Puerto Madryn, Argentina - 2017

The Dazzler hotel was our base for a three night stay in Puerto Madryn, This nine story hotel has 95 rooms and is located directly across from a sandy beach. With three days, we had more than enough time to explore the town area and take one field trip. Given that our visit was timed for the beginning of  the summer season, we weren't confronted with large crowds.

The Dazzler hotel rooms have basic, clean and functional furnishings. In the morning, our room temperature tended to be very warm and was difficult to adjust. The morning sun beat into our room through the sliding glass door and the HVAC added additional warm air to create a hot yoga-like environment. Our room did not have an individual thermostat and I suspect the thermostat was located on the cooler side of the building. We found that opening the room door to the cooler hallway was helpful. By early afternoon, the sun shifted position and the room temperature became much more pleasant.

   

Cultural Observations: As you walk through town and visit stores and restaurants you quickly learn about local customs. For one, dining is often much later in the day than what Americans might be used to. Restaurant dinner time generally started at 8pm, the servings were large and dinner often lingered for a couple of hours. This meal timing reminded me of our visit to Spain. We also learned that some dining establishments have a "service charge" that goes to the restaurant and covers overhead items, such as silverware, tablecloths, water and bread. Gratuity tips to wait staff are in addition to this service charge. 

Smaller retail stores opened early in the morning but closed between 12 noon and 3pm, reopening thereafter and closing in the early evening. While credit cards are commonly accepted, we found several ATMs in town. However, many Puerto Madryn bank ATMs had daily withdrawal limits (about $170USD).

Walking through town, there are many retail stores offering gift items, wine, clothing and everyday items, such as shoes. If you need any groceries, basic household goods or over the counter drug items, there are two Carrefour stores in the downtown area. 

Dining Suggestions: There are many restaurants in this town and we only had time to try a few. Two dinner favorites were Cantina El Nautico and Chona. While both restaurants had a large number of menu items, the former had terrific seafood menu items and the latter had very good beef and lamb offerings. The Lizard Cafe was a great lunch spot for pizzas, sandwiches, salads and local beer. Havanna Cafe offered a relaxing spot for a cup of coffee, pastries and sandwiches.

Things to do: There aren't many noted sites to see in town. We walked along the beach and enjoyed seeing the colorful house styles, strolled down the pier to view the ships and viewed the cultural and scientific exhibits at Museo Provincial de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanografica. We planned to go over to the Musea del Desembarco, depicting the hardship of the first  Welsh immigrants to this area, but it was closed during our Puerto Madryn stay.

Besides adventure activities, such as scuba diving, many visitors head over to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Peninsula Valdes. This nature reserve is about a hour drive on paved and gravel roads from Puerto Madryn. The area is known for whale and seal watching and viewing Magellanic penguin colonies. We took a day trip to Peninsula Valdes and went whale watching aboard a boat operated by Peke Sosa Avistajes, in Puerto Piramides.  Afterwards we stopped for lunch at the San Lorenzo Sheep Ranch, in Punta Norte. The ranch also manages a Magellanic nature reserve so that ranch visitors can view and walk through a penguin rookery. The rookery was a little of a surprise for us. Previously, we've seen penguins in only polar environments rather than high-desert locations.