Arrived in Tierra del Fuego

« Luck and adventure »

We arrived in Rio Gallegos at the end of the day, and as we thought, this city has not much to offer. The turism office confirm it so it didn’t take long for us to decide to leave this place before the night. 25 minutes after our arrival, we are on the road again in direction of Tierra del Fuego !
We arrived at the chilian border around 21h with no idear of what to do. We entered with our passports in this big hall where queues were melting, babyes crying, people handling officials papers and noise of tampons validating crossing. Impossible to manage short cut or to divide the work so we wait quietly for more than one hour and a half before be able to go back to the car with everything clear. Then the real crossing began !

In the dark night, with no indication, we drive on the only road, hoping to find Punta Delgada port and get information about next ferries or place to spend the night. Out of nowhere, lights and queues of trucks appears, we try to park somewhere but the guy in charge indicate us to go on, up on the boat. No way to ask him where to buy tickets or to check the direction of the boat, 3 minutes after we are on the ferry and doors closed. We find the office inside the boat to pay the travel and get to the common room where TV inform us about the earthsquake in Chili. 20 minutes later the car get down on Tierra del Fuego in the middle of nowhere.

Again we drive in dark night with no indication on the only road, this time hopping to be able to rest in Cerro Sombrero, the wind is incredible here ! One hour later we find the only hotel of the little petrolian town of Cerro Sombrero. Luckly still open but full of gauchos which came for a festival this weekend. No more basic room but the manager offers to give us one room at the basic price which is still 220 pesos (more than 2 times our budget). Outside is too cold to sleep in the car and we are so tired to keep on going, so we accept and enjoy a luxuous room ! So different from our corsa, the king size bed and the massage shower seems like paradise !

Good things that we slept well, the next day is not the quiest ! Before leaving we learn that the hotel and the gaz station doesn’t take visa, that no cash point are available before monday (it is sunday morning) and we have 160 in cash and not enought gazoil to keep on … We first explain the problem to the manager, which really nicely accept the only 160 pesos and 5 euros we have. Then we wait for the supermarket to open and Baptiste’s charm work so well that the girl accept to change card paiement against cash ! We can have some gazoil to take the road !!
Feeling better we enjoy quickly the gauchos festival were gauchos are working with their dogs to manage sheeps. The wind is crazy but gauchos are so impressive in their traditional clothes !

We finally leave Cerro Sombrero for a long ripio time to Rio Grande. Lands are dried by the sun and the wind, sheeps seems to be the only ones not to care of the weather ! We drive for about 80 kms at less than 40km/h at the only indicate crossroad we meet a moto driver which tells us that one of our wheel is deflated. He helps us change it and we take the ripo again, slowlier ! We pass the argentian borders with wrong hopes of finding any garage there. We have to drive 1 hour more to arrive in Rio Grande where we hopefully find one open on a sunday ! The guy find 2 holes in the first wheel and a 3 cm vis blocked in an other one ! How nice are argentinian road ! It is with new wheels, full of fuel and cash that we take back the road 3 to south !

Desertics windy lands let place to valley, forests and then mountains and glaciars. The road between lacs and trees is really beautiful, and drive us, at the end to Ushuaia. We arrive by night and stop in hostel Yakush were Ariel welcomes us…

According to the non frequentation of the english part of our blog, we decided to stop translating articles… It has been a hard decision, considering the bet involved and we hope you will not be too disappointed.

Santa Cruz

The road to go to Puerto Deseado is not the most desirable of all ! More than 100 kms of plat (no complain on that !) and straight asphalted road. Only two trucks on the other way so Baptiste ended driving with arms crossed, sure he didn’t fall asleep !

Puerto Deseado is a nice young and dynamic port where the ocean goes up in a dried river’s bed. So marine flore and faune are protected and easily reachable ! We arrived soon in enough to find the municipal camping and enjoy the sunset on dried and éventées lands. The day after, impossible to rent kayak, so we go for a walk along the cost: horses, cormorans, pingouins …

We take the road again to Puerto San Julian, other balnear city of 15 000 habitants with nice non touristic atmosphere. The camping manager could receive a price for welcome and advices ! We take the ripio up to the coast to discover the area end then we take an excursion on a zodiac to see pinguinos, birds and dolfins ! Some couples of « Toninas overas » came playing with the boat and waves, crazy to see it so close even if they are one of the smaller dolfin in the world.

