#4 Patagonia in three days

Three people, three days, three Patagonian English institutes and 1400km of open road– this was one epic work journey that I won’t forget in a while!

Let the journey begin...

Setting off with my Argentine supervisor and an Irish teacher at 6am on Sunday morning, we hit the highway to travel south and then west from Comodoro Rivadavia.  The rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean catching the early morning suns ray’s as they crashed onto the stretches of empty, unspoilt beaches and rugged, rocky coastline; all of this contrasting with the harsh, dry landscape that faded into the horizon, scattered with oil rigs and oil extractors. 

Six hours later we were pulling into the green and pretty town of Perito Moreno where the snowy peaks of the Andes protruded in the distance.  The following 4 hours I saw many nervous faces of students from 8 to 18 years old, all here to take their end-of-year English exams!

View from the pit stop - Cordillera in the distance

The largest lake in Argentina and the town of Cherries

Quickly packing up our boxes of sheets, projectors and cables we jumped in the car and drove an hour west towards the Chilean border to arrive in Los Antiguos, a small and beautiful town which every January hosts the Cherry Festival. 

Travelling closer to the snow-capped Cordillera, the dry and flat expanses of shrubbery changed.  The road would unexpectedly descend into shallow green valley’s dotted with some cattle, lush trees and a central house – this being the Argentine estancia, or farmstead.  Soon we dropped down to skirt the beautiful shores of the largest lake in Argentina, Lago Buenos Aires, whose waters also pass into Chile.

Los Antiguos and Lago Buenos Aires

Finally we had left the miles of dryness behind to see a landscape much more varied and intensified by the evening sunlight.  On one side of the road, a collection of rust-coloured, peculiarly pointy peaks sat incongruously, whilst on the other, sporadic green fields and pretty trees bordered the navy blue, agitated waters; in the distance, the warm yellow cliffs outlining the other side of the lake gleamed.

Drawing up outside another public school, this time in Los Antiguos, we rushed inside to do yet more exams – only 2 and a half hours late starting!  Finally, at 12pm midnight we were finished...we hadn’t really stopped going since 6am! 

A delicious meal in an elegant restaurant accompanied by two bottles of the best Mendocino wine was definitely in order!  Now I’m no wine connoisseur but this was gorgeous!  We headed to our hotel, shattered but satisfied and the moment my head hit the pillow I was gone.  I had been waiting for this hotel all week – first time in five months that I have had my own bedroom!

Gobernador Gregores, Gauchos and the only restaurant in town

Gobernador Gregores

That night’s sleep was far too short, and at 10am we were back on the road to head further south to Gobernador Gregores, a small town in the middle of a dry plateau filled with Argentine guachos.  

Gauchos are an important part of traditional Argentine culture.  

Gauchos are the ‘cowboys’ of Argentina, living in the countryside, riding horses, herding cattle, drinking mate and are easily distinguishable by the clothes they wear – particularly their soft, material cap.  When I first learnt about this way of life I expected it to be a dying tradition embraced only by the older generation of Argentina but I have been proven very wrong on this part.

The tiny English institute in Gobernador Gregores had a constant surge of kids for 5 hours, and as the last class came to an end I breathed a sigh of relief!  I could not take anymore!

Dinner was at the only open restaurant in town where a TV murmured with heavy metal music and the cutlery laid on the table sat neatly in clear plastic bags...very classy! 

We moved to the one and only pub in town; though I use the term ‘pub’ loosely as, in general, the volume of music in these places makes conversation more of a shouting match associated with a nightclub!  

Anyway, we were clearly the only foreigners here, accompanied by a handful of young, mostly male, gauchos enjoying the pool table, table football and, incongruously, one kid sat alone in front of a wide-screen TV playing video games!

Some pretty old rock paintings...

After our two days of intense, hard work we deserved a break and decided to travel back to Comodoro Rivadavia and break up the 8 hour journey with a stop at the UNESCO world heritage site, Las Cuevos de las Manos. 

Canon del Rio Pinturas

45km off the main road we came to a hidden away canyon, lined at the bottom with a stream, grass and swaying willow trees.  A guide took us along the side of the canyon and underneath sheer drops of rock to show us over 800 paintings of hands, circles and native animals. 

Las Cuevos de las Manos

These paintings date back around 8,000 years and were created by the indigenous Indian population, the Tehuelches.  Perhaps a mark of territory they also depict the daily lives and staple foods of the people, notably the commonly seen lama-like animal found in Patagonia, guanacos.  The rich red, brown, orange and black colours of the hand prints and shapes were made with raw materials and are so unexpectedly vibrant and in good condition that, for me, I found it hard to comprehend the true age of these paintings.

Tired and weary we spent the next 6 hours retracing our steps through wind-swept Patagonia to arrive into Comodoro at 11pm.  The mammoth journey of over 1400km (870miles) through Patagonian wilderness had allowed me to discover hidden away towns and had shown me a very different side to the meaning of a ‘long distance’ journey!  After so many stops I could not quite believe that this stop was actually our final stop!

Home Again

Patagonian Guanaco

I returned to my temporary home and family and was greeted with smiles and a reminder of my home back in Loughborough – in the corner of the living room glistened a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, much like the one which my family 12,000 km away will soon be putting up too.  What a small world!  It was time for me to get a good night sleep before I returned to work the next day!