Argentina is a large country and Patagonia is the southern
region of the country - sparsely populated and devoid of vehicular traffic;
breaking down will be a great problem. La Pampa is one of the provinces of
Argentina that will be traversed during the trip but “pampas” is a grassland
biome not limited to this country that extends from the Atlantic to the
Andes. It is mostly a flat and dry
grassland and usually very windy. The wildlife is sparse but varied and the
most common seen are the guanacos, rheas, foxes and armadillos. A few birds -
mostly vultures, hawks and small seedeaters.
Departed from Buenos Aires via Route 5 to Santa Rosa, changing to Route
154 and then to Route 251 towards San Antonio Oeste and then following Route 3
to Routes 2 and 47 and arriving at Punta Delgada in the Peninsula de Valdez,
the first stop. All the photos in this blog were taken with an iPhone with
images further processed in Photoshop.
The Peninsula de Valdez is a famous National Park and
tourist center with most tourist facilities based in Punta Delgada, a point of
the departure for whale watching tours and access to the park.
The park is famous because this is the place where the orcas
attack the sea lions resting on the beaches.
This is my third visit to this park but never witnessed the actual
attack, but this time it was close; arrived 30 minutes late after an attack
took place. The orcas were still in the
area and they will swim parallel to the shore looking for more prey but no more
attacks occurred. The Magellanic
penguins nest here and the beach areas are the breeding grounds for the sea
lions. There are also foxes, armadillos
and maras; the latter ones I had seen before but this time was able to
photograph them for the first time (there will be a follow-up blog with photos
taken with my regular camera that will show more details of the orcas hunting
and the maras).
At sunset departed the Peninsula de Valdez via Routes 47/2
to Puerto Madryn to spend the night and departing early the next morning
towards Punta Tombo and Bahia Bustamante via Ruta 3.
When arriving at the detour for Punta Tombo,
found a sign stating that it was closed.
This is where the largest nesting colony for Magellanic penguins is
found in the world; they have already finished the season and returned to the
sea. I was here in 2011 and the
cacophony of the breeding penguins and the stench of the nests left a lasting
memory. Continued south in Route 3 towards
Bahia Bustamante and encountered the same situation there, so to Comodoro
Rivadavia to spend the night. One
peculiar situation between Puerto Madryn and Comodoro is that there just 2-3
gas stations that usually have no gas. So you wait for the gas truck that may
arrive that day or tomorrow. I was
familiar for this situation from previous trip so had 4 extra gallons of fuel
that allowed covering the distance between the cities previously
mentioned. Ironically the area around Comodoro
Rivadavia is the Argentinian version of Houston where most of the oil wells are
found.
There was an early arrival at Comodoro, what to do? Obviously the local micro-breweries and in no
time all the brews were tasted and I settled for the local Indian IPA. The stop
here was a for a surprise reunion with my friend Mariano Huberty who in
previous trips guided me along southern Argentina to various locations with nature
and landscape photographic opportunities. He is now a prominent photographer
and professor but I learned from him to crawl like snake to approach the
choiques and other shore birds. Unknown
to Mariano, arranged to meet him at Puerto Cangrejo, the best restaurant in
this city where we ate last 9 years earlier…he was surprised…me too; now he
dresses in business suits. During the Falklands Islands war, Comodoro was an
important war operational center and that the reason for the monument in memory
of that war.
Early next morning continued to Caleta Oliva via Route 3 and
then took Route 12 to Pico Truncado to join Route 43 towards the West all the
way to Los Antiguos. This area of the
pampas is rich in rock formations full of dinosaurs; the reason for these
monuments along the route; note that the second one is made with scrap iron
from the oil industry and plays soccer. (Note: If ever in the area, do not miss
the dinosaurs’ museum in Trelew. It has
a world class collection just deserving a trip there for that reason.)
Continuing in Route 43 stopped at the shores of Lago Buenos
Aires, the largest freshwater lake in Argentina with bluish milky water color
revealing its glaciers origins seen in the horizon. Arrived at Los Antiguos,
the Cherry Capital of Argentina and of course, got to eat cherry pie, ice cream
and jelly. Spent 2 nights in the village that served as the base for the first
crossing the frontier into Chile.
Los Antiguos in Spanish means the “old ones’ and it used to
be a Tehuelche Indian village whose name means “Place of the Elders” and
tradition is that the elders of these nomadic hunters spent the winters here.
At the top of the hill behind the town there is a giant statue of Uendeunk that
in Tehuelche mythology was a “good spirit” that protected young children. One
sunset returned to the lake to photograph; strong winds drove waves that
crashed into the rocks.
Crossed the border at Chile Chico and via la Carretera
Austral and drove towards Villa Cerro Castillo and Cohihaique towards the
Marble Cathedral in General Carreras Lake (it is the same Lago Buenos Aires
that changes name in Chile). This is a place that always wanted to visit---now
I can say “I was there.”
These formations are made of calcium carbonate that has been
carved by the lake’s wave actions and water level fluctuations. There are 3
main rocks called the Cave, the Cathedral and the Chapel formed more than 350
million years old. Boarded a boat at
Bahia Mansa toward the rocks and although a bit rainy, the sights were
spectacular with the boat going in and out of the various grottos. The photos are the best description and after
a lengthy visit returned to the shore to admire the vegetation. Later on drove back to Argentina by the same
road, fast trying to beat the clock to arrive at the border crossing before it
closed for the night.
The next morning back tracked via Route 43 to Perito Moreno to take the famous Ruta 40 heading south. At Bajo Caracoles took a gravel road crossing fantastic canyons originating about 150 million years ago due the melting of the glaciers in the Pleistocene. The Pinturas River formed the canyon in the image below. At the end of the road another dream fulfilled: La Cueva de las Manos. The paintings were carbon dated back 9-11,000 years. The hands were painted by using hollow bones (probably birds) to blow the pigments.
It appears that the artists were mostly right handed since
they used it to hold the spraying pipes so what is stenciled are mostly left
hands of various sizes depending of the age and sex of the owners. There is a hand with six fingers; can you
find it? In addition there are hunting scenes of guanaco hunting using bolas as
well as images birds, insects and lizards
The image below was converted to B&W to facilitate
details. The arrows in red point to the footprints of rheas which I am sure
earlier were the eaten by the artists. The green arrow points to a figure that could have
a shaman and at its feet one can see a rope with a ball at the end that could be
a bola. And the blue arrow
points to a six fingered hand--check yours --was it you? Notice the hands prints are superimposed, smaller
and more numerous closer to the ground, assume that this was the work of the
children.
I had visited caves with petroglyphs on several continents
but these are the most impressive. While
writing this blog my brain remembered that my friend Vicente Gonzalez Mimica gave
me a copy of his book “Arte Rupestre/Rock Art” that was published in 2009. I really never bothered to look at closely it
until now. What I gather from the book is that this site has the best petroglyphs
of the multiple sites photographed thru Argentina and Chile. I can say again “I
had been there.”
Returning to Route 40 South and when reaching Route 23
headed west to El Chalten considered the trekking capital of Argentina, another
place that I wanted to photograph. It is similar to Torres del Paine in Chile
regarding the massive rock formations and the glaciers but it is more tourist
friendly with easier access to the various trails. The village at the entrance
to the park has numerous hostels, restaurants, groceries and gas stations. El
Chalten wins over Torres del Paine when it comes to comfort amenities and
choices. The first sighting when arriving is below where the Cerro Fitzroy (center)
and Cerro Torre (in the background and smaller to the left with snow at the
peak) are seen in the horizon and the River de las Vueltas in the lower
foreground. Chalten in Tehuelche means “Smoking
Mountain” very properly because most if the time I was there was covered by
clouds. The second image below is an igneous rock intrusion that broke thru the
sedimentary rocks forming a wall that at one time blocked the river before
eroded; its remnants can also be seen in the opposite shore.
The image below is from the Mirador Torre and the next two
views are of the Rio de las Vueltas. The
trek to the Mirador was a bit rough on me and was able to make it due to
someone lending me a pair of walking sticks. But the effort was worth it…don’t
get old.
El Chorrillo del Salto is about 70 feet high, easily
accessed and at the time is was fall time and the trees were at the peak of
colors. It is the end of the Chorrillo River
whose headwaters originated from the melting FitzRoy Glacier where its waters
enter the Rio de las Vueltas. Needless to say it was full of photographers
carrying their tripods and battling for the best view site…my iPhone gave
mobility and fun…can you tell the difference in the image quality? No wicked camping is allowed at the falls.
Returning to Route heading south encountered La Leona Hotel.
The historical importance of the place is Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and Etta
Place hid for a month at this site after robbing the bank in Rio Gallegos in
1901. The gang continued to Bolivia where Butch and Sundance were killed in
1908. Etta disappeared but was allegedly seen in California in later years.
Continued on Route 40
towards Route 11 and finally arriving in Calafate. I was here the first time in 2009 when it was
still a sleepy town. Returned in 2011 when it was growing and the lakefront
busting with apartments. Now is still growing and looking very prosperous with micro-breweries.
It is the base to visit Los Glaciales National Park with the easiest access to
Perito Moreno Glacier (below) the most visited and the only one in the world
still growing. The Spegazzini and Upsala
glaciers are accessible by tour boat.
The Upsala glacier is one of the fastest retreating glaciers;
there is an interesting
YouTube video showing the effects at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-3YPBfO2Ys
After visiting the glaciers on the way to Calafate, encountered
this young guanaco stuck when jumping a fence.
These are frequent views when traveling in Patagonia with live and
carcasses hanging from the estancias fences used to keep the sheep in. I
insisted on stopping to photograph this situation and upon returning to the
vehicle, it was decided that this guanaco will live to jump another fence and
was released from the deadly trap.
Left Calafate via Route 40 heading south to the Argentine border
crossing with Chile at Rio Gallegos. The first image below shows a view of the
pampas with a rail gate with scarecrows but in this case to scare sheep from
crossing. Crossed the Chilean Custom Station arriving at Torres del Paine.
First visited Torres del Paine in 2004 with numerous returns
allowing me to witness the detrimental effects of ecotourism. Below is an example of photographers
searching for the elusive pumas. You can
search for my previous blogs for more details.
Torres was the end of the trip returning to Calafate to take
the flights back to the USA. Below is
the Cafeteria Ovejero (tourist trap) at the custom crossing back to Argentina.
You can have a café espresso for 8 dollars and a bar of chocolate for 6 dollars
if you only speak English. But if you
speak Spanish with a Chilean accent, the prices are half of that; start
practicing.
In closing this was a long trip but among my most rewarding
and dreaming of a prompt return to the Route 40. I have to start working in the digital SLR
version of the trip; stay tuned.
