Brett's Southern Crossing

The Rio Negro divides Buenos Aires province from Rio Negro province, and twin cities on either side of the river mark the farthest south and farthest north cities of the respective provinces.  Viedma is the capital of the province, and while the cities barely rates a mention in my Lonely Planet I decided to stop in briefly since sometimes these out of the way places can turn out to be amazing.  It also worked out as a convenient place to rest since it is a 12 hour night-bus ride from Buenos Aires (city).

I began to get sick with some kind of stomach bug just before leaving, and I ended up spending the entire first day locked in my room.  The second day I felt a little better and decided to try exploring.  The guidebook seems much more positive about Carmen de Patagones, so I began by taking a ferry across the river (in this case a small boat with a capacity of around 8 for $1.50 ARS.  Carmen de Patagones seemed entirely dead, without even a cafe open.  There were quite a few people setting up sound stages and shopping stalls for some kind of festival scheduled for the weekend.  Although the architecture is kind of interesting, with plenty of old spanish-era buildings, they’re low and a bit run down which to me didn’t make them as attractive as the Lonely Planet author seemed to find them.

Viedma looked like a surprisingly nice place to live, and had a few museums.  The tourist office  was filled with enthusiastic people and had lots of nice brochures and maps available.  But the museums were only open from 10-12 and 6-8, and the timing never worked for me to see them.  Welcome to South America…siestas are very long!

The only other thing to do in Viedma is to visit El Condor, the small beach town 30km down the river at the mouth with the gulf.  Since it is out of season the town was basically deserted, and the tourist office had closed early.  The main attraction here is that the largest colony of parrots in the world live in the cliffs near the beach.  They’re called Burrowing Parrots.  Since the tourist office was closed I wasn’t sure exactly where the cliffs were and had to explore myself.  Two stray dogs near the office began to follow me, and spent the the next two hours walking behind me (just bored I suppose).

Eventually I found the cliffs and sure enough, packs of parrots were flying around well above me.  It was dusk so I only was able to see their silhouettes.  Eventually I did see a parrot up close when my canine friends found a dead one in the bushes…they promptly tore it to shreds and ate it wings, feathers, and all.  Keep it classy guys…

This might all sound a bit depressing.  Many days are a bust, but these days weren’t altogether unpleasant, just a bit unproductive.  From here I’m heading to Puerto Madryn which should have lots of wildlife and lots of activity.  As for Viedma, Carmen, and El Condor, my recommendation would be to only come in January and only if you’ve got plenty of time.  January would have the advantages of warmer weather, the peak of the season for fledgling parrots, and it would be vacation season in Argentine so the beach town of El Condor would be active.

On my last day of class last month I was lucky enough to witness a tradition I had heard of for new University graduates (my classes are run through a well known University here).  Most of the Argentine students are off in January and February, but a few were still working and apparently had finished their final exams that Friday afternoon.

In Argentina it’s customary to “celebrate” completion of final exams by a friend or relative by mercilessly pelting them with food.  I only saw the end of this ritual, and my video isn’t very good.  It’s a shame, I can imagine this would be great to watch start to finish!  In the brief time I was there I saw them hit with raw eggs, flour, a jar of honey, shaving foam, feathers, and who knows what else:

And a few closeup photos for detail: