After all the pain of riding in the cold, snow and wind, it looked like we had finally reached better climates in the north part of Patagonia. As we woke up in Welsh country, the sun was out and the temperature quite nice. That was the first day we shed all our layers and put our warm underwear back into the saddlebags. We were still wearing our fleeces in the morning but the sun felt already warm on our faces. Our first stop was a nearby Welsh village but Chad's bike was giving us trouble. It would not start anymore or only randomly on the third try. It had started doing it the evening before and to get the bike running, he push-started Caroline on the bike. In addition, his headlights were not working. We could still ride it today but eventually we would have to figure this out.
Enjoying the warm weather on the Atlantic coast
We did a short visit to the Welsh village which had the typical brick architecture of that part of the United Kingdom. A little river was running through it with small waterwheels and weeping willows casting shade on the banks. It looked so romantic and the weather was so nice that we went to buy our lunch and enjoy it on a bench close to the river. It was simply perfect and it had been quite a while since we had been able to enjoy our picnic outside as opposed to inside the cafe of a gas station. Our spirit was up and we were quite optimistic for the day despite Chad's motorcycle issue. Amazing how a little sun and warmth can lift up your spirit. After lunch, we drove towards our next destination, Puerto Madryn, from where we would leave to visit the Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes the next day.
This part of Patagonia has a very special connection with one of our favorite hero, the Petit Prince (Little Prince) from Antoine de Saint Exupery. In 1941, this French author wrote one of the children novel the most read in the world. He used to fly planes and flew quite a lot above Patagonia, since he was the director of the Argentinian airmail from 1929 to 1931. The Reserva we were about to visit had an island, la Isla de los Pajaros, whose shape inspired the famous drawing of the boa eating the elephant. Check it out on the internet, quite stunning. In additional, some drawings in the book are inspired from places that we visited, like the volcanoes on the asteroid where the Petit Prince lived are a copy cat of the ones you see when going along the Chilean border, or the mountain he stands on, just like the Mt Fitz Roy we had seen in El Chalten when we hiked. And when we saw some of the sheep here, they were the brothers the ones Saint Exupery drew for the Petit Prince. Traveling on Caroline's bike, we were thinking about the magic story of the Petit Prince and how amazing it was that we were and were about to see some of the places that inspired this story. This makes Argentina even more special to us.
When entering the Reserva, we saw from a distance the Isla de los Pajaros where millions of birds are living. We continued on to the peninsula towards the beach to meet some of the animals that make this place so famous. It has colonies of lots of marine animals and on the first beach, we saw lots of Lobo Marinos (Southern Sea Lions) resting in the sun and grunting. It was funny to see some of the little ones annoying the grown ups and getting slapped for it. As we walked along the beach, we also saw in the distance the cute Pingüinos Magallanico (Magellanic Penguin), but only a few of them. Hopefully, we should see more of them in the south part of the peninsula. In this very spot, we were hoping to see the famous Orca (Killer Whale) that sometimes comes here to feed on sea lions. It is a rare but incredible sight. Unfortunately, we did not have that luck and after observing the ocean for a while, continued towards the south part.
Enjoying the warm weather on the Atlantic coast
We did a short visit to the Welsh village which had the typical brick architecture of that part of the United Kingdom. A little river was running through it with small waterwheels and weeping willows casting shade on the banks. It looked so romantic and the weather was so nice that we went to buy our lunch and enjoy it on a bench close to the river. It was simply perfect and it had been quite a while since we had been able to enjoy our picnic outside as opposed to inside the cafe of a gas station. Our spirit was up and we were quite optimistic for the day despite Chad's motorcycle issue. Amazing how a little sun and warmth can lift up your spirit. After lunch, we drove towards our next destination, Puerto Madryn, from where we would leave to visit the Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes the next day.
This part of Patagonia has a very special connection with one of our favorite hero, the Petit Prince (Little Prince) from Antoine de Saint Exupery. In 1941, this French author wrote one of the children novel the most read in the world. He used to fly planes and flew quite a lot above Patagonia, since he was the director of the Argentinian airmail from 1929 to 1931. The Reserva we were about to visit had an island, la Isla de los Pajaros, whose shape inspired the famous drawing of the boa eating the elephant. Check it out on the internet, quite stunning. In additional, some drawings in the book are inspired from places that we visited, like the volcanoes on the asteroid where the Petit Prince lived are a copy cat of the ones you see when going along the Chilean border, or the mountain he stands on, just like the Mt Fitz Roy we had seen in El Chalten when we hiked. And when we saw some of the sheep here, they were the brothers the ones Saint Exupery drew for the Petit Prince. Traveling on Caroline's bike, we were thinking about the magic story of the Petit Prince and how amazing it was that we were and were about to see some of the places that inspired this story. This makes Argentina even more special to us. 
