Rio Gallegos, Argentina
The estuary of Rio Gallegos on the Atlantic Ocean
Ñandus, (lesser Rheas) run along the fenceline ahead of us in threes or fours, failing to cross the barbed wire in panic, until we pass them and they gradually realize that they are now running towards the danger instead of away. We are seeing more wildlife here on the dry Argentine side of Patagonia than in the forested Chilean side, (which is a temperate rain forest in northern Chilean Patagonia). Herds of Guanacos sound a whistling whinny at the sight of us; four young Grey Foxes seem to play while crossing the highway; Caracaras, that I’ve been seeing since Mexico, are becoming more numerous again; and we see a Patagonian Hare, (or Cavi), known locally as a Mara, in the Coyle river valley on this dark and dreary morning with almost no wind. We come out to drizzle after a hot lunch with coffee, and the rain persists all afternoon as the temps drop from 13 to 8ºC (55 to 46ºF). The winds change slightly, so we have no tailwind to make the end of day easier. After another welcome stop at a cafe to warm up with hot chocolate and homemade bread and jam, we finish the last rainy 30k on new pavement that is not yet open to traffic. We have cycled 310 km in two days across Patagonian Argentina from the Andes to the Atlantic.
March 13th, 2010 at 21:43
I’ve known for a long time about Patagonian cavis being known as Maras. There were some at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. My family thought that was funny. How cool that you get to see them in the wild, but you made up the part about the Coyle River Valley, right?
May you continue to enjoy a tail wind.
Mara
March 14th, 2010 at 10:31
I thought of you, Mara, as we traveled down the Coig, or Coyle River valley. I said to Julie ” I hope we see a Mara so I can put it in the blog”; and Julie spotted one.
March 16th, 2010 at 12:20
Hi you two,
could you give a little itinerary outline?
I’m wondering how far south you’re going to go, and where you’ll fly out of-and to.
Tracey
March 16th, 2010 at 15:07
We are cycling to Ushuaia, Argentina; the world´s southernmost city on the island of Tierra del Fuego. On 14/April we´ll fly from Buenos Aires to Capetown, South Africa on Malaysian Airlines. We are on schedule to get to Ushuaia about three weeks before that, so there´s time to stop and trek through the Torres del Paine National Park on the long bus ride to Buenos Aires.