After a travelling around Brazil by bus and plane for 6
fabulous weeks, we flew from São Paulo (Brazil) into Buenos Aires
(Argentina), to take on an entirely different type of travel – this time
driving a motorhome around Patagonia, Argentina and Chile for about 10 weeks.
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| Picking up our hire van from Motorhome Times, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Max of Motorhome Times (Buenos Aires), picked us up from our airport hotel where we’d stayed the night, and took us to meet our new holiday home on wheels. We were renting it from Motorhome Times for the whole 10 weeks and really looking forward to it.
She is a Renault van, much smaller than our old Vanni (Europe 2011-2014), but much easier to get into tight places. She also sits higher on the road than Vanni, which is a bonus as we will be travelling on some very rough roads in Patagonia.
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| Inside our Renault motorhome from Motorhome Times, Argentina |
She has a fixed bed across the back, a separate bathroom
with toilet and shower, a small kitchen, and a nice dining area.
After an orientation by Motorhome Times, we drove off to find a
campsite for the night. The lake area of Chascomus, about 1 hour south-east of
Buenos Aires city was recommended so we headed there.
But we arrived in Chascomus, to find most of
the campsites still closed after winter. However, by asking around, we were eventually directed to
Camping 24th September.
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| Marg at the Camping 24th September lake, Chascomus, Argentina |
Although the campsite bathroom facilities were in bad condition,
the grounds were nice and well looked after, and we parked with a lovely view
of a lake.
We wanted to give the van a name, and after some thinking, came up with the not-very-original name of Vanni
2 (Vanni 1 being our European motorhome).
Then, as we were in a Spanish speaking
country, we decided that ‘V’ for Vanni, and ‘dos’, the Spanish word for 2 would
work better, and we now call her Vdos (pronounced Veedos).
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| Our Renault motorhome Vdos, from Motorhome Times, Argentina |
On our first night, we had a few little issues
with Vdos, so we drove back to Motorhome Times who fixed everything quickly and
without a fuss. Happy with the repairs we set off to Chascomus again for the
night.
The next morning, we felt confident with
Vdos and driving on the right-hand side of the road (at home in New Zealand we drive on the left). So, we drove south-east to the coast of Argentina.
Our first stop there was Pinamar, a seaside town by the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Free-camping in Vdos by Pinamar beach on the Atlantic Ocean, Argentina |
We found that the campsites were not open here either. After visiting the tourist office for advice on where to camp, we ended up on the
beach-front with a fabulous view of the turbulent Atlantic.
After a walk around Pinamar, we took Vdos out
for a drive to explore the Pinamar coast.
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| Modern holiday house at Carilo beach, Argentina |
Then we discovered Carilo, a wee village full of modern holiday homes and dinky shops, adjoining a lovely sandy beach with some impressive sand dunes.
We returned to Pinamar for our second night of free-camping on the beach. However, we were woken in the middle of the night by a horrifying thunderstorm, with lightning and the works.
The next morning, after a sleepless night and hoping to get
ahead of the rain, we left Pinamar and headed south, following the Atlantic coastline.
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| A very rainy day at Mar del Plata, Argentina |
At lunch time, we stopped in Mar del Plata, a
biggish city (around 600,000 people) with a nice beachfront. We decided against
a walk around as the rainy weather had caught up to us.
Onwards we went, to Necochea, another attractive city on the
Atlantic coast. After a short stop there, we drove alongside
the Quequén Grande River, to a camping ground in a village of the same name.
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| Beside the river at the Quequen campsite, Argentina |
Yay – the campground was open and it was a
beauty, right on the river. A real bonus was that it had a little restaurant
where we had a fabulous local-style meal.
After a night there, we drove south, following the line of the coast. Eventually we stopped in a small (around 6000
people) coastal fishing village called Monte Hermoso.
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| Fishing boats returning to Monte Hermoso with the day's catch |
Again, there were no campsites open. But after asking the rubbish truck driver, a truckie and various others, and an extensive search along sandy roads, we found a little unoccupied fisherman's camp in which to free-park. We were on the beach front and it was great watching the daily catch come in
as the fishing boats arrived after a day on the water.
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| Washing day at Monte Hermoso, Argentina |
That night, Vdos rocked so violently in
the wind that we got up at around 2 am and shifted to a more sheltered spot.
The next morning, we drove on to Ruta (Route) 3,
which was to be our main route south from here on. We soon reached the town of Bahia Blanca, and
according to a sign, this put us officially into Patagonia.
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| Driving into Argentinian Patagonia |
Patagonia is the area at the southern end of South America. It has the Atlantic Ocean on its eastern side, the Pacific Ocean on its west, and several water channels to the south. It is a rugged area made up of the Andes Mountains, lakes, fiords, glaciers, deserts, steppes, and native wildlife.
It is governed by both Argentina and Chile, and we were really looking forward to touring there.
After having lunch in Bahia Blanca (Argentinian Patagonia), we followed Ruta 3 to the pretty city of Viedma.
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| The cathedral at Viedma, Patagonian Argentina |
Viedma is the oldest settlement in Patagonia, built along the Negro River in 1779. While it has some historic architecture, such as its Cathedral and
Museum, these days it looks like a modern city.
We were aiming to stay there overnight. But, once again, we found that there were no campsites open. Driving around, we eventually found a nearby little fishing village called El Condor.
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| The deserted each at El Condor, Patagonia |
However, they had a camp and it was open.
While the camp looked a bit tired, it had good shelter from the coastal wind, and clean showers and toilets…yay!
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| Store in El Condor, Patagonia |
We stopped at a local store on the
way out of El Condor the next morning for some bits and bobs, and discovered that the owners were avid
motorhome travellers like us.
They wanted to tell us all about their adventures in
Europe – it was lovely. After viewing their travel photos and swapping travel stories (albeit with our limited Spanish and their limited English), we were back on the road following Ruta 3 again.
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| Dust storm on Ruta 3, Patagonia |
We had been on the road for about a week and
seen heaps, with the tiny fishing villages being the main highlights. However,
Ruta 3 thus far had proved to be flat, tedious to drive, and incredibly windy.
Our next stop is Puerto Madryn, entry to the largest
marine reserve in the world.
The above blog is part of our 4-month tour of South America. The first blog on this tour is called "Buenos Aires here we come".