Daisy, daisy...
Tim and Tamsin´s Travels in South America
An account of our travels in South America (October 2004 - May 2005). Click on the photos to ENLARGE.
Birdwatching
Laguna Nimes is teeming with wildlife and we visited it with Hans and Pascal we met at the glacier. We enjoyed seeing the birds of prey in action. The poor duck was only slightly smaller than it's aggressor.
A great big, blue glacier
El Calafate has a very alpine feel to it and we were there mainly to see it's most famous attraction, the Perito Moreno glacier. It is the fastest moving glacier in South America and it's face is 60 metres high. While we were there it lost lots of massive chunks, two the size of skyscrapers!
Some ancient cave paintings and a surprise festival
When we arrived at 10.30pm in Perito Moreno we discovered that there was a massive festival going on. We couldn't find anywhere to stay and ended up in the house of the tourist information lady who took pity on us and some of our fellow Europeans. The festival was a big all night party in honour of the famous caves. We wimped out at 3am (it went on 'til 7).
The following day we visited the Valley of the paintings which contains 83 caves full of paintings by Tehuelche Indians. We visited just a couple of the caves at sunset and there were thousands of the handprints you can see in the photos. The handprints span 7000 years and less than 40 of them use the right hand.
The following day we visited the Valley of the paintings which contains 83 caves full of paintings by Tehuelche Indians. We visited just a couple of the caves at sunset and there were thousands of the handprints you can see in the photos. The handprints span 7000 years and less than 40 of them use the right hand.
More Dinosaurs and some stone trees
| We spent a day in a huge archealogical site called Bryn Gwyn, outside Gaiman, looking at fossils that were still in the places they were found. There was evidence of penguins that were 1.5 metres tall and dolphins the size of whales (!!) along with loads of animals that are now extinct. A very cool place that was scortchingly hot. The next day, we visited a petrified forest outside Sarmiento (we have done all the impressions of a scared tree, you can imagine). The trees (some of them 50 - 100 metres high) were ripped out during a hurricane. Many were buried under lava during the formation of the Andes. Then, when Patagonia was covered by sea, water containing minerals seeped into every cell and the cells were gradually replaced by the minerals leaving exact stone copys of the trees that are over 60 million years old. It was an awe inspiring place made even more amazing by the surrounding hills which had been carved out by the wind. |
We watched this fellow fall off the cliff! No animals were harmed during the making of this photo - He was fine.
Penguins and Dolphins
Punto Tombo is one big penguin beach party. The photos we've posted weren't taken with zoom, you can actually walk around the colony. We saw them fishing, grooming each other, fighting, feeding their young and best of all just waddling.
On the same day at Puerto Rawson, we saw about 20 dolphins: they swam around, jumped up right next to us and dived under our boat but they were too fast for us to photograph, so we just enjoyed watching them.
One of the best days of our trip so far, rounded off with proper tea!
On the same day at Puerto Rawson, we saw about 20 dolphins: they swam around, jumped up right next to us and dived under our boat but they were too fast for us to photograph, so we just enjoyed watching them.
One of the best days of our trip so far, rounded off with proper tea!
Puerto Madryn and Trelew
In 1865 a Welsh chappìe called Lewis Jones along with 152 of his friends arrived at Puerto Madryn and they all brought their tea pots with them! They chose a beautiful spot, we spent two days there on the beach, without as much wind this time though.
Trelew is another town founded by the Welsh settlers. Nearby, thousands of rare fossils have been found including:- The worlds biggest dinosaur 'Argentinasorus', an amonite shell the size of a tractor wheel and a complete fossilised dinosaur egg.
Trelew is another town founded by the Welsh settlers. Nearby, thousands of rare fossils have been found including:- The worlds biggest dinosaur 'Argentinasorus', an amonite shell the size of a tractor wheel and a complete fossilised dinosaur egg.
El Condor and the Sand Storm
We fancied a couple of beach days, so we headed 'off piste' to El Condor. We realised why it was bearly mentioned in the guide book during the sand storm. After applying sun tan lotion and braving the sand storm like true Brits, we looked like a pair of sandy jelly babies.
