Peninsula Valdés
We Swiss have it, too, an UNESCO biosphere reserve, however this one is just about 20 times larger and you're allowed to drive through it. We are early (but not that early) and on our route we're basically alone. First time ripio (gravel) on the road - hurray! We do it clockwise as we were told to watch the high tide at Punta Norte because we might see Orcas that can only swim to the shore when the water floods the riff. No luck in that area. Nevertheless it's impressive to see the water slowly or actually rather quickly cover the green patches of the riff.
(Later we hear that some Orcas were seen at Punta Norte - this is something we have to learn, there is always someone that has seen more or better things. Which is not even hard to imagine as we are constantly surprised about what we see.)
Our trip continues down the East side where we stop along the Caleta Valdés, a 50km long outlet that is framed by something like a large pebble shore towards the Atlantíco Sur. Deep blue colors against dark stones - a photographer's dream. Till the photographer sees the first wild penguins (Magellanic Penguins are about 50cm tall). And we do see them shortly before reaching Punta Cantor and are excited. Excitement translates into many pictures (we don't know about the hundred thousands of penguins just further down South).
At Punta Cantor then the masses of tourists are about to leave and let us enjoy the sea lions (Mirounga Leonina or elefantes marinos) close up. Actually Argentina is doing a lot to protect the wildlife from being disturbed, so there are always sidewalks and fences to keep us from getting too close. Somewhere we picked up this:
"La tierra no la heredamos de nuestros padres solo la tomamos prestada de nuestros hijos."
Earth is not inherited from our parents but just borrowed from your children.
While at lunch time we get to know the patagonic winds towards the evening when the sun is less strong they really start to cool down and at 6pm I start to be cold - just wearing a T-shirt.
As the sun starts to set (it sets for a long time!) we are alone on the road again and spot quite some more animals on our way back: the Guanaco (the wild form of a Lama), Ñandú Petiso (the Argentinian answer to the ostrich) and even some Mara (probably the most surprising animal, it's a rabbit on long legs or a small dog with rabbit ears).
The day finds it's end with a tasty steak of seal, er, beef.
No comments:
Post a Comment