Day 299: Ruta Cuarenta – Day 4
The next day we finished our journey to the coast and reached the city of Río Gallegos, where we had our first encounter with Argentinean cops. After we stopped in town for gas and more food, we hit a road block on our way back to the highway. “Uh-oh, here we go!” we thought, positive that shit was going to get shady. Quite the contrary: after asking few questions about where we coming from and where we were going, the police handed us a pamphlet about *safe driving* and told us to have a nice day! They had a big stack of the brochures in their hands, so it just looked like Argentina is trying to crack down on the speeding and reckless driving.
After Río Gallegos, we headed north on Ruta 3, which is actually the easiest way to travel North/South in Argentina – unlike Ruta 40, the entire road is paved and there are many more cities and gas stations along the way. We made our way north nice and slow on our spare tire and finally reached our destination in the early afternoon: Monte León National Park.
Monte León is one of the newer parks in Argentina, so still a little off the beaten path, but it is *well worth* the detour! Even though it is teeny tiny (there is only one 20KM gravel road in and out of the park, and literally only one hiking trail), it is home to one of the largest colonies of Magellanic Penguins in Argentina: about 60,000! There was a park ranger parked at the trailhead, but we soon realized the poor guy was nothing more than a glorified parking attendant. There was no ranger on the trail nor at the viewing area, which meant there was no one monitoring the tourists to make sure they maintained the 5M distance rule and didn’t harass the penguins. And while we didn’t see anyone leaving the trail, we all had plenty of opportunity to stick our thumbs up a penguin’s ass since the birds chose to build their nests *literally* on the trail and underneath the sheltered platform. This is THE CLOSEST we have gotten to penguins to date. The only way we could have gotten closer is if we had actually picked them up and held them in our laps (which we totally could have done! NO ONE was there to stop us except our own conscience!).
Our new favorite park in Argentina: Monte León. It only has one hiking trail, but since there is a huge colony Magellanic Penguins at the end, one is really all they need!
The 2KM “Penguin Trail” is flat, easy terrain
We are in puma territory! There are several signs throughout the park warning visitors to be on alert for big cats. We didn’t see any, but we did see many dead penguin carcasses – the poor guys who built their nests at the edge of the colony make easy prey for puma, foxes and scuas.
Magellanic Penguins! These guys look practically identical to the penguins we saw in South Africa
While we try to obey the 5m distance rule, it gets difficult as many of the penguins build their nest RIGHT ON THE TRAIL.
The coastline in Monte León is covered with penguins – thousands nesting the in bushes, and thousands more coming in and out of the water
Chicks! The Magellanic Penguins have a similar breeding cycle to the species we saw on the Antarctic Peninsula – most of the chicks we see are almost done molting and will soon be heading into the water to feed themselves
And we thought we were getting close to the penguins in Antarctica! Two juveniles are “playing house” in a nest next to the walking trail. They must have decided we were getting too close to their territory because they come up to Igor and Lindsay in turn and start pecking at our pants – PENGUIN ATTACK!
The Penguin Trail closes every day at 5PM (to keep people out of the paths when pumas are most active), and we stayed out pretty much until the time limit. There was no way we would make it back to Río Gallegos that night, so we decided to drive deeper into the park and check out their campgrounds. At first we were a little apprehensive as the most secluded site was still right on top of a very raucous group of 3-4 families, playing really loud music and having a BBQ. Luckily for us, they were day trippers, and they rolled out of the campground just as we were getting our dinner ready. As we munched on our canned-bean burritos (with cheese! We’re getting fancy!), we soon realized we had new company: an armadillo and a fox crept into the neighboring site, and spent the next few hours sniffing around for crumbs and leftovers.
The sandy beaches are framed by stunning sandstone cliffs
We continue driving into the park and visit the viewpoint for “Punta Lobo” (Sea Lion Point) – it seems that most people leave the park after seeing the penguins as ours is the only car here
At the end of the road there is a small store/café, a campground and beach access for visitors
The beach at Monte León National Park
We book a campsite at the end of the park, where we get to enjoy an outdoor dinner for once, and with a killer view of the ocean
An armadillo sneaks into the campsite next to us, scavenging leftovers that the day-trippers left behind
Not far behind the armadillo is a small grey fox, who thinks he is being so sly