Flight to Puerto Madryn to catch a few extra tours was at 5pm, so instead of being rushed all day I cancelled my tour down the river a couple days ago, and opted for an AirBnB experience instead. I considered a couple different photography tours and settled on one in the morning with Carolina (AirBnB / Instagram).
One of my favorite things to do in cities, is to find AirBnB experiences to go do some photography, you’d be surprised how many options there are with photographers who just want to show their city, will do private photoshoots on the side, and they’re generally much more affordable than say doing a half day photoshoot in the states.
The Photo Experience
Meeting Point
Took an uber over to the Women’s Bridge for our meeting point, but the driver seemed a little confused and dropped me off at the wrong bridge location. Oh well, got to do a quick walk over and very nice area on a Saturday morning, there were very few people out and about.
Puerto Madero
We started the day walking around Puerto Madero and taking some shots around the Women’s Bridge and surrounding area. Felt like a really nice place with lots of restaurants that I’m sure is just crawling with people at nights and weekends in the evening. Really nice space to just walk around and enjoy the views.
There was a Starbucks in this area, so we stopped by as well, but they didn’t have any mugs (maybe they just don’t make them anymore in this neck of the world).
Microcentro
Then we walked over to the city center with the famed obelisk. Lovely walk on a Saturday (and it dawned on me that it was the first week of January, so people are probably on vacation), but really nice to walk down the streets and not be super crowded, but Carolina confirmed my suspicion that normally the streets are super crowded and packed like a normal city / downtown area. I just keep getting lucky I guess :D.
Palermo
Lastly, we drove over to Palermo and walked around the lake and saw some birds there. It was a lovely space that reminded me a lot of Forest Park in Saint Louis. Unfortunately the botanical gardens were closed, but from across the way it looked like there were a LOT of flowers inside…all free. There was a BIG storm a couple weeks before we got there, and there were a lot of trees that had been uprooted and lots of cleanup having to take place. Definitely need to come back some other time!
Carolina was nice enough to drop me back off at the pier and I grabbed a quick selfie with her to commemorate our time together around the city.
The Final Product
Carolina took all the footage that she took of me taking photos and put them together and sent it over to me, and it was such a fun experience. Look how they all turned out. Highly recommend her experience on AirBnB (or reach out to her on Instagram).
Couldn’t be happier with the pics and how they turned out!
Heading to Puerto Madryn
Made it back onto the ship, did some quick packing and a shower, and was ready to head off the Serenade for a few days away from my new home. As i got off the ship, I pulled up Uber to find that there were only scooter rides available, so reluctantly I went back and grabbed a taxi to the airport and had to haggle with the taxi driver on price.
I did eventually make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare for my flight. I will admit that not speaking any Spanish (or very little), I was a little nervous about flying out of the airport, but the previous days trip through the same airport to Iguazú had prepared me for what to expect (and was VERY helpful).
I stopped by the Starbucks and was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but TWO different mugs, so I snagged them and brought them along with me to Puerto Madryn.
Flight was really interesting. Had to take a bus to another part of the tarmac and then climb up onto the plane, but the flight itself was nice and quick. Spent the hour and a half between sleeping and looking at the scenic changes as we flew south. Really interesting to see the contrasts of desert and brush.
Went to grab and uber to find that there wasn’t any, so walked over to the line of taxis and asked if they took credit cards. They did, and I gave them my AirBnB address, and off we went. Super quick, and it was just a 10 minute drive into the city and cost about $5.
Settling In
I settled into my AirBnB and to my chagrin, found that I left my travel adaptor on the ship and only had European and American plugs. So I set out to explore the city and try to find some way to have power.
Ended up wandering around for about 4 hours just taking in the beaches and city. It was a lovely space, and just really relaxed and chill. Upon entering the city square, there was some commotion, and people started running over to a car that was passing by….not sure what was going on, but I snagged a quick video of it as well.
I finally found a electronics store and ended up buying a power strip for $5. I did notice these super cute lotso covers, which I almost bought…but I don’t have airpods, nor will I ever, so decided not to.
Kept wandering around, and saw so many restaurants, ice cream parlors and bakeries that I wanted to try, but I couldn’t make a decision and by the time I noticed the sun was coming down it was 10pm, and I settled on just Subway since it was right by my AirBnB. Finished it off with some ice cream that was right across the street as well. Delicious tiramisu and mint ice cream. Lovely beaches all around and the view is tremendous.
I was also amused to find a sports store, with the featured item of clothing a Minnesota Twins outfit (and shout out to Justin Jefferson jersey as well).
The views from the AirBnB and sleeping with the window open to the stars was just something else. Really enjoyed that city and the relaxed atmosphere.
It was a good day. All in all, walked over 16 miles between the two cities.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy – so excited to be in Puerto Madryn and for the tours in the next three days.
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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