Argentina 2 – Peninsula Valdez

Flying into this area of Patagonia we could see the vast flat scrubland with straight dirt roads stretching into the distance for miles. There weren’t many buildings anywhere. It looked bleak and not at all what I was expecting, I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe sweeping fields and trees but it was nothing like that!

It was completely flat and windy! I’m not sure that I wouldn’t call it a desert, arid and scrubby for miles in every direction. Believe it or not this is a place to see some of the most extraordinary animals and birds in the world.

We hired a car and headed north for 2 hours to our B and B. The road was practically empty and although there was a speed limit and I was the only one driving at it, ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ as usual and everything overtook us. We didn’t see much but Jayne saw a Guanaco. It’s a sort of Lama with a reddish coat, I was disappointed not to see it.

We turned onto a dirt road, next to a deserted tower that said police and had a blue flashing light on top (couldn’t miss our turn if we tried) and on towards our B and B.  A modern barn in the middle of nowhere that had one end converted into rooms. It felt like a hostel, school or even a prison because it had metal beds. It was clean and quiet with no other guests (or inmates) and it felt safe in a lonely sort of way. There were a lot of very friendly docile dogs outside.

As there was not much around so we had to drive out to the rather drab town of Puerto Madryn to get supplies for three days of lunches! Breakfast at the accommodation was bread and jam, horrible coffee and none descript tea! We did have dinner one evening but my goodness there was too much tough meat covered in breadcrumbs, no one seems to eat vegetables in South America!

The other issue we had was trying to transfer money to pay for our stay, it was cash or transfer. Argentinian bank accounts have huge account numbers! I ended up paying via my PayPal account as Wise couldn’t hack it. There was a lot of swearing involved much to Jayne’s amusement I think, but finally I managed it. We also had a shortage of cash as our cards were rejected by the cash machines here and in Bolivia. Monzo is not a good card for South America although it was fine in Asia.

The day after we arrived we headed onto the peninsula, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site for wildlife. There is a place to get a pass and a visitor center were we were given rather scant details about high tide and told best viewing was 2 hours before and 2 hours after at various places on the peninsula. The place is huge and more of the flat landscape and dirt roads. ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ turned into ‘Rally with Debbie’ as you cannot take your eyes off the roads although they are wide and straight, they are rubble and dust and at times it felt like driving in snow. You could see dust kicked up by other vehicles far into the distance. That first day we headed to Punta Norte stopping occasionally to get pictures of Cara Cara’s and Guanacos. An hour and a half later we arrived at the point. Just before we reached it a grey animal crossed in front of us, I think it was a ‘grey’ fox and Jayne thought it was a cat, it could be either…..

Wow! I just stepped into an Attenborough program, Elephant seals on the beach below the board walks, snoozing, males fighting, the black pups dozing with their mothers. One of the pups had just been born and the afterbirth emerged as I was watching. Gulls descended on it immediately! Jayne had gone off to the loo and I couldn’t wait to show her all the drama. What was holding her up? When she got to me she said that she had been held up by an armadillo along the path!

There were a pair of sea lions cuddled up together on the beach and nearby a Giant Petrel with is face in the carcass of a seal pup. The circle of life was unfolding in front of us. It was amazing!

People started to arrive, not exactly busy but busier and I was worried about driving the track in the dark so we set off the two hours back to our accommodation.

Tomorrow we did it all again but to a different location….