The day after, we take the ruta 3 to south… still ! And we made a stop at the Monte Leon natural reserve. More than 60 000 hectares of valonées steppes for guanacos, pinguins and choiques. Red and oranges terres cutted in falaises up to ocean make a great view ! It is also a privilegied land of hunt for pumas… but despite hours spent in wind scruting horizon we had no chance with pumas… just trace of their past hunt !

We take the road again to arrive to Rio Gallegos at the end of the afternoon…

South Chubut

Sarmiento is a rural irrigated city in the middle of Patagonian area, so very green and peacefull compare to the petrolian area and desertique land all around ! At morning we hardly looked for a place to stay and finally found a luxuous chacra to stay outside the city ! The nice netherland couple welcomes us in their farm with so many fruit trees and sheeps, their dog loved rabbit hunting !

We went to Bosque Petrificado place at 30 kms of ripio from the road but didn’t regretted it ! In the middle of a desertique place where sun and winds never stop, some trunks of 65 million years come back to the surface in this lunatic landscape. We strafe of photos this isolated and desolated spot and nearly learn to fly with the wind ! Back to the chacra we enjoy garden and tea before a great meal at restaurant for my birthday !

After a great night in real beds we enjoy a wonderful breakfast with products from the farm ! We take the road to have a walk at Lago Munster. After a good time on ripio road we found a nice, enormous and monotonous lac with no path except ripio … So we get back to the road in direction of Puerto Deseado in Santa Cruz provincia !

Welsh Argentina

We leave the atlantic cost to get deeper in argentian lands, in Chubut area. There, many village kept a strong galish influence since colonies arrival in the middle of XIXth century. So we decide to discover this galish-argentian culture !

First stop in Trelew where we have a walk in the town to see some gallish house, old train station, chapel and very nice picture exposition. All of it incorporated in the typical argentian grid struture and pingouins picture everywhere !

Gaiman is already a much more rural village, boarding the chubut river with a main parc enjoyed by families to have maté together. We go to one of their famous « Casa de Té » to enjoy the gallish culture ! Typical house with so many galish decoration ( we find a map of the area where Wrexham is shown !!!!) with have british tea and gallish cake, we almost feel in europe ! Then we go the the « museum » El Desafio : impressive ! Joaquim Alonso passed away at 90 years old this winter after have transform his garden into a fantastic parc ! With recycled products and a strong sens of humour and dersion he takes us to a walk in society.. We walk around dinosaurus, cars, Taj Maal, hundreds of quotes… just great !

We get on the road again to Dolavon, even smaller, this village is crossed by a nice creek with so many waterwheel. We disturbe a restaurant team having a great meal to visit a old working flour mill from 1880 ! Still working machines are so old and full of histories.

After a night at Gaiman’s fireman camping on the rivers edge, we take the road the Punta Tombo !
This natural reserve of pinguinos colonies is on the cost at the end of a long ripio road ! There is so many pinguinos ! The beach is full of them waiting for the right time to get in the ocean ! There is also many of their nests everywhere around the path. Pinguinos are friendly and not afraid at all ! We can fully enjoy their way to walk, cries and smell !
We take the road again to Camarones which was supposed to be (from Lonely Planet) a nice village full of charm and calm to rest for a night… Well maybe because we were tired but we found nothing to enjoy there except a very strange and expensive camping ! So We took back the car to get to Sarmiento at night.

North Chubut

After many nights in the car, we decided to stay for two nights at Punta Ballenas hostel in Puerto Madryn. We started the visit of this balnear city by the museum ecocentro. Not the long and boring usual musuem, this one is really interessant with real aquariums, movies of animals, and a great view on Puerto Madryn !

Saturday : « Ripio dia ! » We took the « road » early to go to Peninsula Valdes. This natural reserve of 3600 km² is registred at UNESCO patrimoine with 400 kms of coasts full of protected animals. People comes all over the world to see whales and orcs but sadly we were not here at the good season… Anyway we still drove 200 kms on pists with no car problems enjoying arids landscapes. Sea’s lion, pinguinos, peludos, guanacos, fox, sheeps, geckos…so many animals to see free in here ! We enjoy the playa of our first step in Puerto Pyramides, only village with some kind of activities. The view is great in « early » morning with no tourits !

