A stopover in a big city

February 7th - 8th

The day had come that we somehow had pushed away... or no, not pushed away, it had simply been forgotten.

The day of departure.

In general, I had lost all sense of time in this place. 

A good sign, I think.

In the first few months, a lot of things happened one after another, and staying in one place for a longer time was really good for us. 

So we regained our strength and traveled by bus to our next destination:

Mar del Plata, a bigger city on the east coast with a population of 60,000.

However, this number fluctuated greatly, as thousands of tourists and Argentinians flocked here during the high season.

What a coincidence that we got off at a plaza near the Catholic Cathedral of Mar del Plata.

Going into a church with a trekking backpack on my back... Hmmm 🤔 not a good idea!
So we took turns going in and visited the massive stone and mosaic window building.

To be honest, I hardly dared to take a photo for fear of offending the praying Argentineans...

Near the cathedral, we found something quite interesting:

A calendar.

Apparently, every day, they displayed the current day, weekday, month, and year here.

A cool thing!
So the residents of Mar del Plata don't need to carry a calendar with them. Now all they need is a built-in clock and everything is perfect 🤔😄

Arriving at the recommended campsite, a nice big area with huge fir trees, we quickly set up camp and started looking for food. 

Our stomachs were literally screaming with hunger 😱

After asking around a bit, we finally reached 'Los Amigos'.

'The Friends'

Well, if that doesn't sound good.
After a while, armed with 2 huge burgers, a sandwich, and fries (sometimes you have to indulge), we hurried back to our camp.

A short time later:
Full stomachs, empty food package, happy us, and exhausted conversation topics for the day, we went to bed.

The next day held a small city tour, after devouring our fruit breakfast. It goes without saying!

I know it's not for everyone, but I somehow felt comfortable in the hustle and bustle of the city.
The main streets and shops had something beautiful about them.
This mix of solitude, nature, peace, and the hustle and bustle of a big city is what I like the most.

Our tour took us through the city center, to a fair that unfortunately was only partially filled with stands, and to a heladeria.

Can anyone guess what that might be?

An ice cream parlor!
We wanted to treat ourselves to some ice cream. Especially since a travel guide I had read claimed that the Argentinians supposedly sell some of the best ice cream in the world.

We naturally wanted to put this claim to the test.
However, we skipped the first three ice cream parlors for budget reasons...

Finally, after finding a suitable one, it took another 10 minutes for us to decide how to handle it.
In the end, Conny and I ordered 2x 3 scoops each.
Banana, lemon, cookies, dulce de leche, cherry cream, and chocolate.
Cherry cream turned out not to be Amarena cherry like in Germany, but rather cherry ice cream with some red chunks full of chemicals.
At least that's how it tasted. 

The rest, on the other hand, was quite delicious.

My favorite? Dulce de leche and banana 😄

February 9th

While we were already busy figuring out how to get to Sierra de la Ventana, it made more sense to simply go to the bus station.
Easier said than done.

After some inquiries (not so easy through the terminal's loudspeakers), we found the relatively cheapest option.

5 hours of travel to Olavaria, 8 hours of layover at the bus station, and then another 6 hours on the bus to Sierra de la Ventana...

Our excitement for a new place was great, but our enthusiasm for the bus journey was limited...

We spent the rest of the day at a larger fair. It didn't seem to be a conventional fair, but more like a flea market.

All sorts of things could be found.

Old tools, weapons, books, coins, and banknotes from another era of Argentina, and so on.

There was even a small metal plate that seemingly came from the 'Privatbrauerei Gersdorf'.

This market activity reminded me a bit of the flea market in downtown Jena 😀

But after being productive for a while, it's also good to relax a bit. 

The beach seemed perfect for that!

It was beautiful and impressive at the same time to see how a large part of the social life in Mar del Plata was happening on the promenade.

Huge crowds gathered around an entertaining clown or around 2 really great guitarists.

I can't find the right words to describe it right now.

Maybe just this much: 

You could feel how the promenade was alive. Especially because of the street artists and the small stalls.

Once back at the campsite, something special happened.
My stove, which I had bought for the trip, had been a bit... a bitter disappointment for the past few weeks. 

There were constantly problems, and it was particularly nerve-wracking for me.
Fortunately, there was a small camping store in Mar del Plata where a new, smaller, more compact fitting for gas cartridges was bought in no time. 

Mind you, for a fraction of the price of the other one...

In any case, we tried it out and it worked perfectly! Our dinner was secured.

What a relief!!!