On Monday, the 3rd of April we just putt around Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina.

About 12 miles north of Comodoro we find the Faro San Jorge 1925 lighthouse, which had been recently restored.

We rode to the top of the hill overlooking Comodoro Rivadavia.  It is Argentina's version of our Houston.

The building with the Coca-Cola sign painted on it's side, is our hotel (Hotel Comodoro).

Caleta Cordoba, about 14 miles north of Comodoro, had a real Baja feeling.

On Tuesday we visited the National Oil Museum in Comodoro. This is the site where oil was first found in Argentina. Very nice museum, which covers exploration, the people, the equipment and the transportation of oil.

On the 5th we stayed in Trelew, which is about 225 miles north of Comodoro.  It is known as a Welsh community.  We ride to Gaiman, which is about 10 miles west of Trelew.  The ride is across desert, much like our Mojave desert.  The GPS indicates the town ahead, but there is nothing in sight.  About 1/2 mile off the road we see a cemetery, so we decide to check it out.

On a bluff in an unpopulated desert we find this huge cemetery. It had many of these buildings "with glass doors".
And this is what you saw inside the buildings. Seemed strange to us, as we are use to buried caskets and caskets hidden in walls.
Some of the buildings had the caskets covered with clean white linens, and fresh flowers.
Some contained as many as 10 bodies.
I have no idea what the headstones read, but it does not appear to be Spanish!
Evans, Williams and Owens seemed to be the most predominate names.

Then we rode over the bluff and found the village of Gaiman, with a population of about 4,300.  One of the sites to see is Parque El Desafio.  According to the Guinness Book of Records, this park is the largest in the world, which is made up of trash. It is made of over 50,000 wine and beer bottles, 30,000 aluminum cans, 25,000 spools of thread, 12,000 bottle caps and 5,000 plastic bottles, along with old cars, refrigerators and other odds and ends.

This is the park's creator.....  87 year old Joaquin Alonso.

A few of the items were right out of the "Flintstone's".
Riding around town, we realized we were no longer in Kansas.
The homes in Gaiman were all individualistic. Flat roof.
Wood shutters, to keep out the intense summer sun. Tiled roof.
Metal roof.
We are loving the Argentine gas prices. This computes out to $1.39 per gallon.......
Here is a 100 year old train tunnel which we rode through. I told Sandy as we enter the tunnel, that it was 10 miles long. She continued to yell at me to turn around, until she saw the end of the tunnel, which was 300 yards long, with a bend in the middle so that you can not see the end from the beginning.

Since this is a Welsh village, it has High Tea.  I had no idea what that meant, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do.  The places were VERY nice.  Much like a fine winery in Napa Valley, except they serve high tea.

We met Mike and Karen, both from the Island across from France!  Karen was Welsh, so she filled us out on what High Tea included. Mike and Karen were on a 7 month, around the world backpacking trip. Hat's off to them!
As the sign at the door stated, Princess Diana had visited this High Tea House.
Here we are, starting our sugar rush.
At the doorway hangs a Argentine and Welsh flag. All this in the center of the deserts of Patagonia........ Very strange.... Very Twilight Zone like.

Back in Trelew we notice that all the businesses are allowed to advertise "Over the Roadway". This is the first time we have seen this in South America.

On the 7th of April, we head for the Peninsula of Valdez and Puerto Madryn.  This is the only spot in the world where Killer Whales swim up on the beach to snack on seals.  You have all probably seen videos of this activity, which have been floating around on the internet lately.  Well, this is where the video was taken.

Puerto Madryn is about 120 miles from the far tip of the peninsula.
This is Puerto Piramides. Again, very "Baja" like.
The surface where the bike is parked was wet and slippery. Almost lost the bike to the sea!
The bike feels at home in this Baja like environment. Behind us is an island where there is suppose to be a lot of bird life. Saw none.......
We did about 40 miles of dirt roads and followed the coast line back to Puerto Madryn. Many nice beaches.

Unusual rocks overhang the sand beach.

Visited the Whale museum in Puerto Madryn. 

I though that this picture, taken in the coffee shop of the museum, had a surrealistic feel to it.....

That's it through April 7, 2006.

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