RogoRides

Click Here To View Penguin Photos From Punta Tombo

Photos have been posted for March 8, 9 and 10 including some good ones of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and Glaciers National Park in Argentina.

Today we rode southeast 125 miles each way including 22 miles of unpaved roads to Punta Tombo summer home of up to 1 million penguins and an important nature reserve. It is sunny and warm here in Puerto Madryn a perfect day to walk on the beach and visit with the penguins. The coordinates that we sent today (3-14-08) from spot and are posted below are from the nature reserve at Punta Tombo although there doesn’t appear to be any close up satellite photos.

The nature reserve has well marked walkways where humans are allowed to walk that extend for approximately 1.5 kilometers from the park entry out to and along the beach. The penguins do not seem to be alarmed by the presence of people. You can walk right up to them although signs say not to touch the penguins. Visitors are also warned to give right of way to the penguins. For a nice article about the penguins of Punta Tombo click here.

All along the walkway there are nests built which looks like burrows or little caves dug out of the earth. This is where the males arrive in August to stake out a nest and females arrive in September to lay eggs. In March the reproductive cycle is coming to an end, the penguins are molting and preparing to go to sea for the next 6 months. They will migrate north to Brazil for the winter but not touch land again unless they are sick or oiled. The penguins here in Punta Tombo go as far as 400 miles out to sea to fish and gather food for their stay here.

We took lots of photos today and will get some up as soon as we have a chance. We also saw an elephant seal on the beach, a small herd of guanacos, some cormorants and other birds in the reserve.

We have been told that it is supposed to be 86 degrees tomorrow, sounds like a good day to enjoy the nice beach here in Puerto Madryn. We will use this as an opportunity to wash Tiburon and change the oil as well as get the laundry done for the first time since Santiago, Chile.

The wind blowing on the way back to Puerto Madryn from Punta Tombo was some of the fiercest we have yet encountered. We arre sure it has something to do with the warming of the weather. It looked like not only motos but vans and trucks were having problems with the wind as well.

On Saturday a beautiful hot day we spent the day having the oil changed on Tiburon, it has been a tough 4200 miles since Santiago and the last oil change. The synthetic oil we use was $20.00 a liter from the Castrol Distributor here in Puerto Madryn. We will never complain about $5.00 a quart back home anymore. Tiburon also got a bath and we replaced two missing bolts that had vibrated out and we found out during the wash. Nothing fell ofd though so we lucked out. The dirt and gravel roads can be very rough.

We also got laundry done today for the first time since Santiago, Chile. We may head north tomorrow in the direction of Buenos Aires.

Here are the GPS coordinates from the Punta Tombo nature reserve and the link to Google maps.

Latitude:-44.0449
Longitude:-65.2227
Nearest Location: Punta Tombo

Distance: 0 km(s)
Time:03/14/2008 17:30:02 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-44.0449,-65.2227&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

We spent all day driving north and east across the pampa and got 500 miles today about half way to Buenos Aires. We are in a very nice Hotel, the Hotel Argos, about 6 blocks from the central plaza in Bahia Blanca. Tomorrow we continue north toward Buenos Aires.

The coordinates below are from the central plaza about 6 blocks from our hotel – the link to Google satellite photo shows a good photo of the very nice plaza here in Bahia Blanca.

Latitude:-38.7177
Longitude:-62.2657

Nearest Location: Bahia Blanca, Argentinan
Distance: 0 km

Time:03/16/2008 23:23:39 (GMT)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-38.7177,-62.2657&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

The link below gives a nice satellite photo of the plaza where the coordinates were sent from.

Latitude:-34.6082
Longitude:-58.3728

Nearest Location:Buenos Aires, Argentina

Distance:0 km

Time:03/18/2008 01:45:10 (GMT)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.6082,-58.3728&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

PHOTOS COMING SOON

Dave is continuing to enjoy BA and making arrangements to ship Tiburon back to the states and Pam has returned to the US to take care of some business.

Many businesses have shut down for holy week or “semana santa” here in Buenos Aires. The earliest that we could book space for shipping Tiburon home was next week on American Airlines, we were hoping to strap it to a pallet and load it on United to Washington but they are not interested. Dave takes Tiburon in on Tuesday morning to partially dismantle it and stuff it into a crate to be weighed and loaded on AA.

Meanwhile, Dave has taken a walking tour of Buenos Aires and has tried to capture the coordinates of some of the interesting landmarks within walking distance of his hotel that you may be able to see on the satellite photos of Google maps if you follow the links below.

The first stop on our walking tour is the famous “Avenida 9 de Julio” or 9 of July Avenue, a link to Google maps is here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f =q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.6001, -58.3816&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

After opening the map above choose satellite photo and then click under the green arrow on the satellite photo until you get the highest resolution available. Spot was activated from the center median of Avenida 9 de Julio just one half block from the renowned Colon Theater. If you look toward the bottom of the photo (or drag the map with your mouse) you can also just see the famous obelisk which sits in the center of Avenida 9 de Julio in the Plaza de la Republica.

Walking one block west we activated spot to record the coordinates of the Plaza Lavalle named after the Argentine historic figure “Juan Galo Lavalle”.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f =q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.601, -58.3845&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

This Plaza sits just behind the Colon Theater and is surrounded by impressive old buildings. Here is a photo of the monument to Lavalle.

Dave then heads northwest for what looks like a couple of miles on the map toward the neighborhood of Recoleta. Surprisingly Dave passes several very impressive Plazas and Parks with large monuments that are not marked on the tourist map he is carrying.

The next Plaza is the small Plaza Vicente Lopez which contains a nice monument to Argentina’s second president and the author of the lyrics to the Argentinean National Anthem.

A few blocks Northwest is a large complex of at least 8 parks and plazas. The first stop is at the Recoleta Cemetery :

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.5875,-58.3931&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

If you zoom in using the link above to the highest resolution satellite photos you see what looks like a neighborhood and blocks of houses – these are actually tombs and mausoleums in the Recoleta Cemetery. There are over 6,000 majestic tombs of which 70 have been declared historic monuments. The names on the tombs read like a who’s who of Argentine history. The most popular while we were there was the tomb of Eva Duarte de Peron or as nearly everyone calls her “Evita”.

Right next to the Recoleta Cemetery is the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar which dates back to the early 1700s but has a modern web page listing holy week mass times.

After walking through the Plaza Centro Cultural Recoleta and all of its street vendors and performers Dave arrives at the Plaza Alvear :

http://maps.google.com/maps?f =q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.5852, -58.3899&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Click to view a photo of the large monument in the center of the Plaza Alvear a tribute to the statesman and soldier Carlos Maria de Alvear.

Across the street from the Plaza Alvear is the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes or fine arts museum and the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativo.

Just across the wide Avenida Figueroa Alcorta is the Plaza United Nations with the impressive sculpture by Eduardo Catalano of a large mechanical flower weighing 18 tons that opens and closes with the rising and setting of the sun. You can see the flower on the satellite photo using the following link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f =q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-34.5813, -58.3942&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Or here is a photo of the Floralis Gynericas.

You could spend more than a day visiting the above landmarks, but we have just scratched the surface of the many sites that Buenos Aires has to offer. Dave has a couple of miles to walk back to Florida Street and find a good Parillada for dinner.

Details to follow.

Here is where we are tonight:

Latitude:47.4033
Longitude:-123.1418
Nearest Location: United States Highway 101, Cushman Dam, WA, US
Distance: 0 km(s)
Time:03/26/2008 22:35:24 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.4033,-123.1418&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1