Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We drove further south and back to the coast at Camarones where we stopped at the tourist information centre. It was 1pm when we left and we needed to buy food. The problem is that everything closes between 1pm and 4pm in Argentina so we would have to wait but even when we drove up to the largest market at 4pm, they were closed because there was a big party going on for the whole town at the fire station that evening! A very empty looking bakery was open and we managed to find some bread rolls for the evening!
At least the shops were open the following morning so we managed to pick up some supplies and drove 28km along a gravel road to Cabo Dos BahÃas - a nature reserve where we could see another penguin colony. The entrance is free but the park closes at 6pm and we would have to drive out.
The gravel road to the park wasn't too bad but the road afterwards was very bumpy and therefore slow going. We headed up to a viewpoint which was nothing special and were wondering whether the drive out here had been worth it.
As we headed down from the viewpoint there was a baby guanaco lying in the dirt in the road. We didn't know if it was alive but couldn't drive past it anyway. So Kirsten got out to take a look and the baby guanaco came right up to her. It seemed to looking for teats to get milk but was looking between Kirsten's legs! Maybe it was her orange shorts and the baby thought Kirsten was her mother!
Guanaco Mama Kirsten
I took video from Winnietwo - I knew if I got out I might scare the baby off. But then a ranger drove up and told Kirsten off for touching the guanaco! At least she explained that the baby had been lying in the road blocking it and when Kirsten got out the baby came up to her, not the other way around. Apparently if the mother smells a human smell on the baby she might not feed it. There was no sign of the mother but there were a group of guanacos about 300 metres away.
Afterwards we drove to the penguin colony and spent a few hours walking along the boardwalk. The babies were obviously born before those at Punta Tombo because they were larger. There was a lot of noise, with a number of penguins fighting off rivals. Unfortunately we also saw two Skuas steal a baby from a nest. I guess that's all part of nature but not exactly something you relish seeing. It didn't stop me taking the video though!
Penguins at Cabo Dos Bahías
It was so cold and windy that we returned to Winnietwo in between for a cup of coffee to warm us up and then returned to the penguins for another hour. We drove out at 6pm as the park was closing and headed back towards Camarones. We found a spot off the road to stay overnight and decided to spend the following day working on our website and all the photos and videos that we'd taken.
A Patagonian fox came by and we also had a lot of sheep around. It was very peaceful. Unfortunately it started to rain as we were leaving and we learned a very important lesson - don't drive on gravel roads when they're wet!! We kicked up all the stones and it was very loud inside as we were driving. After only a few minutes Winnietwo was covered in brown streaks!
We headed back to Highway 3 and further south. We stopped in Comodoro Rivadavia which is quite a large town to do some shopping at a supermarket. As usual the fruit and veg department left a lot to be desired so we didn't spend much.
It was already 6-45pm when we left and then we stopped on the side of the road as there were thousands of birds circling and diving into the sea. Kirsten went out to take photos. She was surrounded by them and I thought she would come back covered in sh..., sorry, bird poop!! But she got back without a single mark on her!
We didn't get to the petrol station at Caleta Olivia where we stayed for the night until 9pm. It had been a long day.
