Spring break! (Part 1)

Sand. As we travel along the coast, that is the one constant. Sand in our ears, in our shoes, sand coating our tent and our bags. The sand is constant, as is our awareness that the farther south you travel, the more beautiful and bizarre the world becomes.

It may seem a little premature to take a break from farming after only one farm, but that’s just how the schedule happened to fall into place, so without further ado, a quick look at Josh & Sara’s spring break:

Stop #1: Mar del Plata, Bs.As. (4hrs southeast of Buenos Aires)
I have never understood when people talk about cities actually having ‘character’. To me, a city is just a random mix of people that each have their own very unique character. Mardel, however, proved me wrong. The entire city oozes with genuine kindness and a relaxed joy that could only come from spending one’s entire life on a beautiful beach, such as these:

Crazy dance party that we stumbled upon, complete with slightly inappropriate dance moves, a singing DJ, and a fleet of rollerbladers.

Stop #2: Las Grutas, Río Negro (12h southwest of Mardel)
Originally planning to go to Viedma, we changed our next stop to Las Grutas solely on the recommendation of one of the guys in the community we were farming at, who had lived in Patagonia for years. When we first stepped off the bus, our first thought was that this guy was either crazy, or secretly hated us and was thrilled to have sent us to the most desolate, muddy town in all of Argentina.
Until we found the beach. Kilometers of untouched sand, crashing waves, ledges made of oyster shells, and caves carved into the cliffs by the sea. The town was still fairly desolate, but our quirky campsite right in the middle of main street and the spectacular, rugged beauty of the beach more than made up for the fact that there were only wild dogs to interact with (very friendly ones, though!)

Carved tidal pools (only visible at low tide)

Layers of beach appearing at low tide

Sea-eroded caves