Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gualjaina and the Valley Chubut


After 12 or 13 days of working on Trey and Shelby's Lago Rosario property, the four of us decided to splurge on a trip out to Gualijaina with some local Trevelin friends. Around 6 pm we started our caravan out into the dessert where guanacos roam and the mara mara hops. The landscape was rugged and uninviting if you planned to walk, but a beautiful drive along a bumpy gravel road. The town was celebreating its birthday (we can't recall how many years...), and it was a veritable rural shindig, with loud music, stands selling choripanchos, and the people were walking around in something better than their Sunday's best.


Cacique - our mascot(a)

We stayed at the only hotel/motel in town, which fortunately was very nice and had very personable owners who took good care of us. After we checked in and cleaned the road dust off, we walked into town and explored the happening town square. Kristin looked at artesania, Ivan was mesmerized by the many cook tents, Trey was asking questions on a hand-crank well pump, and Shelby was rocking to the music. After 20 minutes in the square, we waded past the ruby-cheeked giggling adolescents and smiling parents and made our way to the towns only parilla, which fortunately also, was very very good.


The parilla was a fun experience because Jeremy, a Patagonia historian and writer, was not only great fun and entertainment, but also had brought a trunk-full of wonderful wine. Also joining the 4 of us at the table was Jeremy's wife Christina and their beautiful 7-month old son Tomas, David (el Padrino), and Nadine (a local poet and filmwriter). The owner of the parilla fit the part beautifully with his inviting personality, but also his immense authority next to his asado fire. While the dinner and conversation was amazing (salchichas, cordero, and ensalada!), the dinner didn't really start happening until Jeremy started singing a many different songs ranging from hilarious, bawdy, patriotic, and historical. Some of us were able to join in - like Charlotte the Harlotte, sung beautifully by Jeremy and Shelby - and The Star Spangled Banner belted by Trey and Kristin. However some of Jeremy's Scottish drinking songs were the favorite of the night. Throughout our vast display of vocal talent, the other local patrons were looking at our table as though we all had 'two heads.' I think in the end, though, they were grateful for the profusion of international talent that floated through the small 5 table parilla.



Rockin Out


After the coffee dispelled the horrible headaches the 'lamb' gave us, we hopped into an awesome diesel Mercedes camper-tank. The 12.25 members of our expedition started off with Daniel our professional guide and driver and headed into the upper Chubut river valley. Not only was the scenery completely pristine and stunning, but we had it all to ourselves -- Jeremy proudly noted that their likely wasn't another tourist within 100km. Our first stop was to admire the flow of the river valley, which has been formed by destructive/constructive volcanoes, tectonic plate movement, and the erosive forces of water. The bright blue sky was held in incredible contrast against the dark reddish-brown volcanic cliff faces that jutted from both sides of the valley. We'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.





Our Fearless Employers Trey and Shelby


Petrified Wood!


Rio Chubut





Our next stop was the piedra parada, or the standing stone, which is a huge 250+ meter stone that survived the angry volcanoes surrounding it. Trey was just about drooling during our walk around it, since it is one of many climbing destinations in Argentina (he plans to do it before their season is over here). The massive rock was bright, sunny, and hot on one side, and chilly, shaded, and very windy on the other. It was an amazing landmark in the rugged terrain. After our walk around the behemoth rock we stopped for a yummy lunch, courtesy of David (our Padrino).












After lunch we crossed the river and hiked into a stunning valley that Daniel told us had been split apart after the lava started to cool. The valley had a cave with Tehuelche paintings, petrified forests as well as preserved petrified animals and animal pellets and a cave belonging to a puma (fortunatley not inside). Also in the valley were some aussie rock climbers who were trying their hands at the steep faces. It was one of the most memorable walks thus far in our SA journey because it was filled with history, geology and many facts, and took our breathes away many, many times.





"La Piedra para la Suegra"




Once we returned to town we showered off and seated ourselves back in the parilla for some more wine, and a delicious lechon (suckling pig). It also had delicious fried empanadas and a potato salad. YuM! Throughout the meal we were reminiscing our stunning tour through the extinct volcanoes, petrified forests, unexplored canyons and the cave paintings of the Tehuelche natives (about 3000 years old!).

The world's largest owl!!

Peregrine Falcon

Petrified Wood

The following morning we caught a ride back with David to Trevelin and then back to camp with Trey and Shelby. After a long weekend away it was great to get back to camp, especially since the weather changed to sunny and hot! On December 26th, the 2 of us are heading off to Bariloche and beyond for a 7 day camping trip through the Lake District of Patagonia. Que Lindo!!

A note to our vast and varying fan club (:-), we have been working a lot recently, which is why the blogs aren't as frequent as before. We should have a great blog up soon on our trip to Barilocheex, as well as our experiences at Lago Rosario (where we have no electricity!), where we will work until the middle of March. Too Much Good Stuff!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Puerto Madryn - Salva las Ballenas


We toasted the New Years in Necochea with our goofy fun hostel. There were about 20 of us crowded around the table all digging in to the yummy potluck. Kristin made an awesome broccoli salad (momma Pam's recipe!); Santi, the Hostal owner, bbqed some delicous chicken; and another guest made mashed potatoes. We also brought a small shopping cart full of champagne, beer, and of course, Fernet - a herb liquor that they love to mix with coke. After the delicious dinner we all convened on the roof with some champagne and watched hundreds of fireworks exploding around the city. It was a fun, romantic evening for us!!

