Waiters

Puerto Madryn,

Argentina

 

After a sleepless overnight trip, Sonja and I finally arrived in Prto Madryn - Argentina's marine life capital. The two things we really wanted to do was to go south to Punto Tambo (Argentina's largest penguin colony) and north to Penisula Valdes, which has everything else. Tours do go to both, but the notion of paying a lot and having to be told where to go and when didn't really appeal. So we rounded up with Pete (American), who Sonja knew from El Bolson, and then more or less pounced on two guys we'd seen back at the hostel, who turned out to be Aussies too. Hired a car and then less than an hour later were on the road to Punto Tambo.

 

It's funny, because although I come from a large country, distances here are a totally different concept. Bus trips are usually 10hrs+, and no Argie bats an eyelid at visiting a friend 3hrs drive away. I would rather ring, personally. [As an aside, Canadians seem to be the only other group that I've met that aren't bothered by big distances. My theory is that in Australia, we usually fly, and in Europe, 10hrs can almost get you across the continent..]. I say all this because Punto Tambo (although made to look close on the map) is 200km from Prto Madryn and - wait for it - paved road for the first 85km, then gravel after that. The rented car has gotta love that.

 

Anyway, after a long drive with several detours we finally got there, and I have never been so amazed in all my life. What's amazing is that you stop at the little house on the way there, pay the entrance fee, then drive through - still a good 200m inland. But as soon as we drived through, we almost ran over a penguin (not a good start) - they were everywhere. And what was even more amazing was that when you get to the carpark and walking area, you can literally walk right up to them - you can't help it, as they're on the path too. I've got a great photo of Sonja, who was sitting about 40cm away from a penguin - the penguin wasn't bothered at all, more curious than anything. The penguin babies were only a couple of months old too - big grey balls of fluff.

 

One thing that did suprise me was the amount of noise that 500,000 Magellanic penguins can make - quite a din. The babies made little calls (assumingly along the lines of 'feed me'), while the adults honked and bellowed (must have been males). We stayed there for a while - despite the distance, I would have driven twice as far to experience that. Not going on a tour was a good choice too - we passed the buses coming back on the way there, so when we were there, there was hardly anyone else.

 

Then yesterday the five of us headed to Penisula Valdes (another long trip) - a couple of penguins, a whole lot of sealions (and sealion pups!) and a couple of sleepy Sea Elephants. I won't go into detail too much (have plenty of video footage - I love my camera) but the area was beautiful too, but I think by that point I was a little over the 5 people in a small car, long drive thing.

 

[As an aside, the island whose shape inspired the boa constrictor swallowing a hat in 'The Little Prince' is just off Penisula Valdes. It certainly doesn't look like a hat.]

 

Anyway, today I'm off south in my attempt to reach El Fin del Mundo (Tierra del Fuego - decided to go in the end) - trying to organise long-route buses here is a bit of a 'arghhh-mnnnr!', as there are a lot of bus companies that only go to some places, which also means that you can't book from afar. Mnnr.

 

Muchos besos -

j