Puerto Pirámide

The Peninsula Valdes is a chunk of land, a couple of hundred kilometres in circumferences, that juts out from the Eastern coast of Argentina into the Atlantic. (Though it's not marked on my little map here, it's the point that sticks out near Rawson.) It's dry and dusty, not much to see inland besides salt deposits and scrubby bushes, and the shoreline consists of sheer 70m cliffs dropping off to the sea ( with a couple of beaches here and there.) The cliffs shields the approach of the cold wind from the west, warming the water in and around the peninsula, and thus attracting all kinds of marine wildlife, such as sea lions, elephant seals, dolphins, orcas, and other types of whales.

Most people who come to visit the peninsula stay in the town Puerto Madryn, on the mainland, but after 4 months of urban delirium in Buenos Aires I was looking for a nature escape, so I spent two nights in tiny Puerto Pirámide ( pop. 200), on the peninsula itself.

Paradise, really. This Nova Scotian has always found it hard to be on a beach where you have to jockey for a bit of sand between music-blasting jocks, kids playing paddle ball, and suntanning Barbie-wannabes. But the beaches near Puerto Pirámides, wide, wild, and most importantly, practically empty, had more in common with the never-ending beaches in the Maritimes than most. Just the way I like it.

I went on a boat excursion to see the colony of sea lions just down the coast from the village, and to do a bit of snorkeling. I rented a bike and biked around the area aurrounding the village. Surrounding the beach there are lots of cliffs and dunes to explore. And I stayed in the what I think may be the quietest hostel in the world. The village was so relaxed and the whole place emenated peace and quiet.

As the the girl from the hostel with whom I spent an afternoon at the beach put it, "Amo este lugar." ( I LOVE this place!) I would have to agree with her.