Travel article: Peninsule Valdes & Punta Tombo

Time to discover a new country and a new region: Southern Patagonia between Argentina and Chile.

It was 2 weeks of discoveries and many kilometers traveled (mostly on foot!).

We start with a quick road trip between Península Valdés and Punta Tombo, both listed as UNESCO heritage.

1000 kilometers of flat roads without any turns, seeing guanacos and sheeps every 30 seconds.

Freshly arrived in Trelew after 2 days of transport from Ecuador (and a short break in Buenos Aires where we were delighted to eat at our landmark of 8 years ago but we will come back to this in 3 weeks) we hire a car for the next 3 days. What a surprise to find in Trelew a dinosaur replica really huge! Apparently the largest fossil has been found in the area.

# Valdés Peninsula: 70kms north of Puerto Madryn + 200 kms of road in the peninsula.

First destination: Peninsula Valdes to see orcas. We got information in the center (very well done by the way) that orcas were seen the day before in the park, nice! It’s not whale season though but it doesn’t matter, we have plenty in Sydney ;)

We first go to the penguin spot in Punta Cantor, about twenty of them bask in the sun. Super cute and strange way of walking.

We continue a few kilometers further, elephants and sea lions are on the beach. That’s good sign as orcas will come closer to attack them. Indeed orcas feed largely on sea lions and during the birth of young elephants / sea lions, orcas take advantage to get closer to the beach to snap them ... we will not have the " chance” to attend this show. However, we will see many condors, sea lions, a kind of ostrich (Nandu), guanaco and an unidentified beast.

We then decide to get up to Punta Norte to continue our search for orcas. The landscapes are arid, the colors are beautiful, the track is not so bad, we love it! Arrived at Punta Norte, again many elephants / sea lions are quietly relaxing on the beach. We sympathize with other travelers and for 3 hours we wait, we enjoy, we talk. Still no orcas but it was beautiful!

Last stop for the flamingos-super gracious- and we return to the hostel.

#Punta Tombo; 170 kms south of Puerto Madryn.

The next day, we head south of Puerto Madryn to see the Magellan in-love penguins! We should explain: when we asked the park rangers how many penguins were “living" here, we got told: 180,000 couples. They are always counted in pairs - not very independent these penguins;)

From September to April, they stay in Punta Tombo to hatch their eggs and protect them from attacks by gulls and raptors. Their unique moves: from nest to sea to feed. They are thousands it's amazing. We can not resist taking a selfie with one of them as he passes us.

The wind is so strong, it's crazy!

Great first step in Patagonia, we now cross the country for 10 days of hiking.

Some recommendations:

# Flight Buenos Aires- Trelew: 110 euros per person on Aerolineas Argentinas- 2 hours flight.

# We stayed the first two nights in Puerto Madryn between Valdés Peninsula and Punta Tumbo. Very good hostel: La Tosca Hostel. $ 32 USD (pay by card and present your passport to avoid paying the 19% VAT)

# car at Trelew airport: with Hertz, 45 euros a day. Much cheaper than the excursions offered from Punta Madryn.

# entry Peninsula Valdes: 650 pesos per person. The distances are long between the points of interest but the sublime landscapes make you forget the distances.

# entry Punta Tombo: 400 pesos per person.

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