Argentinian Patagonia

Leaving the Caraterra Austral

We crossed back into Argentina after ten stunningly beautiful days on the Caratera Austral in Chile, and immediately noticed the landscape changing into windswept, barren pampas (plains). We had heard a lot about this stretch of the infamous Ruta 40, which we had already encountered further north (it runs the whole length of the country ) 

Back on the Ruta 40

Here, it was supposed to be rough and bumpy, with howling gales thrown into the mix. However, it seemed that the Argentine road workers had been busy, and most of the 40 down here in the south had been paved. But there was nothing the road workers could do about the weather. This weather is a topic I will visit time and time again in this entry – it really had such a major impact on everything we did, how we felt and where we went.

Notice something? No trees. The wind had blown them all away.

The first day heading south, I was wrapped up as much as I possibly could be (I counted 31 individual items that I was wearing) but still I was shivering as we made our way. Stopping for a quick break on the side of the road I actually lay down on the ground next to the bike to get out of the wind. A man in an empty tour van pulled up to ask if  everything was OK, when we told him it was just cold, he offered me a lift to the next town. I thanked him, but was determined not to take the easy way out –all for one, one for all, and I was going to stick with Mark and Zorra. The tour guy then did the only other thing he could think of, offered us plastic shopping bags to put over our hands. Fine for me, but not so useful for Mark riding the bike. For the record, the shopping bags did nothing except flap around in the wind for the next 80km, where we stopped for a blessedly hot coffee.

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from the warm rest stop and get back on the bike for the next 218km stretch, to the next ‘blip’ on the map, the small town of Gobernador Gregores. The road was smooth, the wind was surprisingly still, but boy was it cold. I peeked over Marks shoulder and watched Zorras thermostat drop degree by degree,8,7,6,5.. Could it go any lower? 4,3.. THREE DEGREES!?!? What the hell were we doing out here? But there was nowhere to stop so on we went. Soon it actually started snowing. Horizontally. This was not fun for a tropical Cairns girl, and I can only imagine it was worse for Mark.

It was 3 Degree people!! Taken just after the snow storm.

Before we reached G.G. we also encountered 4 hail storms and some horizontal rain. There was no question, we were staying in a hotel that night. And the next 3 nights. I put my foot down!

The next morning dawned clear and slightly warmer, so we headed off to El Chalten, a small trekkers village set at the base of Mt Fitzroy a jagged peak in National Park Los Glaciers. We could see the range from over 100km away because the surrounding landscape was so flat. Stopping to take some photos on the way into town proved prudent, as we never actually saw the peaks again over the next 3 days.  

The ride into Chalten - Mt FitzRoy

After spending all but one day of the past few weeks in the tent, it was nice to splurge a little on a BnB. We had a cozy meal in a microbrewery and the next day went for a hike up into the hills. Early in the day, the hiking trails were full of Europeans, but by the afternoon, the Argentines had dragged themselves out of bed and joined the rest of us on the trail! It was a nice hike, but there was no ‘wow factor’ probably because the hovering clouds hid the spectacular peaks.

on the trail...

the town of El Chalten

a VERY early morning and walk up a steep hill rewarded me with this site

.. and this sunrise...

Next stop, and only 220km away by road was the Perito Moreno Glacier. One of the most breathtaking vistas on the entire trip so far, this blue-hued, mammoth hunk of ice stands 60 metres high, stretches 5km across the face of a lake, and continues to move forward, down from the mountains at a rate of up to 2 metres per day. This excess ice breaks of in huge chunks and crashes down into the lake below.  Before you actually see any visible evidence of an imminent break appear in the ice, the sound of cracking reverberates around the valley, as internal fissures widen. It was though the whole ice massive was alive.

this glacier is 60m tall!

Back at the campsite that night, we made a decision. Enough of this ice and snow. Enough of the wind and cold. We had planned to continue south into Southern Chilean Patagonia to hike for4 or 5 days in the Torres del Paine National Park, but with the weather for the next week forecasting 3-8 degrees, high winds and daily rain, we decided to give it a miss. The next morning we change our trajectory and head north and east. Somewhere in that distant direction was glorious warmth.

Before we could start north, we had to cross Argentina to the Atlantic coast. Down this far south, the South American continent is quite narrow, and it was only a little over 200km from West to East. This dirt road track took a day to ride, and we saw little more than a few estancia (ranch or station) houses. This is the real Patagonia, that few camera toting tourists see. Long stretches of nothingness. We couldn’t even work out what these people were farming out here  -  it was all fenced along the roadside, but we saw no livestock and no crops, only countless Guanacos (Patagonian llama like animals) and Rheas (emu like birds). 

a whole lot of nothing, because you can't take a photo of the wind!

mini Emus!

The next leg of the journey was the Ruta 3, the national highway, perfectly paved, that runs all the way from Tierra del Fuego in the south to Buenos Aires. We joined this road at km 2400 – the countdown distance to Buenos Aires. This route is known to be long, straight, scenically boring and full of big trucks. As we headed north, the temperature rose, but unfortunately the wind remained unabated.  

We took a 5 day break in the town of Camerones (translates to Prawns in Spanish). Our guide book nominated this town as ‘the sleepiest coastal town in Patagonia’ and this suited us just fine. The campground was close to the water, a relatively sheltered bay surrounded by pebbled beaches. The campground restaurant served piled plates of calamari and prawns, which we feasted on daily.  And the sky remained clear and dry. 

Camarones

Camarones

Sunset at Camarones

Sunset at Camarones

We took a day trip to a nearby headland to visit a penguin colony. I had been wanting to spot these cute little creatures since we missed them in the Galapagos back in June. 

romantic?

off for dinner in their 'suits'

Penguins and Guanaco

After 5 relaxing days, we realised we had to continue north. For one of the first times on this trip we have a few deadlines – a motorbike travellers meeting at Iguazu Falls on February 22 and a flight to visit Australia leaving from Rio on March 6. In a way these deadlines are good, otherwise we would proably find ourselves still in South America in 3 years time – they keep us moving along!

We had a quick stop at Peninsula Valdes, a World Heritage site jutting out into to Atlantic Ocean. For 6 months of the year there is amazing whale watching here – Southern Right Whales that come so close to shore that you can view them clearly from the beach. Our timing didn’t coincide with this event, but there was still plenty of other wildlife to see.

Peninsular Valdez

Armadillo

C'mon Orcas, look at all those tasty baby seals!

That's why they are called sea LIONS

There were lots of penguins, sea lions and elephant seals, and the real drawcard, the orcas. Each year in February/March the orcas (killer whales) put on a real show here, beaching themselves among the sea lion colonies to grab a furry seal snack! Mark really wanted to see this spectacle, so we headed across the rough gravel road of the peninsula (210km round trip) to the potential sighting spots. 

No Luck. Not an orca to be seen, although we met an Aussie couple who a few hours earlier had watched the orcas stalking the seals close to a beach. For us, the Peninsula Valdes was a bit a disappointment – a waste of money, time and effort. This is a bit of a jaded attitude, but I think we were just so spoilt with our time in the Galapagos that the wildlife experience in other places just doesn’t cut it. I think the fact that the roads were exceptionally tough to ride (we were lucky that the bike only went down once in the deep gravel), causing Mark stress and me a little nervousness didn’t help the matter.

We got our morning yogurt out of our 'fridge', the river. It was stuck on a branch, these guys are the helpful Argentinian navy. There's a joke there somewhere.

After Peninsula Valdes it was a straight boring ride of around 1400km up to Buenos Aires – the big smoke. After so long in nature, it would be interesting to be back in a city again.