We are deciding on the menu to make sure we bring enough food for our stay. I've provided dried fruit and nuts, chocolate, cookies, and some freeze-dried camping food which he turns his nose up at. We have pasta, canned tuna, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables (after he's been telling me how important it is to keep weight down in the kayaks! not that I am going to complain about anything fresh). We hit a snag when he decides that half a litre of water per person per day is enough and I want to quadruple the amount.
We need some warm clothes because nights are cool here even when it is hot during the day. I arranged our tents (we each have a one person tent, and they are both too small to allow for two people to sleep in there unless you are really comfortable with practically lying on top of one another), sleeping bags and clothes into waterproof kayak bags. I am looking for my headlight everywhere and can't find it. I decide Julio will have his and give up looking for it. Julio is packing the food and kitchen stuff. We haven't fixed my camping stove. There is something wrong with it that makes it turn off all the time.
Then we go put gas in the car, buy more water (I sort of won that point) and fresh bread (Julio likes buying bread on a daily basis, he does not like day-old bread) and head out.
Along the way, we meet up with many of his friends with whom we plan on hanging out that day and head for Peninsula Valdes, a protected area full of wildlife and beautiful, deserted beaches.
When we get to Paradelas, the one we've been heading for after a bit over an hour, the tide is so high (it's right after the full moon) that there is barely any room to drive. The place is spectacular! This is not a sand beach, the ground is made of very soft stone full of fossilized shells and the such, it is pretty amazing.
We spend the day fooling around, there are about a dozen of us.
Some people snorkel while others kayak while others still go out with the small boat and hunt (fish, with a harpoon).
When I went out with the kayak, there was a pinguin following us for a bit. On the water, they look a lot like ducks. Before going to Patagonia, I had only ever seen them walking or, in documentaries, swimming, never floating around like normal birds, it's really weird, I think most north-americans would not recognize them as pinguins right away. This is all intermingled with food and maté, of course!
The hours fly by and soon everyone else has to get back to town. Julio and I find a spot to set up the tents, go walking on the beach where the pinguins are coming to rest and dry themselves.
We decide on what to cook for dinner.
Both of us are waiting for the other to come up with their headlight, and this is when we realize we've brought none! And we own 4 among us, not to mention flashlights!
Bravo. Meal in the dark! This makes us unable to see what is wrong with the stove, so Julio makes a small fire instead, and it turns out great! Bread, cheese, tomatoe, avocado, with, of course, a nice bottle of wine... And lots of laughter about what a couple of disasters we both are, both depending on the other when we hang out, a bad idea in any circumtance.
The moon comes out and makes everything visible. But by that time, we are both pretty tired and go to sleep.
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