rio gallegos. rain and wind.

i spent three nights in san julian with mariana. the wind never stopped, but in a concrete house, i was invincible!

san julian is an introverted city. by this i mean that it is almost entirely focused on the constant churning of local activity. besides a lifesized replica of magallanes´s boat, there´re really no tourist hot spots. this i liked. the movement and energy was local. it was as if the city ignored me.

i took exactly zero photos of the city.

mariana works extremely long hours. at night we walked along the costanera talking talking talking. another night we drove out of the city and sat on the rocks overlooking the ocean sipping wine and munching crackers. the sunset was breathtaking. talking talking talking. we saw a skunk waddling along the beach. skunk. cute.

another couchsurfing success.

i headed out of san julian toward ruta 3. i hitchhiked, wind in my hair, and caught a pickup truck to the route. there, i stuck out my thumb without success for a while. i wasn´t bothered. i sang and danced and waved to cars going the opposite direction. gotta keep your spirits high.

edu from bahía picked me up in a small red car. he said perhaps 20 words per second and we headed south, avoiding the everpresent guanacos. 2 hours flew by and the conversation never stopped. he dropped me off at cecylia´s family´s house in rio gallegos and we arranged to meet for drinks before i left.

cecylia studies in mendoza, but is back home for the summer. i´m staying with her, her brother lucas, her sister rocio, and her parents. there are also two cats and a dog.

i did an orientation walk around rio gallegos. it started raining. first precipitation since bariloche. i couldn´t find a dry place to sit and have mate. so i just walked. rio gallegos is not a beautiful city, but then again, what city is when it´s grey and rainy?

last night we had homemade gnocchi in a yummy sauce and salad. we watched an argentine movie until i was so tired that i couldn´t understand it anymore.

i wish i had photos to share, but i haven´t taken any since jaramillo.

next stop is rio grande, tierra del fuegooooooooo!