Then we stop at Punta Cantor were a peludo welcomes us on the parking with some foxs. A path take us to the cost were we can see a colony of sea’s lions, pinguinos and some birds. But at Punta Norte we are much next to them and we can see properly males roaring and babyes in waves. We desepertaly look for an orque to come eat one of them. But even if it is high tide time, nothing at the horizon !

We take the car back to Puerto madryn after had lunch sitting on whales bones !

Rio Negro

Last time, we left you at Carmen de Patagones, old village borded by the Rio Negro. We hardly found the mudy municipal camping in Viedma but the family really nice gave us a nice place for our Corsa. We had a chance for a shower in the only one not devastated by rocks and mud and even had hot soup in front of a show of « on-fire bollas » ! Another storm came during the night and the corsa was flotting almost like a boat on the morning (no idea about how other people in tents manage the night !)

We had a sunny breakfast in Viedma before taking the road to El Condor, small village on the coast where you can usually find the most important colony parrot of the world : 35 000 couples !
Well, it wasn‘t the reproduction period, so we only saw thousands of their nests dug in the rock. We heard some of them perched on electrics lines but too fare away to see their colour !

We had more chance later when we arrived at « La Loberia » with a beautiful group of pink flamingos flying on the sea ! We enjoyed the water of atlantic ocean for the first time on Argentian coast ! Cold for me but « as good as britain’s » for Baptiste ! Anyway the landscape was really great !

We kept on going along the coast until the beach where a Sea’s Lion family was enjoying the sun. These big and fat animals spend most of their time lying on sunny beaches. The male hardly try to stay up, roaring with his « great » mane. Babys lions were about 2 months old and already « running » on the beach. Taking the car to go back to Viedma we enjoyed firsts movements of clouds before a really big storm. It was fantastic ! We even had a rainbow with the last sunbeams…

The storm that came then was incredible too, I don’t really know how the corsa survived it but wipers gave their best ! After 2 hours driving with the storm, the sun came back only to gave us a wonderful sunset on the wet, straight and empty road, special moment !
We finally arrived at « Las Grutas » at night and enjoyed the city on the next morning, walking on the beach to see these natural caves dug by the ocean.

La Pampa !

The Pampa : Done !

3 days on the road where we had lots of differents cities and landscapes ! When you think about Pampa, you imagine pampas grasses, arids lands as far as you can see… Well it is that… and even more !

We left the big cosmopolitan life of Buenos Aires throught Roadway n°1 (not that easy to find, thanks to Guia T and turns around quadras) in direction of « La Plata », capitale of Buenos Aires provincia.
Little note about Argentina : the country is divided in provincias for which each has a capital (Buenos Aires is Capital federal).

After 2 hours of argentian way of driving we arrived at La Plata. With about 800 000 peoples we already felt far away from Buenos Aires in this dynamic but simple city ! We first enjoyed the beautiful gothic Cathedral (I hope you’ll like pictures for which we had to fight badly against mousquitos !) but also nices green places and parcs ! Even if this city have been totally drawned before building it is not easier to find his way !

Early afternoon we took direction of Pinamar : only 300 kms from here but we choose the coste’s road… bad choice. First point : we left from La Plata without any Road Map. Second point : In Argentina it happens often that a great and beautiful asphalted road becomes a dirty trail in a few kilometers with no previous mention… This is how, looking for a nice road along the ocean, we had to drive 50 kms on a stony trail in the middle of a national parc (no ocean to see!). We were almost alone there (except gauchos) and I think that once we find back civilisation, people were as surprised as us to find french tourists asking for their way ! Well, from then we experienced other « road » here, this one was not that bad, just quite a chock when you don’t know where you’re going to sleep and when you just left Buenos Aires !

We finally get to Pinamar at night… again quite a chock ! The main street of this balnear city was just a jungle of 4x4 and luxious cars exhibitions, with night clubs and bars… We tried to get out of this north american atmosphere to find ocean ! The strong wind and enormous waves were great !
Impossible to find hostels or camping in the middle of all luxurious hotel, complex and private properties so we parked the car and slept there. But apparently it wasn’t fine for our neightbours which called police. A policeman came to wake us up at 2 am asking to move… so we end on an old parking next to the sea…

After a breakfast well deserved we left happily this place to an other balnear city : Mar del Plata !
Here we could quitely walk allong the ocean even if buildings takes a lot of place in the landscape !
The place is full of argentian in holidays but we find Manolo ‘s churros and the cathedral in reconstruction.

