Puerto Madryn, Argentina & The Valdes Peninsula
Puerto Madryn, Argentina.
Temperature: High 88 degrees, Low 58 degrees.
Today we visit mainland Argentina, in the Argentine Patagonia region, and The Valdes Peninsula which is nearly 1,400 square miles in size and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the important role it plays as one of the largest breeding grounds in the world for marine animals.
This is a fairly desolate area of South American and Argentina, in the Chubut Province, and is dominated by ranches so there’s not much to share here but wanted to share a bit from the day, and this quiet space.
First, we sailed a long distance to get here from the Falkland Islands.
We navigate into Golfo Nuevo and then disembark and catch a bus for over an hour drive out to the end of the peninsula. We were warned ahead of time, little or no A/C, water, and restrooms on this trek. They weren’t wrong. Hopeful to see as much of the wildlife here as possible which is outlined on their local map.
Most hopeful are to spot Ballena whales, Orca’s, or Elephant Seals.
First wildlife spotted on the trek were Guanaco’s on the side of the road. Amazingly, there are only about 600,000 Guanaco’s in the world and over 90% of them are in this area of Argentina.
We then spot the number one export from this region on the backs of some sheep on the opposite side of the street.
The largest Merino wool farms in the world are here, with many of the farms raising over 50,000 of these sheep. The sheep graze freely on 15,000 hectares of land on this ranch settled by Immigrants more than 115 years ago. There are just a few ranches that make up the entirety of this peninsula with some of them run by a single family and their children, settled as early as 1905.
We arrive at the end of the peninsula and this is our first view with these usual shale flats interacting with the ocean… jellyfish easily visible under water… and the sound of sea lions.
But before I share, we happen to find this path out to the point before anyone else and so if you’d like to take a stroll with Trina and I, to the point, feel free to enjoy the walk via video below.
My first time seeing a male sea lion of this species and they are huge, with a mane like a lion, and there’s usually 12-18 females surrounding every one of these males. In this case, we see lots of sea lion pups too.
We find a small town of 700 inhabitants on the way back to port from the peninsula, very quaint, and restrooms and water. My favorite item in town was this sign.
The only whale we saw today was this painting on the side of the a building along with a soccer tribute which we are reminded throughout the country is the dominant sport and brings a passionate conversation from guides, restaurants, and via artwork.
Speaking of soccer, our group was standing watching these Argentinian’s gracefully play soccer on the beach… gracefully, yet intensely competitive… and I should have captured it on video… but failed. We all turned around and I did capture them via our small group selfie.
As I turned and looked the other direction off the pier, I learned how they took their local boats out of the ocean…
Just before we board, we decided to shop in some of the local shops with our new friends. While we’ve purchased a few art-penguins along the way which I haven’t yet shared, and will below… but today we got our favorite from the trip… in the position of the King penguins we came to love, beak pointed toward the sky, this piece was carved from a single piece of blue onyx, except for the beak which is made of Aragonite.
Aragonite is the high pressure polymorph of calcium carbonate and is native to this region of Argentina. The stone is said to increase energy, boost self-confidence and feelings of self-worth as you learn to place trust in yourself. A wonderful stone for parents and people in tense relationships that test the nerves, aragonite relieves stress, emotional fatigue and anger, bringing patience when it is needed most.
This is the picture of our new blue onyx and aragonite penguin in memory of our trip.
This little penguin gem we bought in Ushuaia, Argentina carved from blue lapis.
And, from the Falkland Islands, Bluff Cove private property store, this hand-made Raku ceramic King penguin!
A fitting final image next to the pier, before we board the ship, is this beautiful departure gift of art at Puerto Madryn, Argentina.
The takeaway from this stop was that there are many sides to this country. Something I’ll say again after Buenos Aires but while I felt like I could fly into Ushuaia, and easily spend 90 days in that town, exploring, with perhaps another expedition to Antarctica where I get off the boat on dingy’s and step onto the antarctic ice… this is likely the only stop I need in this part of the country.
Next stop, Punta Del Este, Uruguay… a completely different coastline, ecosystem, and environment.