Happy New Year!!

We took a 16 hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn, which officially put us in Patagonia. The city sits in a bay below the Valdez Peninsula and is basically dedicated to tourism and its booming aluminum industry. Our hostel was predictably expensive, but it was a great jumping-off point for different tours.


Our first tour was an all day bus-ride around the Peninsula Valdes. We hopped into a van with about 15 other people and started off. Our tour leader had the mic volume all the way up, so she was basically screaming through the small speakers, which was at first humorous, but later quite painful. Our first stop was a visitor center where we saw a whale skeleton, some good info, and a lot of pictures. There was also a lookout tower where we could see both sides of the peninsula into the north and south bays. Continuing on into the bulk of the peninsula we saw many animals and beautiful sights. We stopped at Puerto Piramides, where the majority of our group hopped on a boat to go whale watching. Kristin and I opted out of the tour since it isn't whale season, and instead walked around the small town. We had 2 hours to take photos, walk the beach, and check out the over-priced tourist shops. Our group returned with smiles, but they hadn't seen any whales...


Giving Moby some love..



Power Pose!


We continued on to the eastern edge of the island and saw some Magellan penguins, as well as some sea lions and elephant seals. The penguins looked bored/tired/stoned on land, but in the water they were little torpedoes that rocketed through the small surf and were amazingly agile. The sea lions, or lobos marinos, were making their usual racket of barking and belches. Kristin wasn't amused with Ivan's enthusiastic mimicking which attracted some curious stares.. We were excited to see the elephant seals, but they didn't do much of anything since summer is their 'dormant' season. Basically they just sit on the beach in a big blubbery mound of harem and its angry alpha male.



One alpha male and his harem- player!


Lobos Marinos


After this we drove up the coast to Punta Norte and saw some more of the same. The landscape was fairly monotonous, but incredible dramatic. It was nice to see that the droves of tourists have little affect on the landscape and it is monitored well by the park employees.


On our second day we went for a bike ride through town, and then intended to ride to Punta Este, about 17 km away. After an hour of riding though, Ivan's seat was giving him unspeakable pain in unspeakable places, and so we made a slow return back to town. Kristin was a good sport with all his griping about bad bike seats (and likely every other piece on the bike..), and we still managed to find a yummy restaurant to enjoy some cheap empanadas and such. We also biked to a remote beach and watched the boats move around the bay. Even though we seemed to have a painful day, we made up for it with a delicious meal with local white fish, steamed brocolli, and ravioli (of course the ravioli was for the hungry man) and a bottle of wine. Our meal was so extreme (for a hostel) we were receiving compliments, even from a French guy sniffing it with his prestigious nose! After we watched a great Al Pacino movie with some people at our hostel and recovered from our day of (painful) exercise.




On our third day we hopped in another tour van with about 12 other people and headed to Punto Tombo. Our first stop was at Puerto Rawson where about 40 people got into a large zodiac and headed out into the open sea to observe the Tonina dolphins. This is the worlds smallest dolphin, and is endemic to the Patagonia region. Our glided past a flotilla of rusty shrimp boats and then headed for the harbor mouth. We were all a bit worried to see large surf heading into the harbor. The swells were ranging from 2-4 meters, and Ivan's stomach immediately resented him for hopping on the boat. The boat only went out 2 km and was bouncing up and down, up and down, until we reached a group of the tiny dolphins. Their coloring is white and black, and they are very graceful and playful in the water. Kristin was able to take some great pictures with her little camera, while Ivan caught glimpses of them between heaves from the back of the boat. Fortunately the tour was only an hour long, and was plenty of time to see the majestic little sea mammals.


Jacket rash..!


Starting to feel the motion of the ocean





Another hour and a half down the coast we were in Punto Tombo. Before entering the park though, we enjoyed a yummy lunch of fresh tomato, baguette, jamon crudo, cheese, and cucumber. Even the snooty cruise tourists eyed our lunch enviously (their gurgling stomachs brought their thoughts away from the natural environment around them to the distant buffet table on their big boat ;).




The penguins did not disappoint!! This is the largest Magellan Penguin population in the world, with over 1 million birds milling about the stretch of coastline. We had such a nice walk, being able to see the penguins from up close. The birds seemed very lazy and were content to stand in various positions trying to cool off and pass the time. While they seemed docile, some were actually quite aggressive, hissing at passing tourists, getting in bloody fights with each other, or even pecking at rodents that hopped through the vegetation.








Unlike most animals, the penguin baby is perhaps the ugliest youngin in the animal kingdom. The young fat birds looked like the embodiment of the bird-flu virus - if it could be defined by a particular bird specie. It was adorable to see the penguin couples, monogamous through life, necking, beaking, walking wing in wing, and awkwardly copulating in the dirty underbrush. Kristin was very much at home with the little guys!!














We also loved watching the penguins walk, which is very similar to that of a young human toddler, where their pudgy body sways side to side as they laboriously put one foot in front of the other. It must take them ages to make it to the water!! After a full day of watching penguins, we cooked ourselves some garlic lemon rosemary chicken with brown rice. With many more jealous hostel mates eying with their curious noses.









The pattern of our journey is changing as of January 9th, where we anxiously anticipate working for Trey and Shelby Scharp at the Three Seasons Adventures lodge in the heart of Patagonia. We are both happy for a break from long bus-rides and hostels, and ready to get our hands dirty with some work in paradise at the Campo Cielo Grande!!
http://campocielogrande.com/index.html