My World With Dance: Merry Christmas from Puerto Madryn

The unknown is always a scary place. As Christmas was rolling around I had no idea where I was going to be and the old me, who is quite the planner, was terrified. I was contemplating whether or not to make a trip home. After all the holidays are one of my favourite times of the year to spend with my family but I'm happy to report that the my new easy going side won the internal battle so I headed to Patagonia instead. I was expecting glaciers and snow, which I thought would be a great place to welcome Santa. What I found in Puerto Madryn was 400,000 penguins but no sign of Mr. Clause or any weather even close to the negatives. Instead, this dessert like coastal town reached highs of 35 degrees celsius and I was happily running around in my shorts and bikini.

I was determined to see the area but the tours to where I wanted to go were way out of my budget. I wanted to hire a car to make things more affordable so I took the opportunity of the free breakfast at El Gualicho hostel to find me some new travel mates. After getting turned down by all the locals, departies, and tour payers I was happy to find two fellow Canadians, Marie and Mariane, that were keen. We tested out the water, or in this case the loose gravel and sand, with 2 wheels each. What seemed like an easy bike ride quickly turned into up hill hell. The near sand storm didn't help the unpaved road that lasted a gruesome 32 km. The benefit, other than my tighter ass, was seeing some seals from an observation deck which was a bit disappointing after swimming with them in the Galapagos. A new addition to my list of seen animals was the rock shags, which were mostly great for their name.

The next day the plan was to rent a car but of course everything is tentative till you are doing it when your traveling. We realized the 2 other Brazilian women in our room already rented one and were interested in exploring the area the following day. With a day to kill I headed to the beach for a long romantic walk with my tighter butt and then gazed at the ocean as I stretched out with some yoga. To cool off from the scorching sun I ran into the Ocean grinning ear to ear.

The next day it was Christmas, the car was packed and we were on our way. We were headed to the Peninsula and I found myself in a dry dessert full of sand and shrubs. The living occupants consisted of elephant seals, sea lions, guanacos, rheas, and penguins. I felt like a little kid in the zoo without the cages or the cotton candy. The day just continued to get better. The hostel hosted a pot luck dinner which was my first ever orphan Christmas. I put on my favourite dress and cooked up an exotic dish of baked potatoes accompanied by mushrooms and dressed with lots of cheese. Surprisingly, it was the first dish to go out of the delicious variety. There were around 30 of us strangers but after a few bottles of free wine it felt like a large group of friends.

Around midnight we heard the sound of fireworks. Instinct took over to get to the highest point possible so we climbed our way up to the roof and were delighted to find we were surrounded by fireworks. These were shot by all the locals near and far instead of the conventional city sponsored ones that usually lights up the sky just beside the beach. As the colours flashed we sang "we are young" at the top of our lungs while enjoying a roof top boogie. When the spectacle was over everyone headed back to the drinks but the tango music kept me back. I guess the Argentinian saw me strike a move as he pulled me into his arms for a dance under the stars. Needless to say this was my favourite tango lesson of all time.

On Christmas Day we headed to the penguin breeding ground that hosts 400,000 of the tuxedos. The darn things were so cute walking around awkwardly and dipping their heads side to side to get a better look at us humans. The nests that they dig up in the sand are a great place to raise them young-ins that were sometimes as tiny as my palm. I took so many pictures that my full battery quickly died. Somethings can't be captured but I'm sure going to try!

This Christmas season was a massive success and I'm so glad I stuck it out and didn't go for the easy route of coming home. Living in the unknown can sure be scary but those are also the memories that you look fondly back on for the rest of your life. To all those I love around the world I hope you also had an unforgettable holiday season. Wishing all my readers all the very best and daring you to be brave enough to live out your dreams. Happy Holidays everyone!