The Real Argentina - safely from a car window

A couple of weeks ago Francisco, another St. Lunatic, Fionna and I rented a car and planned a trip to see some of the real Argentina. We decided to trace a similar route to the one Francisco and I had taken previously to Bariloche - stopping in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, and staying with Francisco's father in Villa la Angostura. When I made this trip before, I took overnight buses to each new region, so I missed all of the changing landscapes and whacky local gas stations. From Villa la Angostura, we drove south and east, through the real Patagonian desert. Once at the coast, we stopped at Puerto Madyrn and the Valdés Peninsula, which was home to some of Darwin's old stomping grounds. Below is a map Francisco was kind enough to make to show you the route we took. (As always - click on the map to make it bigger - same goes for all photos)
After La Pampa, we traveled South towards Bariloche. The endles stretches of cattle land and crops soon became the orchards of Neuquén. "Apples, Pears, Wine and Dinosaurs" - or some variation on that was the tourism slogan for Neuquén. The dinosaurs part is about all of the fossils found here. We stopped here for lunch, I believe, but had to press on to make Villa la Angostura by night.


As the mountains began to appear...
This picture is of some cassette tapes we saw in a gas station. It reminded me of the rock tapes you see at truck stops in the U.S.
It is a dry time of year and an even dryer time for the climate in this region. Above is a dried up lake we saw - one of a great many. Below is a river that was almost gone.

We spent a few days in Bariloche and Villa, eating chocolate, climbing mountains and hanging out with Francisco's dad. At this point in the trip, we had planned to go back to Buenos Aires the same way we came. Thankfully, Mr. Fisher suggested an alternative route that would take us through the "real Patagonia" and up past the Valdéz Peninsula. It was an ambitious route, but the mystery of the Patagonian desert and beaches full of cute sea lion were too much to resist. In the photo above, you can see the gravel road that we encountered a few times in the middle of nowhere. When the highway turns to gravel, the next town becomes exponentially farther away. Below is an example of the landscape throughout Real Patagonia, which greatly resembled the wild wests of the U.S.


One thing that we had hoped to experience was the wild sage that grows all over the region. Apparently if you drive through areas with all this sage during the right time of year, it has turned a burnt red color and fills the air with a scent that makes you euphoric. We had also heard the sage could open your mind in ways you never thought possible. Obviously, the mystical sage alluded us, but there is always next time...

Above are some photographs of the sea lion on the Valdéz Peninsula. Around this time, my camera died, so hopefully I can get some photos from Fiona to complete this part of the trip. The peninsula was a large, gravel-roaded national park. People drive around the peninsula, getting out at certain points to few the various wildlife colonies. Penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, right whales, dolphin and orca are common at different points on the penisula. We did not see any orca, but think we saw some baby right whales underwater in an inlet. The peninsula is massive and largely not roped off from tourist invaders. Despite this, it remains well kept and respected - it must if the animals keep coming back. This was a great treat - someplace in the world that is pretty unique and has a lot of history behind it (the Darwin thing, remember?).

Overall, we traveled over 3000 kilometers (there are 2.2 kilometers in a mile). It was the best road trip I've been on yet and the highlight of my time here in Argentina. On top of that, I learned to drive a stick. Not many people can say they learned to drive a manual car in the Patagonian desert, but now I can. Hopefully, I will get some more pictures up.

-Kate