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Published: October 31st 2007
Death and Religion
All you got in PatagoniaIt´s the springtime in Argentina, and with the long, cold, rainy winter behind them, the people of Buenos Aires are eager to get away from the city the weather had trapped them in. It´s a little early to head to the popular sandy beaches in Uruguay (Argentina´s favorite summer playground), but Patagonia´s endless Atlantic coastline provides a great natural landscape that is perfect for escaping in search of clean air and beautiful scenery. Columbus day has provided a three-day weekend that justifies the 20 hour bus ride south to Puerto Madryn; a tourist town sourrounded by enormous national parks and located on the inner edge of a quiet bay. And while it´s still too cold to enjoy the water, the playful boardwalk and enormous beaches have attracted thousands of people to come relax and enjoy the sunshine at the edge of the Atlantic waters.
It has also attracted dozens and dozens of whales.
Suz and I came down here unaware of how seriously the Argentinos take Columbus Day, and if we hadn´t made arrangements beforehand, we may not have had a place to stay. Puerto Madryn was a madhouse of tourists during the weekend that we stayed, and we
Tonino
Panda bear of the sea had to extend our visit by a day in order to secure the rental car that is a neccesity in order to visit the huge National Parks. Lucky for us, scores of Southern Right whales kept us entertained while we waited, flippìng around and leaping in the water just 100 feet from the beach. Because of the
Gulfo Nuevo´s calm waters, the mothers use this area as their place to give birth and raise their young, and everyday we saw one grand tail raised in the air followed by a smaller one. It was tempting not to bother with the parks when a show like that was going on so close to the cafes and all-you-can-eat
parillas.
Once we had our tiny blue Fiat with it´s ridiculously over-powerful engine, we spent hours and hours in it. First up, Punta Tombo; home to the world´s largest colony of Magellanic Penguins. About half-way there we made a little side trip to Playa Union, where we got lost, found our way, dressed ourselves in ridiculously large life preservers, and jumped aboard a tour boat. For the next hour-and-a-half we stalked whales and rode around in circles so that groups of Commerson´s Dolphins
Long Way From Home
Worst bike ride ever could enjoy cruising around in our wake. These so-called "pandas of the sea" - because of their striking black and white patterns - thoroughly enjoyed us being there and entertained us with their jumping and diving underneath the boat. We could have watched the cute little show-offs all day.
Instead of taking the paved highway which was jammed with tour buses and about as interesting as watching paint dry, Suz and I decided to practice our rally car driving skills down Route 1 on the way to Punta Tombo. For about 2 hours we fish-tailed our way over loose gravel, Suz biting her nails and me with a giant smile on my face. We had actually been on Argentina´s unpaved roads 2 days before, only on bicycles. What had seemed like a nice afternoon ride to a sea-lion colony turned into hell when we suddenly found ourselves on a surface the consistency of sand. The sea-lions were great, but the slow pace of our bikeride through desert wasteland, constantly in fear of wiping out, was sheer agony. We had a much better time reaching the distant horizons behind the wheel of a car.
The Magellanic Penguin colony at
Punta Tombo was not what we had expected. First of all, it was egg laying season, so the activity level was not quite at the "fiesta" level. Secondly, there were roughly HALF A MILLION penguins. Up to a kilometer away from the sea, mating pairs had dug their holes underneath the shrubs, and now occupied every square inch of every hillside in sight. It was a
piñguino metropolis. Proud parents shared the responsibility of keeping the eggs warm while their partners waddled for an hour out to sea to find dinner. Neighbors chatted to each other, cleaned themselves, and slept without concern of the fierce Patagonian winds that constantly theatened to wrinkle their classy black and white tuxedos. Amazingly, the citizens of this vast city seemed completely unconcerned with the tall strangers who walked among it´s endless paths and streets, and even seemed to show-off for their papparazzi´s cameras. It was one of those scenarios so strange and alien that Suz and I said very little to each other for the 2 hours we were there.
