We stopped into a library in Puerto Deseado to use the internet. These threadbare books were on the shelf in the children's section, and their condition was not unusual. We donated our paperback novels that we'd read to this library and I was shown to a section in the basement where they had some English books they wanted to give away to me. They were all old, and a 1954 copy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was in the same condition as these books shown.
A tribute statue to oil workers was in the center of town.
This giant dinosaur statue was along the road with no signage to indicate what it was for. There are fossils in this area, but you'd never know it by looking for a sign or a billboard or anything on Google.
A giant moon jellyfish on the beach. Bigger than a dinner plate.
Jason, Carolin, and Dennis around the firepit he built to cook our dinners. These are our new friends from Germany in their overlander Mercedes they call Strixa. It's named after the Latin name for a little owl; their last name in German, Kautz, means the same as the little owl.
Jason climbed up on Strixa to have a look. Their self-built truck is covered in a type of foil that changes colors with the light and temp. Sometimes it looks green...
And other times it looks brown, like YOLO! Dennis films some of their activities for his YouTube channel. We were even featured in one of his episodes!
More Magellanic penguins on a point out along the coast on the Valdes Penninsula.
Armadillos of two different sizes live here and they burrow everywhere.
We added our YOLO sticker to the door of the restaurant at the end of the road where we came hoping to see Orca whales hunting seal pups off the beach.
The ranger station is next to an old sheep station building that is now a restaurant called La Elvira. It's decor is old antique stuff from the original days of its use.
We had a cup of coffee while we waited for the high tide, the time when whales would hunt the seal pups on the beach. Jason is waiting for the coffee out of the wind and sun.
A worker lounges against a wall as the horses and a sheep wander in for a drink.
The sheep followed the horses like a dog. After a drink, they went back out into the fields to munch on more weeds.
This is a photo of what we hoped to witness--Orcas coming onto the beach to capture seal pups at high tide. They beach themselves and grab the seal pups. We weren't lucky to see it though as we never saw a whale here.
We spent five hours waiting for the high tide to arrive as we'd read that whales might show up just before high tide, which is when they hunt on the beach. People had seen a few whales the day before, but not hunting. This is the view from one of the platforms above the beach.
These are elephant seals and their pups, lazing on the rocks at the shore. They don't care if the waves wash over them.
Karen watching and waiting on the viewing platform. We were here for hours.
They look like silver torpedos or cigars.
As the tide came in, they eventualy had to move to get out of the waves. The backwash would drag them back into the ocean and roll them around if they didn't.
Two big males chest bumping each other for supremecy. They try to bite each other on the neck, but they rarely succeed.
They layed all over each other. I guess everyone wants a pillow.
These haven't moved in a while.....you can see the two pups on the right are almost completely covered in rocks that have piled on them from the waves washing in.
Carolin is watching two armadillos who were running around in the parking lot. They got a lot closer than expected. A lady drove by and claimed if you crinkled paper they'd come to you.
Another jellyfish on the beach. Bigger than my foot.
Bird footprints on the beach at Puerto Piramides. The tide here went waaaaaay out on the beach. You aren't allowed to spend the night on the Valdes penninsula where we drove to look for penguins and whales. You must return to Pto Piramides to the campground there or leave the park and pay again to return the next day. The campground is the only place where you're allowed to spend the night in the park. Private sheep stations/ranches make up 99% of the penninsula and the park only covers the edges where whales, seals, sea lions, and birds can be viewed.
Jason and Carolin on the beach at Piramides at low tide. We're parked behind the trees on the dune in the background.
YOLO and Strixa next to each other in the 'campground' at Puerto Piramides. Campground is a term used lightly here in Argentina.
Jason in the center of Puerto Piramides at the whale tail statue. The beach behind is a flat sandy beach; the campground is off to the left. The whole town only has one or two streets.
A couple of days later, we again drove 100 kms on a dirt washboard road to the North Point to try to see whales hunting sea lion pups. The park attendant was busy repainting this statue of an Orca. After hours of waiting and watching, we again had to admit to failure to see whales and retreated back down the dusty dirt road to the campground for a final night.
This is a picture of a 'Quoiche' in local terms. It's a form of a rhea, like an emu or ostrich. We see them along the road or in the fields, but they usually scatter and run away quickly before we can get a shot of them. They are very well camoflaged, too. We never got close enough to see detail like what's in this photo.
Karen at North Pointe. We finally gave up after high tide and nobody had seen any signs of a whale. The sea lion pups were fun to watch frollicking around though.
A cuy chico, a wild guinea pig. Like the ones they eat in Bolivia and northern Argentina.
This armadillo went right under us under the walkway. Ugly hairy things up close, they look prehistoric to me.
Sea lions on the shore at North Pointe on the Valdes Penninsula.
Jason and Carolin killing time between our vehicles, waiting for high tide.
Two males chest butting on the shore. Mostly just posturing for position right now as the breeding season is over. Pups are here and learning to swim.
Sea lions have fins that they can 'walk' on. Seals have to gallumph along like fat giant worms to move around on the beach. This is a sea lion female with two pups on the beach.
The sea lion in the middle with the big 'mane' shows how they got their name. The female and her pup gave him a wide berth as they came in from the water. Big males like this one don't care where they step and little ones better watch out.
Sea lions scattered about the beach, snoozing.
The big male sea lion sees another male and roars his disapproval.
Male sea lion and his harem on the beach.
Females and pups were in and out of the water and playing in the shallow waters, fun to watch. I could see how they could easily be snacks for some hungry Orca.
A female comes out of the water to join the crowd.
The view from the platform without the binoculars. We aren't allowed to go down onto the beach.
There were a lot of sea lions and some elephant seals along the beach here.
This is what the seals do the most.....sleep in the sun on the beach.
Some creative artist paints whales on any old scrap of wood and sells them in the visitor center in the national park.
The skeleton of a Southern Right whale in the visitor center on Valdes Penninsula.
