After 2 nights of little sleep, we slept like logs in Puerto San Julian. It was such a relief to get a good night’s sleep, we even slept in a bit until 7:30AM. We were packed up and out of the city by 8:15, on the road to Puerto Madryn, a 10 hour drive. Originally, we were supposed to stop in Comodoro Rivadavia for the night (about 5 hours from Puerto San Julian) but we had heard there was nothing to do there so we decided to just go all the way to Puerto Madryn. We continued on Route 3 and let me just say that though the roads are paved, the route is so incredibly boring. There is just nothing on the roads, barely even animals. I don’t understand the people who go down to Ushuaia and back up only by Route 3 and never see Route 40, it’s such a shame.
We arrived in Comodoro Rivadavia at 12:30PM and the road started to get interesting because we finally hit the coast of Argentina and saw the Atlantic Ocean. We decided to drive on because we weren’t hungry and didn’t need gas and we were so excited for the change of scenery. It didn’t last long, however, and we were back to flat steppe lands soon enough.
At 2:45pm we stopped at a gas station in Garayalde (a “town” that we saw on the map but we only saw a gas station so I don’t really know) and there was no gas. The attendant said it wouldn’t come until 6 or 7pm and there were a lot of people waiting. Luckily, we had 2 full gas containers in our trunk that we were saving for emergencies like this. So, with the help of the gas attendant, we put one container in our tank. We felt a bit awkward because everyone else around us looked irritated that we had gas and they didn’t but in places like these where the gas stations are scarce and far apart you must be prepared, otherwise you’ll be stranded in the stations until evening time…if you’re lucky. Also these gas stations always have a lot of diesel, since so few cars use them, so if you have a diesel car, not only is it cheaper, but you will almost always have gas. We were at the gas station for 1 hour, eating and filling up the car, and then drove on about 60km from that station there was another station and there we could fill up our car with ease.
By 6PM we were in Puerto Madryn which is nothing like what we expected. It was a big city, unlike Puerto Santa Cruz and Puerto San Julian, with a lot of beachgoers. No one we talked to about this city mentioned these facts so we thought it would be a fairly small city with some more sea life to observe. We also heard it was pretty expensive and very touristy to observe the penguins and sea lions, and since we had already seen them, we decided that we wouldn’t stay an extra day in the city and would just spend the night.
The city is a typical beach city with many hotels and beach houses, restaurants and excursion agencies. It was a nice place but there were way too many people. We went to the Punta Luevas campsite, which is owned by ACA, and is on the beach. It was a very big and very organized campground and you could even pay with a credit card. It costs us AR$120 for the night which wasn’t so bad (considering the other places we stayed) and it was a pretty nice facility and well organized. We decided to set up camp and walk around.
It was about 7PM and there was barely anyone on the beach but we wanted ice cream and we passed so many places driving in. We walked to one called Bomke-Heladeria Artesanal and we were so happy, not only did they have a great selection of ice cream (for a stand on the beach) but you could also get waffles! For AR$35 you get the equivalent of 4 regular sized waffles but also have it covered in dulce de leche, nuts and a scoop of ice cream. Compared to the whole size of the dessert the scoop is actually really small but it was really good and is definitely a 2 person job to complete. We enjoyed our waffle watching the sunset, satisfied with our decision
###Map:
###Numbers:
- Left Puerto San Julian @ 8:30AM
- Arrived in Comodoro Rivadavia @ 12:30PM, continued on
- AR$35 = Cherries
- AR$320 = Gas [AR$7.42/L]
- Arrived in Puerto Madryn @ 6PM
- AR$120 = Camping Punta Luevas
- AR$35 = Waffles
- Total = AR$510