Everybody does. Penguins do. Whales do. Sea lions do. And so do we :) Peninsula Valdes - from October to March - is at the peak of its recreation. We fit in perfectly. For the first time, it's five, and not four of travelling around endless Patagonian landscapes. Another superlative road trip off the beaten track, 1800 km of bare steppe, endless horizon and amazing colours. We drive hours and hours on end without meeting anybody but animals. Penguins, guanacos, sheep, seabirds ... they seem to be the only residents left of this amazing yet tough region.
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| Penguins and their babies |
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| Endless roads ... mind you, asphalt is rare, get ready for bumpy gravel roads |
We land in Trelew and turn southwards. We get lost before realizing it. Roads are empty, signs non-existent. When it gets reeeealy suspicious, we turn around. Take it easy - welcome to Patagonia. Time and space have other dimensions here. Wider, longer, emptier. Rushing is not an option. You'd rather go with the flow and see how far you make it ... if at all.
The first day takes us to the penguin "wonderland" - Punta Tombo - where thousands of penguins lay their eggs, waiting for their babies to come out a month later. A 4 hours's drive further south, we reach Camarones, a completely desert village in a lovely bay, surrounded by some of Patagonia's prettiest coastline. It's easy to figure out we're pretty much the only tourists stopping by. There's one hotel, all empty. The visitors's list hasn't seen new guests for at least a week. Bored dogs greet us at the door. The receptionist stares at the TV. Nothing happens ... It's like watching a movie in a slow-motion mode.
Day 2 takes us further south towards Bahia Bustamante, passing the breathtaking Cabo Dos Bahias, another penguin colony that we have entirely for ourselves. Just penguins and us. It feels like walking on another planet. Theirs, not ours. Witnessing their intimate rituals in such a unique, 100% preserved landscape, we feel super privileged and humble. It's nature at its very best of work.
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| Darko making new friends ... |
And there we're finally at Bahia Bustamante, our long-awaited, southernmost destination that National Geographic once called "your own private Galapagos". It feels very close to our idea of a paradise - uninhabited, untouched, completely cut off the civilisation. No electricity, no mobile signal, no shops, no people - almost. There's just a Danish couple and us. What used to be a seaweed hotspot a century ago, is today a base to explore Atlantic Patagonia for the very few of tourist adventurers who ever make it here. It's very far. It's cut off. It takes time. But it pays off as soon as you arrive and sight the magic of the turquoise bay and the lonely peninsula - its fauna, trekking paths and beeches - which is all yours, literally. Walking around, it's just you and the universe.
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