When entering the Reserva, we saw from a distance the Isla de los Pajaros where millions of birds are living. We continued on to the peninsula towards the beach to meet some of the animals that make this place so famous. It has colonies of lots of marine animals and on the first beach, we saw lots of Lobo Marinos (Southern Sea Lions) resting in the sun and grunting. It was funny to see some of the little ones annoying the grown ups and getting slapped for it. As we walked along the beach, we also saw in the distance the cute Pingüinos Magallanico (Magellanic Penguin), but only a few of them. Hopefully, we should see more of them in the south part of the peninsula. In this very spot, we were hoping to see the famous Orca (Killer Whale) that sometimes comes here to feed on sea lions. It is a rare but incredible sight. Unfortunately, we did not have that luck and after observing the ocean for a while, continued towards the south part. And our motorcycle problem is finally resolved
We parked the bike at the observation point for the Penguins only to sadly discover that they were all gone. Each year, the colony migrates away from the peninsula in April and since it had been quite cold lately, they were already all gone. The few we had seen earlier were probably late ones but none were left where the colony usually lives. We were quite disappointed as we were told there were still a few left. The only Penguin picture we could t
ake was ironically of the sign that marks where they should be seen. Only the presence of lots of feathers on the ground proved that at some point they had been here. We therefor continued further to see the Elefante Marino (Southern Elephant Seal). There was a short trail along the coastline that we took and on the way, we were in for a cool surprise that almost made up for the lack of Penguins earlier. Right in front of us, it crossed the path and then stayed for a while in the close by bushes: a Piche, also known as Hairy Armadillo. It was so cute and funny, in an odd way, with its long hair all over the body. We had never seen an Armadillo from so close, let alone with so much hair. We were really enjoying observing him sniffing, scratching and walking until it finally left. After that, the Elephant seals seemed a little boring, even if the southern species is the biggest in the world.
We drove back to Puerto Madryn, happy about our day even if we had not seen as many animals as we had hoped. It was getting late and we saw the entire sunset while driving, with again amazing and bright colors in the sky like a few days ago. What really caught our attention though was the moon rise. It was the most spectacular one we had ever seen. In the complete dark, it came up like the sun, huge and orange. For a second, we really thought it was the sun given the size of it and the brightness of the orange. But then, it slowly started rising in the sky, becoming smaller and losing its orange color. Quite unrealistic to witness, we almost felt on another planet... Back in town, everything felt awkwardly normal after the odd moon rise we had just seen.
We parked the bike at the observation point for the Penguins only to sadly discover that they were all gone. Each year, the colony migrates away from the peninsula in April and since it had been quite cold lately, they were already all gone. The few we had seen earlier were probably late ones but none were left where the colony usually lives. We were quite disappointed as we were told there were still a few left. The only Penguin picture we could t
ake was ironically of the sign that marks where they should be seen. Only the presence of lots of feathers on the ground proved that at some point they had been here. We therefor continued further to see the Elefante Marino (Southern Elephant Seal). There was a short trail along the coastline that we took and on the way, we were in for a cool surprise that almost made up for the lack of Penguins earlier. Right in front of us, it crossed the path and then stayed for a while in the close by bushes: a Piche, also known as Hairy Armadillo. It was so cute and funny, in an odd way, with its long hair all over the body. We had never seen an Armadillo from so close, let alone with so much hair. We were really enjoying observing him sniffing, scratching and walking until it finally left. After that, the Elephant seals seemed a little boring, even if the southern species is the biggest in the world.We drove back to Puerto Madryn, happy about our day even if we had not seen as many animals as we had hoped. It was getting late and we saw the entire sunset while driving, with again amazing and bright colors in the sky like a few days ago. What really caught our attention though was the moon rise. It was the most spectacular one we had ever seen. In the complete dark, it came up like the sun, huge and orange. For a second, we really thought it was the sun given the size of it and the brightness of the orange. But then, it slowly started rising in the sky, becoming smaller and losing its orange color. Quite unrealistic to witness, we almost felt on another planet... Back in town, everything felt awkwardly normal after the odd moon rise we had just seen.
We had enjoyed the day on Caroline's bike but we still had to find out what was wrong with Chad's bike. He tested a lot of the wire connections and cleaned the connectors involved in either the headlights or the starter. After a full day of work, he could still not figure out what was wrong. We then decided to drive the bike to Buenos Aires and get it fixed there. B
ut on the next day, as we were leaving town, he figured out that the problem was with the electrical connections in the starter. He just had to bend some wires to re-establish better contact and here we go, bike fixed. Not sure what triggered that last thought but it worked wonders. We rode all the way to Viedma and its sister city Carmen de Patagones, enjoying the hot weather. It was almost 30C (90F) degrees so we stopped at the beach to have a late lunch and relax. Life was perfect again with the bike fixed and the ideal weather.
ut on the next day, as we were leaving town, he figured out that the problem was with the electrical connections in the starter. He just had to bend some wires to re-establish better contact and here we go, bike fixed. Not sure what triggered that last thought but it worked wonders. We rode all the way to Viedma and its sister city Carmen de Patagones, enjoying the hot weather. It was almost 30C (90F) degrees so we stopped at the beach to have a late lunch and relax. Life was perfect again with the bike fixed and the ideal weather.
Happy to hear you're back in warm weather and enjoying it so much. Also good to hear Chad was able to repair his bike enabling more adventures.
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