20th Jauary - Peurto Madryn

We left El Chanten on 17th Jan. It was raining when we left the town, but cleared up as we left the mountain area. We drove, and drove, and drove - long stretched on Route 40 on gravel roads. There were no towns or settlements. We saw a couple of guanaco herds, 2 herds of horses, a dead armadillo and not much more!

About 4.30 we arrived at a UNESCO World Heritage site. This was the Caves of the Hands, where about 9000 years ago the locals blew colouring over their hands and left negative prints on the rocks.

From there we drove until about 8pm when we arrived at a camping site. So it was tents up, dinner to cook, and bed. The stars were very bright there as there were no lights at all. The electricity generator was turned off at 11pm.

Next morning, 18th, we drove some more through yet more pampas lands. Still on Route 40. We drove through a horrid little town, where we stopped at the supermarket to get what we could. The town was all gravel, and very dusty.

All these days there was a consistent 40-50kph wind blowing off the Andes - lots of dust.

We drove on to Camerones, as there was no camping spot to be found before then. Passed through Comodore Rivadivia, a port city servicing the oil industry, which is on the Atlantic coast.

It was 10pm and dark when we got to Coamerones, but we were a day ahead of schedule. Again, tents up, scrambled eggs for dinner as too late to cook.

Next morning was sunny and warm. We packed up camp and at 10am collected our guide and drove into the National Park for 26ks to a penguin colony. There are 26000 breeding pairs of Magellenic (sp?) Penguins there, and you can walk through the colony on a board walk.

Leaving the National Park we rode on the open top deck of the truck to the main road, lots of fun but very windy and dusty. Saw a live armadillo.

Left Camerones and headed along Route 3 to Puerto Madryn where we arrived about 8pm. We passed the scene of a fatal car accident on the way. The road is very narrow by our standards, well sealed and in good condition though. We are a night ahead of schedule so have three nights here instead of 2.

Peurto Madryn is a port and beach settlement. There were thousands of people on the beach when we drove through to the camp site last night. The camp is on a hill beside the beach. It is again hot and sunny! 32 degrees. The thermals have all been put away!
Today we have a free day and so finally get to the internet and catch up on things again. Tomorrow we are spending the day going to a wildlife reserve to see sea lions, etc. Then two long driving days to BA.

It is one of our groups birthday today, so we are having a special dinner and a Penguin Party - dressing as penguins - tonight. The camp will be busy as there are 4 other overland trucks expected today, all heading to BA.