Author: marionvermazen

Today was a wildlife day. We drove south to Punta Tombo to see the Penguin Colony. On the way we saw a Rhea. I’ve really been wanting to see one and finally we did.

At Punta Tombo we saw hundreds of penguins, several guanaco, and lots of seals. The seals were all in the water so I didn’t get any good pictures of them.

From Punta Tombo we drove back north to Puerto Madryn on the coast north and a bit east of Gaiman.

Today was a very windy day. The sand was blowing over the road as we pulled into our hotel in Puerto Madryn .

Today we drove almost all the way across Argentina, From Trevelin, in the Andes not far from the border with Chile to Gaiman in the east, not far from the coast. The drive was 400 miles and it took us about 9 hours. We only saw one or two small towns. The road was paved, had two lanes and there was almost no traffic. There were sections of the road with lots of big potholes but it was not as bad as our pothole drive earlier in the trip.

Gaiman is like Trevelin in that it was also originally settled by the Welsh. We are staying in a Welsh Tea House. For dinner we walked to a restaurant, Gwalia Lân Resto and had pizza and beer for dinner. The decor felt very pub like.

The weather today was absolutely perfect. The people at Challhuaquen Fishing Lodge, where we are staying, told us that the normal weather here is rainy and overcast. So we were very lucky to have a beautiful sunny day to explore

We explored a bit of Los Alerces National Park. We did 3 short hikes. The first hike was to a view point and to see some rock art.

The second hike was a short hike to Cascada Irigoyem.

Our final hike in the park was through the Forest to the Rivadavia River.

Finally, we drove to a more southern part of the park to see the dam and hydroelectric plant.

We have really enjoyed our stay at Challhuaquen Fishing Lodge. It is in a beautiful place but what has made it really great is the people. The Chef, Bruno and the hostess and waitress, Camilia have been fantastic.

In addition we have talked to some fascinating guests. An Argentine family of about 10 people was having a reunion here. The two men we talked to the most were a farmer with a big farm south of Buenos Aires and a Lawyer who is retired from a senior position at a big agribusiness company. They have both travelled a lot. They spoke perfect English and we discussed everything from politics to travel adventures.

The area around Trevelin was originally settled by the Welsh. There are a lot of people of Welsh descent in the Chubut province. We are staying at Challhuaquen Lodge, near Trevelin. The name Trevelin comes from the Welsh words for Mill Town.

Our first stop today, as we explored the area was Campo de Tulipanes. We were lucky that it was a nice day with a lot of sun. The pictures of the tulips and the surrounding mountains don’t do the site justice. It was lovely to stroll through the tulips and enjoy the beautiful day.

Next we went to the Nant y Fall Winery and had a tour and tasting. it is located just down the road from the Tulips. One of the owners of the winery gave us the tour. Her family came from Italy after WWII.

Our last stop was Molino Nant Fach. It’s a working flour mill and museum. We took a very entertaining tour. The tour guide operated the mill and later used a boiler to operate the saw mill and the printing presses.

Saturday we drove 200 miles south to a fishing lodge outside of Trevelin. As we continue south on this trip, unsurprisingly the weather continues to get colder. When we woke up in Bariloche the temperature was 36 Fahrenheit.

Our drive today was through mountain forests with lots of spring runoff in the rivers. We also went through desert-like scrub land.

At one point about half way through the drive when it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, we saw a big sign for the Leleque Museum. We turned off and found a very nice little museum about the people who have lived in Patagonia through time. We had to find someone to open it up but when we did the museum was well done and interesting.

Chalhuaquen Fishing Lodge, where we are staying is about 15 miles west of Trevelin overlooking the Rio Grande – Futalefufú River. We arrived about 4pm and relaxed, napped and read until dinner at 10pm. We also talked to members of a family who are here for the weekend. One of the men is a farmer, another is a lawyer. They have travelled extensively. It really interesting to exchange perspectives.

The lodge has a gourmet chef who introduced himself. The meal was excellent.