Monte Hermosa – First Stop after Buenos Aires

We left Buenos Aires on a midnight bus from Retiro station. Our first experience on the luxury buses of Argentina we had heard so much about. The station was huge, with over 70 departure gates for internal destinations and more for international trips. And it was busy at this time, people coming and going, restaurants open as well as most of the stores. Our bus was two levels (as are most long distance buses) and our seats leaned far back and had foot rests that folded down from the seat in front. We were given bottled water and a snack bag, and took off into the dark.

We arrived in Monte Hermosa at 9 in the morning on a Tuesday. The little bus station there was empty except for two attendants who gave us directions to our hotel. The morning was clear and sunny.  We put on our packs and walked into town. Monte is a sleepy little beach town on the Atlantic coast between glittery Mar del Plata and gritty Bahia Blanca. Facing south, the sun both rises from and sets into the ocean. Several kilometers of boardwalk lines the broad sandy beach, which was empty for the first three days we were there. Mike had found us the “Petit Hotel”, an older, 2 story spot right on the beachfront. We were the only guests when we first arrived. We had the best room of the place- a huge space with three beds, a kitchenette, and a large balcony overlooking the beach. It was the hammock that won my heart. We decided right then to stay 6 days instead of three.

Highlights of our stay in Monte included a five km walk down the beach to fossil beds in the sand revealed in low tide. We went there the second day at the beginning of a big storm, returning to the hotel in the teeth of the wind just before the lightning and rain. On our last day we climbed the 130 steps of an iron spiral staircase of the lighthouse at the east end of the beach.

The weekend brought thousands of Argentine visitors to town for the 6th annual Festival of Colectividades. These are societies of different ethnic or national origins representing the various groups of immigrants to Argentina. Dressed in typical costumes, each colectividad performed dances and music on a stage set up on a city street both Saturday and Sunday evenings. A court of food booths served food from various countries. The streets filled with people, traffic, laughter. The beach filled with umbrellas, fishermen, games played in the sand. Our hotel was host to the Asturiano colectividad. Tears came to my eyes to hear drums and gaitas being practiced beside the ocean.

But undoubtedly our most memorable experience was making friends with Paz and Lucrecia who staffed the museum of natural history. It was they who sent us adventuring to the fossil beds and lighthouse, and we visited them almost every day at the museum, sharing mate and English lessons. We miss them already.