Day 28 – Reality Check

Laguna Lobos to Buenos Aires

THE FINAL SUPRISE of the day occurred when we arrived at the Buenos Aires Airport, as everyone there – passengers, ticketing agents, and security – was wearing hygiene facial masks; a very odd sight to unexpectedly see, and causing both of us to feel unprotected and maybe just a little amused. Further, as we walked in we were handed official cards advising against traveling to Mexico or to the United States due to the Swine Flu outbreak “unless absolutely necessary” … it was like those advisories one hears about that warn against traveling to some third-world country. We hadn’t kept up with the news too well while traveling, but we got a quick education on the potential epidemic this evening, as well as a different perspective of the U.S.

The first surprise of the day was driving the camper in the large city of Buenos Aires to return it to the rental depot, as there was heavy traffic unlike our initial experience a month back. Bobbie was both patient and tolerant with all my swearing and poor shifting, and we eventually made it to the depot with the camper undented and all skin intact.

The best surprise of the day was that my Buenos Aires friend Kary and her family were also very tolerant with our traffic issues, waiting extremely patiently to pick us up when we were finished with the camper and then provided a wonderful dinner, listened to our Patagonia stories, and delivered us to the airport for the flight home. We are very fortunate to have experienced such great hospitality and warmth from Kary and her family … as well as everyone else in all of Argentina.

Day 27 – Gauchito Gil

TODAY WAS JUST a drive day and not very interesting; Bobbie and Bill just grinding out the miles on Ruta 3 to get a camping spot on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

So instead, here is the explanation for the “Mystery of the Very Red Doghouses” roadside shrines that we saw starting on our second day in Argentina … and on every day since.

Thanks go to Kary in Buenos Aires for sending me the following:

EL GAUCHITO GIL

The Gauchito Gil is a legendary character of Argentina's popular culture. His full name was Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez and he was allegedly born in the area of Pay Ubre, nowadays Mercedes, Corrientes, possibly in the 1840s, and died on 8 January 1878.

Popular accounts vary, but in broad terms the legend tells that Antonio Gil was a farm worker and that a wealthy widow fell in love, or had an affair, with him. When her brothers and the head of the police (who was also in love with the widow) found out about their relationship, accused him of robbery and tried to kill him. He enlisted in the army to escape from them. In the army, he fought against the Paraguayan army. Finally, he could come back to his village as a hero. But, when he arrived at his village, he was forced to return to the army to fight in the Argentine Civil War. It was a brother versus brother war and "Gauchito" Gil was tired of fighting. Therefore, he decided to desert.

In the end the policemen caught him in the forest. They tortured him and hung him from his feet on an Algarrobo tree. When a policeman was going to kill him, Gauchito Gil said to him: "Your son is very ill. If you pray and beg me to save your child, I promise you that he will live. If not, he will die". Then the policeman killed Gauchito Gil by cutting his throat. That was January 8th, 1878.

When the policemen came back to his village, the one who had killed Gauchito Gil learnt that his child was in fact very ill. Very frightened, the policeman prayed to "Gauchito" Gil for his son. And afterwards, his son got better. Legend has it that Gauchito Gil had healed his murderer's son. Very grateful, the policeman gave Gil's body a proper burial, and built a tiny shrine for Gauchito. Moreover, he tried to let everybody know about the miracle.

Gauchito Gil is thought to be a saint for many people of the provinces of Formosa, Corrientes, Chaco, the north of Santa Fe and even the province of Buenos Aires. One can spot smaller shrines of Gauchito Gil on roadsides throughout Argentina. Great pilgrimages are organized to the sanctuary (located about 8 km from the city of Mercedes) to ask to the saint for favors. Moreover, each January 8th (date of Gil's death), there is a celebration honoring Gauchito Gil. There, the people dance, sing and drink, and also play folkloric sports as tanning horses, bulls and others animals. The Catholic Church hasn't declared Gauchito Gil a saint, but many Argentine people are promoting him.

Day 26 – The Parrots of El Condor

(click to enlarge)

JUST OUTSIDE the coastal pueblo of El Condor, a very sheer cliff parallels the road for many miles; take two steps out of your car and you can spit over the edge 200 feet down to a flat beach, a quarter mile wide at low tide.

But it was what was living on the cliff wall that was so interesting: thousands and thousands of colorful, screaming parrots. At the time of day we were there – 9 AM – they were leaving the cliff and flying up over the edge, maybe circling around us as we stood on the top, and then headed inland. Later we found a way down to the beach and walk along the bottom of the cliff, apparently greatly annoying the parrots as they screamed and flew around us at our every move.

