as mentioned at the beginning, we could only stay there for one night. Even though we would have liked to stay another day.

In the end, however, you can only focus on the positive and be happy that we made the decision to simply go to Viedma. Otherwise, we would not have experienced all of this not just for one day, but not at all.

Now we are in Necochea. The blue sky is gradually returning, and next to my laptop is an empty Submarino glass. We are now in the province of "Buenos Aires", and the capital is not so far away anymore. In a week, we will spend a few days on a beach resort east of here, and then we plan to go to Uruguay again at the end. Everything is slowly becoming foreseeable. Today is March 1st. The last month of our journey has begun.