Patagonia region of Argentina & Chile (1)


Advertisement
Argentina's flag
South America » Argentina
November 5th 2010
Published: November 5th 2010
Edit Blog Post

Total Distance: 0 miles / 0 kmMouse: 0,0

World Tour 2010 Route


P1110953P1110953P1110953

Puerto Madryn - whale watching
Patagonian region of Argentina & Chile travel update

From Buenos Aires we started our journey down to the southern tip of South America, the Patagonia region. We had intended to fly this distance, however we were told by some fellow travellers coming the other way that this time of year was the perfect time to see southern right whales, migrating to their breeding grounds, in a protected peninsula near a small town called Puerto Madryn, about half way down the east coast of Argentina. So rather than fly, we decided to bus it from BA to Puerto Madryn, about a 22 hour bus trip. The town of Puerto Madryn started as a whaling station before becoming a settlement for Welsh immigrants in 1865.

We did a full day trip out to the Peninsula Valdes, including a two hour boat trip which allowed us to get up close and personal with the whales! The whales are very inquisitive, and so the boat only needed to get in the vicinity of a group of whales and stop, and then the whales would come over and pop out right next to the boat. These creatures are HUGE, their heads taking up a
P1120249P1120249P1120249

El Calafate - Upsala Glacier
third of their body length, and with large growths of barnacles all over their heads. (These unique barnacle patterns on the whales are used by researchers to identify them and track their migration patterns from year to year.) Many of the mothers had already given birth to their young, so we saw heaps of mothers with their playful calves breaching and flapping their huge tails around. As part of the tour, we also visited a colony of Magallanes penguins and a beach where there was a colony of elephant seals, as this time of year is also the breeding season for them. Although we could get reasonably close to view the animals, the breeding areas were fenced off, so it was nothing like the experience we had at the Galapagos Islands, where you were able to walk amongst the animals.

Another day we did a 40km round trip bike ride to Doradillo Beach, to the north of Puerto Madryn. The beach is quite famous as it drops off quite sharply, which allows the whales to get in very close to the beach. We spent a few hours here watching the mothers and calves frolicking no more than 30 metres
P1120410P1120410P1120410

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
from the shore at times.

Anecdote: Although we weren’t lucky enough to witness it, this area is also famous for being one of only two places in the world where the orcas (killer whales, but in actual fact a type of dolphin) purposely beach themselves to catch baby seals & sea lions that are swimming close to the shore. This behaviour has been learned by only a few orcas in the area and they pass this knowledge on to their babies, teaching them this technique. They are very intelligent creatures and have sophisticated hunting techniques, developed and adapted to the type of prey they are hunting. We visited one museum that had a heap of information on the orcas, their family bonds, breeding habits, migration patterns and much more, which was fascinating reading.

After seeing the sights of Puerto Madryn, we did the next long section of our bus trip, another 24 hours, down to the town of El Calafate, right in the heart of the Argentinian Patagonia region. Although a touristy town, it was very picturesque with white capped mountains all around and a very rustic feel to it, with beautiful little wooden buildings everywhere. Here we
P1110916P1110916P1110916

Puerto Madryn - Magallane penguin colony
stayed at a hostel called Che Lagarto, easily our favourite accommodation to date. The staff here were super friendly, the living areas in the hostel were really cosy and welcoming, and they had a restaurant as part of the hostel which served great, cheap meals, including one of the best steaks we have had in Argentina (but still not as good as Brazil!).

El Calafate is very close to a number of glaciers, so we did tours to a number of these. The first tour was to Glacier Upsala and Estancia Cristina, which involved a boat trip to the glacier and an hour or so traversing across the front face of the glacier. We then did a 30 min hike to a high vantage point above the glacier that gave sweeping views of it, climbing back up into the mountains to its starting point. We were blessed with one of the best days we have had, with hardly a cloud in the sky, so we had amazing views from this look out! The rest of the day was spent doing a 4 hour trek from the glacier all the way back to the Estancia Cristina. We walked along the
P1120512P1120512P1120512

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
line of the glacier for an hour before going through a steep valley that was filled with aquatic fossils (cone shells, squid vertebrae), as this area was once a sea bed millions of years ago. Our trek ended at the Estancia Cristina which was once a cattle and sheep station owned by British immigrating family.

We also did a full day tour to the Perito Moreno glacier, which has a 5km front face extending up to a maximum of 70m out of the lake water (and another 150m below it!). This glacier is one of the few glaciers in South America which is classed as stable (maintaining its length and height), as the bulk of the glaciers are receding as a result of changing weather patterns and global warming. This was by far the most expensive tour we have done to date (even more expensive than our Italy tours), mainly because there is only one company that offers this tour and so has the monopoly, and can charge what they want. The first half of the day involved walking around the labyrinth of viewing platforms and walkways to get some stunning views of the glacier front, where we were
P1120071P1120071P1120071

Puerto Madryn
able to see large chunks of ice breaking away from the glacier face and crashing into the lake below. We then boarded a boat and were taken across the lake and dropped beside the glacier to strap on some crampons and harnesses to begin a 4 hour ice trek on the glacier itself. Unfortunately, after our gorgeous weather visiting the Upsala glacier, we were to have the opposite here with the clouds closing in as we commenced our ice trek and the rain beginning. The whole time we were on the ice, it poured with rain, which took a bit of the fun out of the experience. We still saw some amazing sights during our walk on the ice. There were many small rivers and lakes on the surface of the glacier from the melting ice, all with this brilliant aqua blue colour caused by the compressed air bubbles trapped in the ice. We also got to look down some of these huge sink holes in the ice, where the water from the different small rivers and lakes would escape from the glacier. This was also the first time that either Patty or I have ever sat in the rain
P1110956P1110956P1110956

Puerto Madryn - whale watching
to have our lunch, as there was nowhere to hide out on the glacier! We finished the day around 7pm in the evening getting back to our favourite hostel drenched from head to toe, where we both got to have a long, hot shower to warm us up again.




Additional photos below
Photos: 48, Displayed: 26


Advertisement

P1110960P1110960
P1110960

Puerto Madryn - giant squid
P1110970P1110970
P1110970

Puerto Madryn
P1110988P1110988
P1110988

Puerto Madryn
P1110990P1110990
P1110990

Puerto Madryn
P1120028P1120028
P1120028

Puerto Madryn
P1120170P1120170
P1120170

El Calafate - Upsala Glacier
P1120198P1120198
P1120198

El Calafate - Upsala Glacier
P1120343P1120343
P1120343

El Calafate - Upsala Glacier, boat we took
P1120348P1120348
P1120348

El Calafate - Upsala Glacier
P1120354P1120354
P1120354

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
P1120393P1120393
P1120393

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
P1120409P1120409
P1120409

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
P1120420P1120420
P1120420

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
P1120441P1120441
P1120441

El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier


6th November 2010

hi, love yours pics, it looks amazing! what time of year did you go to see the whales? x
9th November 2010

We were there in October. This is best time of year to see whales, orcas, penguins and elephant seals.

Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0669s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb