Buenos Aires is a wonderfully diverse city. The European influence can be felt on every corner, which makes it far more charming than other South American metropolis, that are built in a more american style. Fancy and modern neighbourhoods are intertwined with colonial areas and some less developed barrios and there is plenty of sights to see and things to do for everyone. The food is magnificent and probably the best ice-creams in the world can be found in the city. If you are bored in Buenos Aires it's probably your own fault :)
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If you look at our travel map, you will see that we've been zigzagging across Argentina a lot! Well, we had finally come to our last "zag". What would have been an uneventful drive across the country was interrupted by the new year's eve. We didn't plan to be anywhere in particular and so we found ourselves in the middle of Argentina camping in a municipal campsite at the Rio Negro river. We had a simple yet delicious dinner, popped a champagne at midnight and for the first time in years enjoyed a more or less silent new year's. Argentinians are apparently not very much into the fireworks. Southern Argentinian coastal area is a somewhat boring and desolate environment. There is no end to the dry grasslands of the Patagonian stepe and just every two hundred kilometers or so a river brings some water from the other side of the continent allowing some green to break up the sandy brown colors of the surroundings. The coastline itself doesn't seem to be any different. The waters in this part of the Atlantic are cold, there are no trees to offer shade and so there is not really much of a beach atmosphere around. Apparently the marine animals have a different opinion and every year these parts of land are attracting large colonies of seals, whales and penguins to serve them as a breeding point. A colony of Penguins at Cabo dos Bahias was first of our stops. We could stroll among the penguins on metal pathways that offer a very close and genuine experience for the people while leaving the penguins with their personal space on the ground. Mixed in between hundreds of Magellanic penguins there were plenty of nandus and guanacos and in the ocean in front of us a couple of orcas were proudly showing off their fins. It was pure luck to see them at this point, because they usually patrol the waters around the famous peninsula Valdes where we were headed next. The winds have apparently finally blown our health away and after a long time we were feeling a bit worn-down. We decided to slow down a bit and take a couple of days off to rest and relax. The oldest national park in Argentina - National Park Perito Moreno (not to be mistaken by the glacier of the same name that we saw a month ago) is also the least frequented and we took advantage of it's solitude. The landscape of the park is similar to what we've been seeing in the last weeks - dry Patagonian steppe with plenty of wildlife that ends at the Andes with mountains and lakes. The reason why we've decided for more than a 200 km detour into the park is a system of charming huts that are free to use for visitors. The brand new wooden cottages had everything we needed. A simple bunk-bed to rest, sleep and read books, a wood stove with plenty of firewood to keep us warm and a table for an occasional game of cards. Combined with the ambient of the surroundings, we liked them better than any five-star hotel :) We stayed for four nights in two different cabins but since there was no one around we really couldn't feel bad about it. |
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February 2019
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