Argentina 2009

Wednesday18November

Waking up in the campsite of Puerto Pyramides, the only small town on the Peninsula Valdes

Yes, we lugged around these 2 Quechua tents during the whole trip to finally only use them 3 nights out of our 4 weeks of vacation... But it worked out anyway!

Breakfast at the bar "la Estacion"

An old ford falcon, our next rental car???  

Hey? Reverbert is back! Actually no, lots of Labradors wander around the city and they all look alike!

And here we go to meet the southern right whales, at least we hope so!!!

And quite quickly, we spot one in the distance. At least, its tail fin appearing then disappearing at random from the surface...

Then we see it underwater a few meters from us, it approaches and by transparency, we see it in its entirety. It's really impressive, I feel weird in front of it. It passes under the boat as if to apprehend this large floating object. Then finally, it sticks out its huge snout to see us better. But what pushes it to come out like that so close to us??? Vast question...

Another curious little one approaches. All wet as he is, we barely recognize him but it's him, the Magellanic penguin! He also nests in a corner of the peninsula. Tomorrow, we'll go see him.

No no... It's not a killer whale with its fin, but the whale that turned on its side and waves to us with its pectoral fin... 

Wow! The pleasure of the eyes and photographers!!!

The mother in full dive while her "little" calf waits for her

"The southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is a species of right whale (Balaenidae) of the genus Eubalaena. It is also called black right whale or southern whale. Its population was estimated at 7000 individuals in 2001."
It is very similar in shape (no fin) to the Bowhead whale but has no white patch on the chin. On the other hand, its mouth is adorned with enormous calluses where parasitic crustaceans attach themselves.
It measures from 13 to 1

Wikipedia

A last breath of water vapor comes out of its blowholes, and we are already gone...

The tractor picks us up in the sea and takes us to the beach
We will now take the car back to travel the entire north coast of the peninsula, notably to see the elephant seals

We arrive at destination and meet the local hedgehog: the armadillo!
Really weird this beast there! Especially when you get down on all fours in front of him to take his picture.....

There are several kinds of armadillo, this one is a "pichi" armadillo (Zaedyus pichiy)

Here we are facing the elephant seals at "Punta Norte".
Females are present in large majority because the group is organized in harem... We recognize females from males because they are much smaller and do not have a trunk-shaped snout

Left photo: an oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) risks getting closer to the mammal

Right photo: a female in full molt and her chick

The Valdes peninsula has been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1999, notably for the preservation of marine mammals.

Three kelp gulls (Larus dominicanus)

No paved road. Only gravel tracks allow us to access the various sites. Pebbles fly under the cabin, and the resulting noises do not reassure us about the future of our pretty bodywork.....

Impossible to know the true color of the sheep we meet... The dust raised by the cars covers these poor ewes, and the look this one gives us says a lot about her opinion on our presence here....

Sudden braking! Eric saw a big beast!!! 
It's a mara also called Patagonian hare (Dolichotis patagonum). Contrary to what its name and appearance suggest, it is not a hare but a rodent, the third largest in the world!

Back at the Puerto Pyramides campsite and after some shopping at the local grocery store, we end the evening with a barbecue, then a little card game.

I take this opportunity to take a picture of this southern sky which is not visible from our French latitudes