The next day we tackled the enormous Peninsula Valdez National Parque, another 400 plus kilometer journey. The Valdez Parque boasts an impressively large
HUGE beach
Low Tide in Puerto Madryn and varied amount of marine life: colonies of Magellanic Penguins, groups of sea-lions, harems of elephant seals, and whale watching galore. But what really attracts so many visitors to the park is the chance to see something so rare that it only occurs in two places on Earth. In what is inappropriately described as "playful" behavior, killer whales beach themselves to snatch unsuspecting sea-lions from the safety of Peninsula Valdez´s sandy shores. I have to admit I was as giddy as a schoolgirl to see such an incredible scene of violence, but despite their sighting two weeks before we arrived, we had no such luck in witnessing the event.
The Southern Right whales certainly put on an amazing show for us though. The incredible wind that whips over the tree-less landscape of Patagonia had been trying to rip the doors off of our rented Fiat, and threatened to blow us off the cliffs into the sea. When we boarded the boat for our whale watching tour, I thought there was no way I was going to keep lunch down while riding out the fury of the Gulf´s waves. But an enourmous mother whale kept me plenty distracted as she
staged a 45 minute long performance that Shamu and the rest of the Sea World bunch couldn´t touch. With her 10-week-old baby imitating her every move, big mama smacked the water with her tail, waved hello with her flippers, and hauled her enormous body skywards like a 3-ton ballerina. To see the two of them jump in unison, only 100 meters from the front of our boat, has truly been one of the most amazing things we have seen since travelling.
The elephant seals, also impressive in their size, were certainly not as entertaining. Other than the occasional jiggle down the beach, they just slept and did nothing. Unable to walk around like sea-lions, they have to rely on that classic dance move "the worm" to get anywhere, and paired with the fact that they are almost as round as they are long it´s hard to blame them for not wanting to put on a show. The bulls are almost three times as large as the females. As passive as they may seem, watching a yawn big enough to fit your head into can quickly change your mind. Massive, fang-like teeth line the jaws underneath that ridiculous bulbous nose,
a reminder of why these creatures don´t make very good pets.
The sea-lions were way more active, but smelled much, much worse. The scent of fish baked inside of an old moldy shoe hit us way before we even laid eyes on the noisy group. Sea-lions have an interesting way of being able to find family members when they return to the large community after fishing for dinner. As they approach the beach, mothers start calling very loudly for their kids to come meet them at the shore. The noise sounds something like a deep, satisfying belch that one might have after a Thanksgiving meal. In response, all of the young seals who feel this could be
their mom respond immediately. It sounds a lot like a herd of goats bleating at the same time. And so this process repeats itself over and over - bleat, belch, bleat, belch - until it has been determined whose mother is actually approaching and demanding to be met when she arrives. The child crawls his way over dozens of other beligerant, snoozing sea-lions until after a brief snuggle to say hello, he insists on being nursed while mom collapses to warm up
in the sun. Except for the sounds and the smell, it really pulls at the heartstrings. I still was secretly hoping the killer whales would show up, maybe with some dramatic music and a fireworks show as they rushed in on their unsuspecting prey.
There is also a menagerie of strange beasts roaming the wide open fields of Peninsula Valdez. Rheas (cousin of the ostrich) and
Guanacos (wild cousin of the Alpaca) are chased around by Pumas and other wild cats, all with small furry foxes running along and nipping their heels. We, of course, saw none of that. With the wind blowing so strong that day, the best we could get were herd after herd of sheep, and one friendly armadillo who kept chasing Suzanne around a parking lot.
Nature is at it´s best here in Puerto Madryn, and we could have stayed to watch the groups of animals for much longer, but there was still a lot of Patagonia to ride through. We bought the ticket away from the beach, waved goodbye to the whales who were waving to us, and boarded the huge bus for a 32 hour ride south. Next stop: the end of
Suz and an Admirer
These two played a game of head turning for 20 minutes the world.
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