Bruce Meets World

Otherworldly. Connected. Empty. Rich. Colossal. Jewel. Beauty. Gift.

This is how we roughly would describe Patagonia by only using keywords.

 

Travelling through Patagonia has given us a `deep-dive` in travelling by bus, our Bruce. Because we drove through Patagonia in the off-season, we didn't have the most ideal circumstances but we were fine with that because our adventure had started. At least, that's what we thought.

 

During the trip from Peninsula Valdes to Ushuaia, we were fortunate that the weather was fine because the Ruta Nacional 3 is one of the most boring and endless roads to drive on. Imagine you are driving 300km with a speed of 80km p/h on a two-lane road with one-way traffic.  You are literally staring into the void and don't encounter anything, not even a chicken! 

At that very moment, we did not realize how special it all was because we had just started our adventure, so everything was new, exciting and pure fun! Argentina, the roads, driving in Bruce, finding places to sleep in the wild and of course living on the bus.

 

Once we arrived in Ushuaia, we quickly headed for Antarctica. This indescribably beautiful voyage lasted two weeks, after that, we continued our journey with Bruce. Unfortunately, the weather changed for the worst and it started pouring. The adrenaline of this new lifestyle soon faded. Besides, the last two weeks we were surrounded by lovely people and spent most of our time outside to see the most amazing things. Upon our return, the bad weather forced us to stay more inside and that hit us quite hard. At that moment it was really difficult and we both didn't understand what had changed. Looking back on that period, we should have realized that the weather and different environment were the cause of our worries. We continued our adventure and said to ourselves that it wasn't crazy to have this thought after our "Antarctica high".  For us, continuing the trip meant driving on and visiting the known places described in the Lonely Planet or advised by other people. But meanwhile, the atmosphere in the bus changed and we both wondered if this was the adventure we wanted, without discussing it with each other to avoid disappointment.

 

We've hiked a lot in Patagonia, together we admired the most beautiful lakes, peaks and views. We wanted to keep our new hiking gear tidy as long as possible so we often walked clumsy and that gave us the giggles. Like ballerinas (read elephants), we struggled through the thickest mud pools. We jumped from branch to branch without falling and in our heads, we tried to compete against others. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, the uncertainty started to grow. By now we were so spoiled by all the beauty surrounding us that at some point we began to think it was "normal". We took Patagonia for granted.

 

Only once back in the civilized world, we realized how incredibly special it was. Where can you park your bus in the middle of the highway and then let your drone fly up to see on the camera that there is nobody else, just endless stretches of roads? These thoughts were not present at that moment, we got tired of each other, were snappy and it even made us forgot we were a team, both trapped in our own thoughts, doubts and uncertainties. Unfortunately, this went on for a while without talking about it.

 

Until that day, a beautiful sunny afternoon, a fine glass of Malbec, a thick sweater, a beanie and a colourful sunset. We finally started talking, no chitchat, real talking. We realized that this needed to stop, it would shatter our dream and probably even our relationship. This was not our intention when we left the Netherlands and started this journey. We decided to talk about our own thoughts separately with family, our best friends and a coach. We realized that we had to do things differently and decided to change course.

 

Patagonia has given us insights, love, made us feel more connected, but above all the refreshing Patagonian wind gave us inspiration for the continuation of our adventure.

 

We are thrilled to share all the beauties that we encountered in Patagonia. Let’s take you on a journey to discover our highlights;

 

Peninsula Valdes & Puerto Deseado

 

Puerto Madryn is the gateway to Peninsula Valdes. Here you have the opportunity to watch an abundance of wildlife, such as sea lions, birds, whales and killer whales. The Peninsula is a National Park and the only location to stay overnight when travelling by motorhome, is Puerto Pyramid. However, the people who live here did not seem to be keen on motorhomes camping in the wild. The roads on the island were challenging for us as they are mainly washboard roads. We ended up spending three full days on the peninsula, hoping to catch a glimpse of a killer whale and on day three at 10 am we succeeded!