Here are some impressions from our trip…

Since 2003, geologist and paleontologist dr. jorge calvo has been digging and researching at this location. Several of his finds as well as some replicas of dinosaurs are exhibited in his mostly privately financed museum. To all overlanders: the lake nearby is a perfect place to stay overnight.

we left the atlantic coast and drove towards the andes to the city of neuquen. Nearby is the valle de la luna rojo, (red moon valley) a great place to watch the sunset and rise. And of course the stars at night…

Why are there no people on the beach? one reason is that even at the beginning of december the bathing season has not yet started, and the other is that it is nudist beach. One of only two in argentina and it’s a no go to take photos of people in this area.

At playa escondida there is not so much artificial light and so the night sky is getting dark enough to take photos.

A small town the atlantic ozean, which every year remains in an almost 10-month twilight sleep, until the hoards of tourists invade again. However, many businesses do not seem to wake up after the corona crisis, even in front of many properties is are signs the front yard “vende”, for sale.

The surrounding area has a lot to offer besides the almost endless beaches, for example the small, almost abandoned campsite tapera de lopez, once a fishing site, which is now rather used by small, modest sailboats. A variety of birds can be seen here, such as flamingos, hummingbirds, raptors, herons, owls. Not far from here there is a hot spa “marinas park” for bathers with a healthy immune system, because many swallows use the poles of the pool roof as a safe nesting place and the pool as a water closet.

During the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983), students, left-wing activists and artists disappeared. They were tortured, killed or dropped half-dead from planes over the river. In their memory there are inscription plaques with the names of the victims.

9000 of the probably 30,000 victims are already named on the stone walls and if information about further victims becomes known, their names will be added to the stone tablets.

We visited the site together with our friend damián, whom we knew from our last visit to buenos aires. Thank you damián for your explanations.

after 7 years on the road and 18 months of downtime due to corona, it was time to thoroughly maintain the car again. Marcos had given us at the last visit a list of parts that were now installed by him. thank you marcos for your help, now it runs like greased again.