After watching the parrots for an hour, we drove and drove, shooting for a coastal campsite on the far side of Bahia Blanca, But it was not to be, as the police had stopped road access to the camping area – apparently for construction – and we ended up staying at a nice pasada – a hotel – along Ruta 3 near Coronel Dorrego.

Day 25 – One Last Day in Patagonia

Peninsula Valdes to El Condor

WE TURNED OFF of Ruta 3 onto a coastal ripio road today, as a way to stretch out Patagonia. The coastal route was fascinating; passing by very poor rancheros, a salt marsh full of flamingos, and ocean cliffs dropping to rocky beaches. We are camping tonight in the town of El Condor at the mouth of the Rio Negro -- the campground gates are open, there is electricity, but no one is here, and so far we haven’t paid anything. The bathrooms are locked so we’ll have to find other solutions in that department.

Early tomorrow we will cross the Rio Negro, and in so doing we will officially leave Patagonia. It is still about 800 miles to Buenos Aires, but we will cross that distance in a different frame of mind.

Umm … did you get the sunset symbolism?

Wild boar skins on the fence of a ranchero

Day 24 – Península Valdés

Peninsula Valdes is located in the map on the blog site in the upper right blue circle within the Patagonia area (the one with “Rawson” in the circle).



WE'RE SPENDING a couple of days out on the Valdes Peninsula, having driven about 30 miles across an isthmus to a huge landmass surrounded by the Atlantic, and surprise … what’s out here is flat arid Patagonian steppe, roads of ripio, sheep estancias, herds of guanacos, and tropical storm force winds. The desert goes right to the ocean’s edge, which Florida-boy Bill can’t quite handle.

The peninsula is a nature preserve, and on that ocean edge are packs of sea lions and elephant seals. Did you know they hung out together? I didn’t -- lions and elephants don’t exactly pal around in Africa, don’t these guys follow the same rules? Anyway, we drove around most of the Peninsula today, stopping here and there to check out the beach or the view. There is an odd-looking roadrunner type bird here that has the suicidal trait of running directly towards our truck as we approach, making driving interesting.


We’re camping in the same place tonight, Piramedes Beach, again to ourselves. The wind is smashing the waves into the rock platform on which we’re camping, causing huge sprays … very exciting to watch … hope the tide doesn’t get too high tonight…

Day 23 – Too Much Excitement

Camarones to Peninsula Valdes

Back on Ruta 3 heading north again, think it’s starting to get to us: the perfectly straight road, mirror flat landscape … blah, blah, blah. Here’s a typical conversation while we’re grinding out the miles –

Bobbie: “You know, some of the bushes are taller than the ones we saw yesterday, definitely higher than my ankles.”

Bill: “Yeah, and they also seem greener than what we were seeing yesterday.”

Bobbie: “Maybe, kinda hard to … OH MY GOD, IS THAT A TREE?”

Bill (in shock): “IT IS! IT’S A TREE! HOLY COW!”

We get a grip on ourselves and keep driving. Ninety minutes of silence passes.

Bobbie: “You know, I think some of the bushes might be half way up our shins now.”

The big excitement of the day occurred when we ran low on fuel and we finally had to use our spare 5 gallons that we’ve been toting around for three and a half weeks. Of course, we ran into the lone gas station on this stretch five minutes later, but I don’t care … got to use the spare fuel!


We are now camping on the Valdes Peninsula Nature Preserve, located in the upper right blue circle within the Patagonia area (the one with “Rawson” in the circle) on the blog site map. We are on a beach – actually next to the cliffs on a rocky platform with the ocean tides creeping up over the edge– and have the area to ourselves. There was free camping in the nearby pueblo of Puerto Pyramides, but it was a little crowded there as the electricity was also free and half the town had moved into the campground.

We had a new category in the spillage department today, when the wind blew the camper door back on Bobbie as she was stepping out to dump some excess chicken soup. The heater for the camper is in that door and caught most of the soup. We’re not looking forward to firing that thing up.

Day 22 – Penguins!

Caleta Olivia to Camarones

WE HEARD SEVERAL TIMES since being here that all penguins leave Argentina by the end of March, going out to sea or to Brazil and not returning until September; and so we weren’t expecting to see any, but today at Cabo Dos Bahia Nature Preserve there they were!

Earlier, we had decided to escape from Ruta 3’s forever flatness by detouring 40 miles to Camarones – which turned out to be a very pleasant small coastal town, so pleasant that we’re camping there tonight – and from Camarones we took a ripio road about 20 miles south to see the nature preserve, hoping to see more sea lions. The sea lions were there, many more than we saw yesterday but much further away, however the path to the beach went right through a colony of Magellan Penguins! They are mostly interested in each other or in keeping an eye on the sea gulls overhead; and just stood in place looking at us as we walked by. We stayed until the sun went down.

Camarones