Kyle Berg

We pulled into Comandante Luis Piedrasbuenas around 5 a.m. and the sun was already shining. I had no idea how to get to Parque Monte Leon or what to expect because there was very little information available. All of the bus companies were closed, but there were a handful of people scattered throughout the room.  A few people recommended checking with the taxi stand across the street. I inquired with them and was told it would be 100 pesos each way. I told them to wait a few minutes and walked back to the bus station. A couple of men were standing outside talking and I struck up a conversation with them. They thought 100 pesos was ridiculous and one man offered to bring me to the park for half that much. My first thought was to mistrust him, but the rural Argentines were a different breed than the people of Buenos Aires.

Pablo invited me to his beat up Renault and we hummed along Ruta 3 toward Parque Monte Leon. He was a laid back country man who had worked a variety of odd jobs throughout his life. As he puffed on his cigarette and jabbered away, it became obvious he found the companionship much more appealing that the 50 pesos he was earning.  The park was closed for another 3 hours and I thought I’d have to wait there until it opened. But this was personal, rural service and Pablo offered to bring me back to a park outside of town for a few hours, after which he would return to bring me back to the park. (He obviously was not pressed for time). I walked around and took a short nap before Pablo returned with his daughter Maria-Christina and we headed to Monte Leon. After checking in at the headquarters, we drove the 20 km to the beach and the camping area. Along the way we first passed by flat, uninteresting land filled with small bushes. But these gave way to large hills (or small mountains) that looked like something from Egypt. We arrived at the beach, dropped my things by the camping area, and they agreed to pick me up on the 26th around 7 p.m. I paid Pablo the 50 pesos and thanked the Lord for taking care of me.

Parque Monte Leon had only been open since 2004 and was not very well known. Add the fact that it was Christmas Eve and I was alone in the park. The solitude was incredible. I set up my tent for the first time since buying it on eBay in August and marvelled at the quality difference between The North Face and what I had bought in Argentina. It was only 10 in the morning, but it felt like 2 p.m. because of the long days and the force of the sun. I had a quick lunch and was on my way to check out the park.

I worked my way along the coast and stopped briefly to look at Isla del Leon. This island was barely separated from the mainland and home to thousands of birds that nested on its crest. They were so numerous that people had made a business out of extracting guano from the island. Next I continued on to a vantage point that looked down on a sea lion colony. Here the animals awkwardly waddled up the slippery embankment and beached themselves to rest. I decided to return to this point the following day and try to get a closer view. I walked up and down some of the small bluffs and worked my way along the coast before coming upon a long beach filled with penguins. It was hard work walking along that pebble beach and progress came slowly. These penguins were obviously not used to human presence like those at Punta Tombo and quickly scattered as I passed between them. They were in such a hurry that they often got on their belly and did their best to “run” on all fours along the rocks. I felt bad for disturbing them, but wasn’t sure where else to go.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally came to the end of the beach and closer to my destination. Monte Leon was best known for a special cave and it was the main reason I had come to the park. During my last bus ride, a man told me that the cave had collapsed last year. I had no way of confirming this and didn’t want to believe it. At the very least, I had to find out for myself. I thought it was low tide and searched high and low for an entrance to the cave. At one point, I even walked across the top of a hill populated by thousands and thousands of screeching birds. This set them off and I soon discovered why. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of eggs and baby birds littered throughout that area and the birds saw me as a predator. I made a special effort to avoid the eggs and searched for the skylight area of the cave (pictured to the right). But it wasn’t there and I got off that island as quickly as possible, plugging my ears on the way back. That sound was dreadful and just plain creepy after a while. In reality, low tide would come an hour or two later and it was then that I was able to go around and to the front.

Unfortunately, the cave I had seen in pictures was no more. I would later read that it had collapsed in September of 2006. What a shame. Given the soft, mud-like consistency of the hills throughout the park, it was understandable. The smell from the birds above was less than pleasing, but I worked my way along an area vacated by the ocean during low tide. I was able to get some pictures of a small cave and the cracks in the ground that remained filled with ocean water even during the low tide. On the way back, rather than walking along the pebble beach, I carefully made my way across the ocean floor, watching out for the depressions of varying depth. The trip back was exhausting, it was hot, and I had burned through my 3 liters of water earlier, drinking about 2 of them and spilling the rest when the hose came off the water bladder. I had been out in the sun for more than 9 hours and was definitely feeling it. Water had never tasted as good as those bottles I drank that evening.

The only person I saw the rest of the day was the park ranger who came and asked me not to walk along the penguin beach because it disturbed the animals. Other than that, I was basically the owner of the park. I felt very disappointed that the cave was gone. But not having a car, there was no leaving the park until Pablo returned on the 26th. So I settled into my tent and got some sleep.