Argentina - Patagonia - The end of the world .... Excursion on the Beagle Channel

The Beagle Channel (more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_Channel) is a channel separating the main island of Tierra del Fuego with some smaller islands. It is named after the HMS Beagle which was used by Darwin to explore the area.

Did I not say that there are many mountains? In the lower part they are rounded by the glaciers (up to about 1,200 m), the higher peaks are steep and untouched by the glaciers.


... and one more. Just trying to give you an impression of the scenery.

The lighthouse protecting ships from hitting the small islands in the channel.

A colony of sea lions .... we got really close, only 5 m away. Thank god we were up wind. When we left we passed the colony downwind and got a good smell of the animals.

Mountain peaks and see lions an interesting combination.

The "master" of the sea lion colony. I was hoping for him to get a little more active to get a good shot, but he was simply enjoying the sun shine, not moving at all.

A big Cormoran colony we visited ..... It was an amazing sight ..... nest after nest after nest. How do the birds find their nest?

This is a very interesting plant. Unfortunately I forgot how it is called. It reminds me of a large green sponge, but much firmer. It is also the host to many other plants. It is an ancient plant that grows only one to two millimeters per year. Given that fact this plant of about 1m height by 1m diameter must be several hundred years old.

I took this photo from the island we were hiking, I promise this to be the last mountains you will see ..... at least from Ushuaia.

Argentina - Patagonia - The end of the world .... Tierra del Fuego National Park

On Saturday I went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

(more info on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierra_del_Fuego_National_Park). We started with a 3 hour hike a long the waterfront. The views have been just amazing. I felt the limits of my camera again, but some shots actually turned out to be quite nice. I meet with a very international crowd, couples from Holland, Spain, and France, 2 girls from England and a guy from Australia. We had a blast and also spend the rest of the day together.

Snow covered mountains surround the city of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel.

A very peaceful hike through untouched nature.

More mountains .... get used to it there a re many more :-)

See, I was not lying ....

The crew .... Left to right in front Cameron from Australia, Pierre from France next row me and Martin from Holland then the woman from Spain and Miriam from Holland, the Spanish husband and one of the girls from England and last Captain Fitzroy a.k.a Rebecca from England and Stephanie from France (sorry did not get all the names right).

Last but not least Captain Schundel 3063 kilometers away from Buenos Aires ....

Argentina - Patagonia - Punto Tombo

Punto Tombo is a huge Penguin colony and nature preserve. Approximately 1,2 million Penguins live here during the breeding season. They are not afraid of anything .... they build their nests on the trail, next to the dirt road or right on the parking lot. It is kind of funny. It almost felt we walked through their living rooms and they pretended not to notice. We were able to get really close and I got several really close shots.

Well, but to begin with you know my love for "Kitsch" photos .... Just couldn't resist with this pink sky .... If I would have noticed earlier I would have been able to get a clear shot of the sky with no houses around .....

Breading Penguin 1/163 .... ha ha ha ..... we got all crazy and took way to many pictures.

This male Penguin was getting grass to make the nest a little more comfortable for his beloved who was keeping the eggs warm .... quite touching.

This guy put on quite a show while the female in the back was re-arranging the eggs ....

Penguin 17/163 ..... Want more?

It was really funny to watch the Penguins to get in and out of the water .... it seemed that they were helpless toys of the powerful waves, but somehow with stoic effort the managed to achieve their goal.

For minutes I was sitting on this rock waiting for the waves to crash in and create a mist .... it wasn{t a perfect photo, I missed several good ones, but to document the effort I had to put it on the blog :-)

Well, you have not seen me in a while ....

Argentina - Patagonia - Puerto Madryn

Whale watching .... how often have I been thinking about doing it in California and it never happened. Finally it was my day and what a day it was. We got so lucky and so jumping whales (the Southern Right Whale) and even Orcas. At first we had to drive for almost 2 hours to the small village of Puerto Piramides. There we good swim wests and boarded a catamaran for our trip. After the first introductions by the crew the waiting began.

The office of the tour operator, an old converted catamaran.

..... and there it was, the first whale.


We got closer and closer and got a real good look. It was actually a mother with her calf.


Later on we saw this whale jumping about 15 to 20 times. Oh did I wish for a "real" camera with a good zoom ..... maybe with some magic I can enlarge the shot.

And another jump .... it was unbelievable.

Where is the whale? Actually not in this one .... just wanted to capture the coast line.

Orcas .... they are a little hard to see .... 3 of them prowling the beach for prey.

You can barely see the fins sticking out the water and above on the beach the Elephant Seals ..... I was jealous of the guy next to me. He had a real good camera :-(

More Orcas .....

We also saw a few Penguins ..... more the next day when we visited a huge Penguin breeding site.

Argentina - Buenos Aires - El Tigre

On Sunday we went to Tigre, a small little town about 30 miles outside of BsAs. It is situated in the Parana delta. We took a trip in a catamaran through the maze of little rivers and side arms in the delta ....

An old ship rotting away .... actually we saw many old wrecks moored in the delta.

I thought this to be funny .... a gas station for boats.

House and boat landings to the left and right .... many cool houses.

Traffic jam .... unbelievable how many boats were on the river ...

After I got back to the city I had to take a view pictures of these hearts .... not really sure what is behind it though. Just pretty!

More hearts ....

Argentina - Buenos Aires - Some more impressions

This past weekend I went to explore Recoleta a little more. Especially I spend a lot of time in the Museum of Fine Art and the Museum of Modern Art (MALBA). The weather was gorgeous and so I did not mind walking around for hours ....

"Der ganz normale Whansinn" or the "normal insanity" of traffic during rush hour in Buenos Aires ..... absolutely deadlocked.

On my way to Recoleta I passed a market in the area of the train station .... in truth I had gotten lost and was the only tourist for miles :-)

Photo with a pony? Everything is being offered in Buenos Aires. I admire the persistency and strength of these people .... although the odds are really tough due to the weak economy everybody tries to make a living .... somehow.

An installation by Renata Schussheim (sounds pretty German, doesn't it?), it felt so real, they had a wind machine blowing the hair of the mermaid gently ..... surreal.

More info: National Museum of Fine Art ( hthttp://www.mnba.org.ar)

Some more of Renata's art work .... it seems that this "figure" is watching the tango couple ...

The "tango couple" ... the shoes are real and stand in front of the painting.

A morphosys of human and anumal bodies .... very interesting.

I loved this staue ....

For Alex .... an interesting style of architecture, the national library.