We took the road to Necochea and arrived there throught Quequen : fantomas’city ! Everything seems abandonned from a long time in this ancient militar city ! But Necochea is more active and receive lots or tourists for its beach and parcs ! We find a nice hotel (ok the cheapest) to rest in a real bed !

For the last day in Pampa, we drove a lot ! 600 kms ! We almost tested the limit of our fuel tank ! We made a stop at Bahia Blanca with its nice buildings and parcs, crazy dogs and always straight streets ! We end the day at Carmen de Patagones, very nice little village on the Rio Negro, doors to Patagonia. Small but colonial architecture and sweet view on Viedma !

To sum up the Pampa crossing : It is a lots landscapes to perte de vue : tournesols, herbes folles, dunes de sables, greens parts and desertics ones, estancias, cows and sheeps, horses and so many dogs in cities !

Next to come : Pingouins, Sea’s leons and welsh cities !

Buenos Aires

Take off at Buenos Airess International Airport at noon local time ! We pick up our bags after 20 hours spent in planes and transit, glad to finally see the sun and feel the humid and hot South American air !

A taxi brings us to Philipe, Stephanie and Barney’s flat in Buenos Aires center. Stephanie is studying international business at ESC in exchange in Buenos Aires this year; Philippe is working in an Hostel before taking back electronics studies and Barney, as a rabbit, is specially attached to Baptiste’s smell, and insure flat‘s animation. We put our french winter clothes in our bag and were havaianas !

We have a week to discover the capital (for me) and prepare our trip !
Besides hours spent in bars to work on our itinary, planning and budgets (Thanks to Léo’s Lonely Planet) we had time to live like a real Portenios :

• A great Concert of Improvised Percussions (sound painting) at « Bomba de Tiempo » (they even integrated an accordéon and made Portenios dancing valse ! )
• Portenios’ Bars… well at least we took habits to « Bella Gamba »
• A visit of almost all Cars Renting places in Buenos Aires to know their conditions, prices, cars and assurances ( yes some of them wants 12 000 ARS in cash)
• A visit in Chinese Neighborhood for New years eve which finally was a difficult walk in streets full of people with nems’smells.
• Meeting with portenios: Nati (always full of energy), Brian (great wellcoming and good plans in Buenos aires), Bea & Ale (where we always fell like home), Martin (which brings us to parilla deep in Buenos Aires) and Charlene (almost Portenios already)
• An evening in a Bodega for great argentin wines’ testing commented by the chief , so we will know what to choose all along the comings months.
• Crossing of 9th July Avenue (the largest avenue in the world) and of Rivadavia Avenue ( longest avenue in the world) Even if we didn’t walf all along the 27 kms !
• Afternoons in Buenos Aires’ parcs and roseraies
• Evening in Parilla with as mush as we want of well done cooked argentina meet.
  

Of course without mentionning maté, empanadas, helladerias, fresh orange juice, fernet, sushis and delicious worlds dishes (or not) !

We are leaving Buenos Aires this monday with a great white Corsa 3 doors which will be our fidel friend for the next 2 month ! Bags packed, map of Buenos Aires, we get into portenios trafic with still so many things to do and people to find back there !

We are going to South throught Atlantic Coste crossing Pampa !

Pre-starter

Quite difficult to remember the first time we thought of doing this trip but from then, impossible to forget about it … and here we are, at the airport !

We are leaving for a 5 month travel around South America ! After a semester in Argentina for Baptiste and in Brazil for me, we already have an idea of the atmosphere we will find there. By car, foot, buses, horses, boats, lamas or plane we plan to picture the most of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and why not one or two more ?
For the moment we have a return ticket Paris-Buenos Aires, a map of place to go, some contacts, bags with everything we can carry on our back and some money. But is is more our motivation, camera and people we’ll meet that will make us go on !

So come visit our blog if you want an overview of a blog legen…dary !