Bienvenidos a San Clemente!

We are here in San Clemente del Tuyu, San Clemente, CA´s sister city, enjoying the summer life.

I think we have already lost count of the number of days we have been here, it really is a dog´s life. We are staying with a friend of my families who run a couple of campgrounds very close to the beach. Since this is their busiest time of the year, the campgrounds are packed with people from Buenos Aires. So, like everyone else, we spend a lot of time down at the beach.

To get here we took a 4 hour ride on a bus from Buenos Aires, which was 100 times more comfortable than a plane, the seats fully recline and even my long legs fit! Our friend Marisa picked us up from the bus station and took us to their home on the campgounds where we got to meet their 2 dogs - Inge and Bikal (named after the deepest lake in the world, found in Russia), a mother and son German Shepards. We pitched our tent close to their house and headed for the beach.

The beach here is very different from the beaches in San Clemente (CA). Since it is near where the large Rio de la Plata meets the ocean, a lot of sand is deposited onto the beach. This makes for a long walk past dunes to get to the water. This however, does not deter people from packing the beach like sardines. Tents, umbrellas, vendors and dogs are everywhere. The beach is also very long and continuous, quads are allowed on the beach, as well as horses and 4-wheel drive trucks. Past the crowds are where people ride their quads and take their trucks for the day.

A couple of days after we arrived, Carlos and Marisa had time to spend the afternoon with us at the beach. We loaded up their 1947 US Army issue Jeep with the dogs, fishing nets and mate, and headed for the beach. Their childhood friend Carmen also owns an old Jeep like theirs and has another of Inge´s puppies. The video is of our ride down towards the beach...

(it´s coming... internet is super slow here)

Down at the beach we went swimming and fishing. The dogs love to swim, and I mean, love to swim. Carlos, Carmen´s son Herman and I swam out more than 100 yards past the breaking waves and the dogs not only went with us, but wanted to keep on going! Throughout the afternoon, we caught somewhere near 25 fish in our 2 nets which Marisa cooked for dinner that night - delicious!!!




The actual town of San Clemente del Tuyu is a lot like what San Clemente, CA must have been like many years ago. Most of the streets are not paved, just sand, there is one main street (Calle 1) of restaurants and shops selling beach toys. People just wander around in their swimsuits all day, everyday. There is also a small pier which is mostly used for fishing.

Our favorite parts of the day are our afternoon naps on the beach and dinners with Carlos and Marisa and their friends. A couple of nights ago Carlos made another asado, check this puppy out!

We really are having a great time here in our sister city on the other side of the world. We hope all is well at home and wish everyone of you could be down here enjoying this with us!