Travelling in our rented motorhome Vdos, we were
driving through Argentinian Patagonia on Ruta (Route) 3 north to south. We had the flat Argentinian desert on our right and the Atlantic Ocean on our left. It was a difficult drive due to the high velocity winds, dust storms, irregular road surface,
lack of centre line, and absence of service stations.
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| Ruta 3 dust storm near Las Grutas, Argentinian Patagonia |
The wind and dust reduced our speed considerably, so
after leaving the fishing village of El Condor, we stopped for a break in a wee village on
the Atlantic coast called Las Grutas.
After lunch and a quick look around, we
topped up Vdos with diesel and moved on (in Patagonia, you top up whenever you see a
service station as they are few and far between).
Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, a seaside town that was established in 1865 by Welsh immigrants, and is now a city with a population of around 93,000.
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| Puerto Madryn - view from our camping ground |
Arriving in Puerto Madryn, we found a camping ground which had a great view of the harbour, and settled in.
While there, we managed to get our growing
mound of laundry washed and dried in the sun and very brisk wind. We also met a
nice German couple and enjoyed sharing travel stories with them.
A few days later, we drove out of Puerto Madryn onto nearby Peninsula Valdés, which juts out into the South Atlantic Ocean.
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| Leigh looking for marine life from a clifftop on Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Along the way, we stopped at various clifftops searching for life on the waters surrounding the peninsula.
Peninsula
Valdés is the largest marine reserve in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage
site. It’s known as a good place to spot whales, sea lions, elephant seals, and a variety of wildlife. We were there mostly in search of whales.
From one clifftop, we saw some whales a long way out with our binoculars. But then suddenly, from the next clifftop they were clearly visible.
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| Clifftop view of Southern Right Whales around Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Wow! They were Southern Right Whales that come into the waters of Peninsula Valdés to calve, and we could see mothers and babies slowly swimming around the bay.
The Southern Right Whale is endangered, and the Peninsula is
the most important breeding ground in the world for them.
At between 15 and 18 metres long and weighing between 47 and 90 tonnes – they are huge.
The Southern Right can be distinguished from other whales because of the
prominent 'callosities' (rough skin) on their heads, lack of a dorsal fin, and
very long arching mouth.
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| Map of Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Our next stop was the official entrance to
the Peninsula, which is a National Park, where we paid a very steep entry fee. They have an
excellent interpretive and information centre there which we enjoyed visiting.
When we asked about camping, we learned that
the only camp ground was in the tiny commune of Puerto Pirámides (the only town on the Peninsula), and it was
closed.
When we said that we had our own shower and
toilet facilities, they decided we were ok, and gave us permission to free-camp there. All good.
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| Vdos in the commune of Puerto Pirámides, Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Puerto Pirámides is a quaint ex-fishing, turned tourist village, where
it seems that tourists outnumber the 500 people who live there. It is the only
town around here where you can catch a whale watching trip.
We found the camp ground, got sorted, and
walked around to find a boat so that we could go whale watching.
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| Monument to Whales, Puerto Pirámides, Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Unfortunately, because of the high winds, the Port had closed
for the afternoon. However, we booked ourselves on a boat trip for the next day, hoping the weather would fine up.
The next day the sea was like a millpond
compared to the day before, so we boarded our boat and headed out into the bay.
What an amazing trip. In a very short time, we saw this incredibly
curious and massive female whale that came right up to our boat.
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| The head of a huge Southern Right Whale taken during our whale-watching tour from Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
She was so
close we could have reached out to touch her white callosities! She had her baby with
her and it was also massive.
They swam around us for about 40 minutes - in
front, behind, beside and (scarily) under the boat - and seemed to have no fear
of being so close to us.
It was an absolutely amazing experience and
one that will be hard to beat.
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| Peninsula Valdés whale and calf up close to our boat |
It was especially nice to see them in a calm
bay; unlike our whale watching experience in the seas off Kaikoura in New
Zealand where we had 3 metre swells.
We were on the peninsula for several days and
did a few drives around the peninsula to see other sea life and wildlife in the area.
One delightful experience was getting up close
and personal with a colony of Magellan penguins. They were nesting in the cliffs on the ocean
side of the peninsula.
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| Magellan penguins - Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
Later we spotted a heard of llama-like wild guanaco grazing along the clifftop, and we also saw elephant seals lolling about on the beach below the cliffs. Boy they were huge!
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| Elephant seals - Peninsula Valdés (UNESCO) |
After a few days it was time to leave the peninsula. So, after filling up our water tank at the local fire station, we drove back to Puerto Madryn.
The next day we explored Puerto Madryn, finding it an attractive and vibrant tourist spot.
We left there after a few days of rest and relaxation, and drove back on to Ruta 3. Once again, we experienced very windy roads.
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| Fishing boat out of Puerto Rawson, Patagonia |
Eventually we reached the fishing town of Puerto Rawson, where we stopped for lunch. We spotted some charming fishing boats there, painted in bright oranges and yellows.
Then the sky became overcast and rain threatened, so we moved on. Soon after, we drove through an amazing rain and thunder storm. It was truly spectacular, but it slowed us down quite a bit.
Eventually we arrived in what we discovered
was the large graffiti-ridden, and full-of-rubbish city of Comodoro Rivadavia. We stopped there briefly to buy diesel, but
had no desire to linger.
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| One of the many petroleum wells near Comodoro Rivadavia, Patagonia |
Comodoro is a petrol town and is driven by petroleum related activity and industry. We saw so many drilling wells there and along Ruta 3.
After that, we moved on to the nearby and so much nicer, beach town of Rada Tilley. We had the address for the
municipal camping ground there, and were delighted to find it was open and
clean.
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| The beachfront at Rada Tilly, Patagonia |
Rada Tilly has a lovely long beachfront boulevard, fronted by some nice looking real estate. It was rather empty at this time of the year but we imagined it would be very buzzy in peak season.
Driving on the next day, we encountered the
worst potholes of the trip which caused us to just crawl along at around 30 km
per hour.
A little further on, we passed many more petroleum wells and rigs dotted across the countryside and along the Atlantic shoreline.
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| Vdos at Puerto San Julian campground |
We eventually stopped at the nice little town of Puerto San Julian which has an attractive beach. There was a campsite which was right on
the waterfront, but sheltered from the wind, so we stopped there for a few nights.
Puerto San Julian is famous because it was
where the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed in South America.
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| Marg with the replicas of Magellan's ship in Puerto San Julian, Patagonia |
They have a lovely replica of Magellan's boat
on the foreshore. After a look around quaint Puerto San Julian the next day, we moved on.
Still travelling south, we encountered even worse
crosswinds, which reduced our top speed to 60 km making it a long and tortuous drive. Again, the land was very flat, and the scenery
monotonous.
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| Typical road in Argentinian Patagonia |
The road had improved but it was narrow with no centre line, and more often than not, we were the only car on the road.
Late in the day, we arrived in the city of Rio
Gallegos in the far south of Argentinian Patagonia.
There was no camp ground there so we ended up in a petrol station truck-stop, squeezed in between two big trucks to shelter from the wind. This was fine and safe - but it was just so windy and dusty.
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| Rio Gallegos, Argentinian Patagonia |
The next morning was sunny, but we were very happy to leave Rio Gallegos to cross the border into Chile to explore the Chilean side of Patagonia.
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".