Rainy sunset, Punta Arenas, Región XII (Magallanes y Antártida Chilena)
Punta Arenas is the southermost city of the American mainland. From here we will start our way up north – if time allows it all the way to the Jujuy province located in the extreme northwest of Argentina, bordering Bolivia.
It’s been rainy and cold last week in Tierra del Fuego. The same is the case today on arrival in Punta Arenas. If this is their summer, how will their winter be?
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Sheep on truck, Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Same as us the sheep were waiting to cross the Magellan Strait from Porvenir in Tierra del Fuego to Punta Arenas on the mainland.
Sheep are very abundant all over Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego but this is the only time I’ve managed to get close to them. They seem very weary of tourists stopping in the middle of nowhere to take pictures of them (we have somehow missed the sheep shearing season and the corresponding action while living in Puerto Madryn).
A quick snapshot and I left the poor things in peace.
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Southern Sea Lion sleeping on the hull of a fishing boat, Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz Province
While editing some of the photos I’ve taken in Puerto Deseado I came across this sleeping beauty.
Must be nice and warm on the hull of the ankered fishing boat. The sea lion hardly looked up when we approched it on our return trip from Isla de los Pinguinos (see post Rockhoppers).
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Christmas decoration, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
Wish you all Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad / Frohe Weihnachten from the end of the world!
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Sunrise, Monte Léon National Park, Santa Cruz Province
The idea was to visit La Olla, a cavern in the Monte Léon National Park that as described in our guide book is only accessible during low tide.
We arrived late. Very late. The cavern had collapsed during a storm in September of 2006.
What a bummer.
We decided to set up camp for the night feeling pretty safe as we had received special instructions by a park ranger on what to do in case we came across a Puma.
The new idea was to vist the cavern anyway during low tide next morning (Lisa needed some convincing though to get up at 4:30 in the morning to visit a damn cavern that didn’t even exist anymore).
It was well worth it. Not for the cavern (what cavern?) but for the sunrise.
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Rockhopper Penguins, Isla de los Pinguinos near Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz Province
The main reason to make Puerto Deseado our first real stop was the Rockhopper penguins. It took us a few days to organise a boat ride to the Isla de los Pinguinos (bad weather and the general lack of tourists causing the delay) but it was well worth to wait.
Don’t they look great with their bad boy hair style?
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