after fixing the flat in the rain yesterday, i was glad to leave viedma/carmen de patagones this morning. so, we hopped in the car and drove….without even bothering to look for a gas station. so, about 40 minutes into the drive, we had to stop and fill up the tank with one of the jerry cans. it was fine/easy, but a bit of a pain because of the wind/sand (note: every month i replace the fuel in the cans, because i’ve heard that the gasoline begins to deteriorate after that).

we then arrived in bahia blanca, which is a small city near the coast. the city seems kinda cool, and may have a small/hip art community — i didn’t see it directly, but there was some cool street art and a nice (but small) art museum. later, we went to see a guitar concert. it was cool, but a lot slower than i would have expected (…i was hoping for super fast playing, like rodrigo y gabriela).

we also cooked dinner tonight, stopping by a small cooperative market on the way to the hostel. the produce lady was very very friendly. she even wrote us small lists of things to see/do in mar del plata and buenos aires. when we asked for recommendations for bahia blanca, she couldn’t come up with anything!

two other things: 1) ice cream is insanely cheap, and quite good. the cheapest option at the parlor was 80 cents (for two scoops and a cone). a 3 scoop option with waffle cone was $1.25; and 2) there’s something unique about the public trash cans here. see if you can figure it out (answer when you mouseover the picture).