G and I arrived in Puerto Pyramides on Peninsula Valdes this morning. It was an overnight bus ride from El Bolson, on which we were treated to "America's Sweetheart", Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality II: Armed and Fabulous, which i liked almost as much as Miss Congeniality part I, which I didn't see.

Since our last posting, we hosted our friend Georgia at the Chacra del Cielo organic farm and introduced her into their world of dirt, animals and the charismatic 3 year old Dante.
We all went to the Festival Del Lupulo, at which I think the contigent from Chacra was the most lively (and drunk) thing. The "Festival" (more like a extra-boring county fair) was largely disappointing except for the hot fire karaoke including "Like a Prayer" and a rendition of "Unbreak my Heart" by Toni Braxton in Spanish, sung by a man!).
We also took a boat ride across mountain-ringed Lago Puelo to the border with Chile where we got to go hike across and go swimming in the perfectly perserved lake. G and Georgia were off-put by the rapidly increasing price tag of this excursion (I'm sure G will tell you about that), but I thought it was all worth it.
After Georgia left, we intended to head for the Atlantic coast right away, but sickness (which has been a nearly constant state on this trip) and bad weather kept us in town two more days. We did get to finally succeed in eating in virtually every restaurant in town, by which we could conclude finally that they ALL had the exact same selection of SUBPAR food.
There seems to be no concept of competition and variety (not to mention good taste) in many parts of Argentina, so restauranteurs seem to think that photocopying the menu of any popular restaurant in town is a wise business move. Therefore, every restaurant serves: Pizza, Sandwiches, Pasta, Milanesas, Lomos, and Empanadas. Oh, and a salad consisting of Lettuce, Carrot, and Tomato (and Huevos Duro and Palm Hearts if you are lucky). And the place next door defintely serves Ice Cream. This may not sound too bad (especially if you are 8 years old and want to eat nothing but pizza and Ice Cream every day, as Eric from Scam Zine pointed out to us, then this would this your paradise), but consider that all the food items are bleached flour based and contain at least one form of cheese.
El Bolson does have amazing local microbrew beer, though, which is a saving grace. On our last night in town we went to the El Bolson Cerveceria, the largest microbrew in the area, which was amazing. Every beer I sampled, from the Winter Stout to the Honey and the Raspberry flavoured brews were effing ambrosia. And to complement them I ordered the Pizza "Allemandia" (German)- No, cheeze, just light tomato sauce, homemade Saurkraut, hot dog slices, mustard, fennel and whole peppercorns. It was basically a work of genius, possibly commanded by God himself (man I'm getting waay too into this Mormon book).
Anyway, two nice girls, respectively from Germany and Basque country in Spain told us about Puerto Pyramides, which is the only settlement on Peninsula Valdes. Here's what Google Earth says:

"Península Valdés in Patagonia is a site of global significance for the conservation of marine mammals. It is home to an important breeding population of the endangered southern right whale as well as important breeding populations of southern elephant seals and southern sea lions. The orcas in this area have developed a unique hunting strategy to adapt to local coastal conditions.


Location:
42°30'0" S, 64°0'0" W
Criteria:
N (iv)"

You can use those Coordinates to track us down on Google Earth. So far the place is beautiful despite the chill and overcast skies. It has a wide sandy beach and rocky coves all around. It reminds me alternately of the Cape and of Baja California, Mexico. South of here is Punto Tombo, our next stop to go see thousands of migrating penguins.
We will have photos posted from our hike up Mount Tronador and from El Bolson once we get back to the city and find some resonable development fees.
We'll say "Hi" to the penguins for everyone (as I know they are "Hot" this season and y'all want to be down with them)