SOME IMAGES OF PUERTO MADRYN...

Laura and I arrived to Puerto Madryn with the depth belief that anecdotes would be connected with the amazing wildlife. We would be surprised to know that the main event would have to do with the people we met...




Since Laura had worked for 4 years at a travel agency we managed to get the whale watching tours for free...



Penguin barely bothered at the human presence in Punta Tombo.

At Puerto Madryn we were hosted by Karina and Marcelo's family. Marcelo and Patricio were both basketball coaches, and the entire family spinned around that sport, with both children shortlisted for the provincial team. Karina's family found in us inspiration for their own hunt for freedom, while we really appreciated the family atmosphere and care.

Karina helped me to print the original manuscript of my new book, "Vagabonding in the Axis of Evil" available to order from this site. Clic on the menu tab "THE BOOK"...



ALUAR is a aluminium factory which pollutes Puerto Madry's waters to the point scientists have found bisexual snail among other out-of-catalogue species... People justify the struggle by saying the plant has employs a sizable workforce and has allowed the town to grow into a city.

TRAVELING SOUTH IN ROUTE 3, PROTECTED BY MOTHERLY SCANIAS

Just imagine you begin a hitch-hiking trip like no other, the trip you have been dreaming of for years and the firs truck you get a ride with is called "Dream". That happened to aura and me last week, when we left San Nicolás, a city that had been our headquarters for four months while prepearing this Argentina to Greenland hitch-hiking trip. IN the picture you can see the IVECO truck in which rear you can read "Transporte El Sueño"....

Dropping by Mar del Plata to see my family. We are not meant to come back fo a couple of years. So in the picture my parents, Laura, me and "La Maga", my backpack. Grab a Spanish dictionary and access its wonderful meaning....

Necochea is 125 km away, and we reach it in the elegant 1975 Chevrolet, property a Guillermo Petersen, Sport Secretary of Necochea, who also took us to his home to drink some mate.

IN Necochea we stayed overnight at Juan Carlos's place. Juan Carlos is a reader who once bought my book at the Ma del Plata Book Fair. We have become friends ever since. He is crazy enough to ride a tall bike, and practices a finnancial ascetism. If you want money, you just need to ask te universe.

Waiting for a ride at a gas station. We carry wit us a world map, with the previous and present trips marked on it, so as to convey a sense of trust to our drivers. IN tha map you can see a newspaper articel about us attached.

After a fast ride in a Fiat Punto from Necochea to Punta Alta we had to take a short bus ride to Bahía Blanca. The bus company's name was my surname (Villarino). If I am to take a bus, I expect the company to pay me some homage...

Meeting readers at Bahía Blanca. Raul, Nilda and Gladys showed up to buy some books and postacards, giving us cmore power to continue our quest.

Travelling south in Route 3, we got to Villalonga town, where it got dark. We someow got to talk with José, who was parking his large Scania. He was waiting orders to load his truck but instructions never came and he had to stay overnight as well. He had a big truck but was alone. We had no more than our smiles and conversation to offer, but had nowhere to go. So eventually he invited us to drink some mate in the cabin. We talked there for hours, listening to amazing stories. Truck drivers really have blues-like stories. José's ife was a never ending road, wchi from time to time included brief stopovers at his home to see his family, and then back to the road. That night, the Scania protected us from the wind, in a motherly attitude.

A BERGHAUS KHUMBU CALLED "LA MAGA"... FAR MORE THAN A BACKPACK

Since May 1st, 2005 I carrry on my back far more than a backpack. At times it has been a home, the camuflaged wings of my soul. Technically speaking, La Maga is a Berghaus Khumbu 70, an English-made backpack crafted by the same people who pushed the first internal frame rucsac into the market in 1971. After 7 years of enduring every imaginable condition across 47 countries, five continents and 160,000 kms,  La Maga is still going strong. What follows is a photographic essay, a brief sample of its adventures.

THE ROADS OF THE WORLD

Sahara Desert, on the desolate  road to the Siwa Oasis, Egypt.

Tibet, road 219, pssibly the most isolated and less travelled track on Earth. 2,000 km from Ali to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

La Maga likes history: here you can see her over an original, intact Roman road in Syria.

 But she also knows busy, modern European highways. Here in the Netherlands.

Finland: the sign proclaims our goal: "Around the World"

India: cows -or the Gods reincarnated in them- stare at La Maga.

Of course she also feels at home in Argentinean roads. In te picture you can see some of the badges we have incorporated as years passed: Norway, Iran, Siria, Romania, Ecuador and China, all countries where we lived famous adventures.

Ruta 40: 4,667 km of fun from Tierra del Fuego to the Altiplano.

 ....and eventually on April, 10th 2010 La Maga met "El Salmón", Laura's backack. Picture taken in Salta, Argentina.

 

Having some rest in an old Pakistani house at Chitral.

La Maga is planet-friendly. She easily makes friends among local flora and fauna.... Here in the Bolivian Chaco.

EXTREME MISSIONS

Arrival to Mount Kailash, Western Tibet, after an exhausting journey on one of the least travelled roads on Earth.

Crossing of Afghanistan along the Central Road: 1460 km from Herat to Kabul, where most people bet we wouldn't make it alive.

...but we held faith in mankind, a broad smile and a Peace flag.

Same happened in Iraq. Here La Maga under a sign with the colourful Kurdish flag.

Afghan kids thought La Maga was my parachute, and searched for my plane in the sky.

Crossing of Minapin Glacier, Pakistan. Walking over the ice, sorround by 8,000 meters high peaks is not an everyday setting, but even there La Maga was on duty.

Crosing from Pakistan to China on the Karakorum highway, decorated by hanging majestic glaciers.

Laura, La Maga (on my shoulders) and me just before embarking to Antarctica on board the MV Ushuaia.

TESTED AND APPROVED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

Afghan rural teachers can't hide their curiosity and request to try La Maga...

These Bolivian farmers find in La Maga an excuse to kill time with, as they wait for their bus.

Syrian kids in a desert hamlet pose with La Maga, after bringing me food from their own home.

Inside a Bedouin tent in the Syrian Desert, Hasan formaly requests to test La Maga. They are the nomads par excellance.