ARGENTINA 2 Patagonia

Geographically, we crossed the border to Patagonia a few days ago, but it was only with the change in landscape that we felt like we were leaving the endless Pampa behind and arriving in the wilds of Patagonia. We spent two days at a nice spot by the sea near Camarones and poor Sibylle was struggling with 'Montezuma's revenge' in the scorching heat of 38 degrees. But then things started to improve.

Our next stop is Jamarillo, a tiny town in the middle of the Pampa with nothing. We get drinking water from the village well, the Camping Municipales is clean, well-maintained, and for us alone. Sonja tells us all about the surroundings and strongly recommends going to Puerto Deseado. We follow her advice and find a completely desolate, run-down port town that is proud of its decommissioned train station. An excursion to an island with rock penguins is planned for the next morning - that would be a nice birthday trip for Barbara. So we spend the day and night in the city, only to have to realize the next day that apparently not enough participants have come together - because no one is there to be seen. So we continue on to our next destination, the Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados. And from here, the landscape changes, it becomes more mountainous, the sky more lively, the wind rougher. We take a short walk through the fascinating petrified forest and enjoy the cooler weather. 150 million years ago, the forests standing here were buried under 20 meters of ash during volcanic eruptions and mineralized over millions of years. Today, there are actually trees made of stone here.

In Puerto San Julian, we enjoy a little tour on a 'museum ship'. On a replica of Magellan's ship, the Victoria, Gadys, our tour guide, tells us everything about life on the ship.

In Puerto Santa Cruz, we get the tip not to go to the adjacent national park but simply to take a walk along the beach to a huge colony of Magellanic penguins. We follow the advice and spend hours in complete peace and seclusion with the penguins. A great experience! The way back is not without its challenges either. We want to take a shortcut and cross the small bay exposed by the ebb tide instead of walking along the pebble beach. Soon we sink into the mud, have to take off our sandals to avoid losing them. At first, we continue stomping on in our socks, later, when we lose them, barefoot and sinking in the mud up to our calves. A real outdoor adventure😁

Now we spend two days in Rio Gallegos to do laundry, finally have internet again, use up the fresh supplies, and get ready for Chile. After all, to get to Tierra del Fuego, you have to cross a short stretch through Chile and cannot bring any fresh food across the border.

The food in Argentina is a chapter of its own and doesn't really give us pleasure. The bread is stodgy and tasteless - a typical German problem. There is something like whole grain bread, but it's about as dry as our whole grain toast. There is hardly any fresh fruit and vegetables, and what there is, is of poor quality. All the cheese tastes more or less the same and is relatively tasteless. There is raw and cooked ham, salami, and LIVERWURST. We have been looking in vain for natural yogurt and quark. Even the Milka chocolate doesn't taste good, the Argentine one is inedible. On the other hand, the ice cream is really good - but also really expensive. I find the cookies tasty, they are so sweet that Sibylle doesn't like them. When buying coffee, you have to make sure to find one that doesn't have sugar added. When you go out to eat, there are huge portions of meat, almost always topped with ham, covered with cheese, and sometimes even crowned with a fried egg. The french fries are good and always plentiful. Nobody seems to be afraid of cholesterol here. There is hardly any salad, and if there is, it is always served with a little oil, vinegar, and salt at most. Pasta and gnocchi can be eaten in restaurants - but that's also what we always cook for ourselves in the dubs. Both the wine and the local beer are really good. So we're not always full, but we're always in a good mood.