Peter's Travel Blog: Bahia Blanca

I´m definitely a little slow putting up these blogs. Every computer I go to over here seems to have really slow connections so I have to decide between putting up a really good blog with pictures or just writing more information and just put up the occassional picture.

Im a few days behind and have done quite a bit of travelling over the last few days. After leaving Buenos Aires last Sunday, I caught an overnight bus to Bahia Blanca which is a city about 700km south of Buenos Aires. Arrived Monday morning about 07:30. Arrived early to the Hostel Bahia Blanca

http://www.hostelbahiablanca.com/english/index_eng.html

Was not impressed with this hostel at all. The doors didnt lock properly, the bathrooms were in an outhouse and were unclean, toilets didnt flush, lockers didnt close, and I didnt even trust the staff. There were also some seriously dodgy characters hanging around the hostel. My lack of Spanish of course did not help at all and most of the guests staying appeared to be local which made it difficult to communicate.

Heres a picture of my room:

I only picked Bahia Blanca to stay in after reading the Lonely Planet but it certainly seems to be off the backpackers trail heading south. Anyway .. all part of the experience. I had reservations for 3 nights but quickly changed it to 2 nights and made reservations for a bus to the next town on Wednesday night.

After packing my rucksack into the dodgy locker that didnt lock, I took a walk around the town centre. I eventually came across the tourist information office where I had to try and use whatever Spanish I had to find out what if anythng there was to see around the town. I had read in the Lonely Planet about a place called Sierra de la Ventana and after making more enquiries, found out it was actually about 170kms away from Bahia Blanca. If I had of known that before hand I would have simply went directly to Sierra and avoided Bahia Blanca alogether .. which is what I would recommend to anyone else making this trip.

I booked my bus tickets for the next day (Tuesday 9th) to go to Sierra. Rest of Monday was spent just strolling around Bahia Blanca.

Tuesday

What an early start! Got up at 04:50. Bus departed at 06:00 for Sierra de la Ventana. Apparantly Sierra and the surrounding park calle Tornquist National Park had lovely walks and treks, but you had to be there early as they wouldnt let you climb after a certain time. Anyway .. I expected to arrive at 8am but the bus broke down ... twice!!! The 2nd time it broke down we were literally stranded in the middle of the country and the bus driver started flagging down cars to hitch lifts for the passengers into the next town. Long story short, it was about 10am when we arrived into Sierra. I could have made the bus connection to the National Park but it was such a rush I decided instead to spend the day in Sierra. Regretting I hadnt come here originally and booked into a B&B and I could have done loads of trekking. Sierra is a nice town. I walked around the whole town and also climbed a nearby hill overlooking the town. Very relaxing day ..