Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
3-6pm)
helps with travelers' needs. Visitors can access the internet at
India
(Av de las Bal-
lenas; per hr AR$60; 10:30am-8pm)
and take out cash from the ATM at
Banco de
Chubut
(Av de las Ballenas)
.
Getting There & Around
The Mar y Valle bus service travels from Puerto Madryn to Puerto Pirámides (AR$40,
1½ hours) at 9:45am and returns to Madryn at 6pm. Monday through Friday there are
6:30am and 4pm departures, returning at 8am and 1pm. Bus tours from Puerto Madryn
may allow passengers to get off here.
Around Puerto Pirámides
If you're driving around the peninsula, take it easy. Roads are
ripio
and washboard, with
sandy spots that grab the wheels. If you're in a rental car, make sure you get all the de-
tails on the insurance policy. Hitchhiking here is nearly impossible and bike travel is long
and unnervingly windy.
ISLA DE LOS PÁJAROS
In Golfo San José, 800m north of the isthmus, this bird sanctuary is off-limits to humans,
but visible through a powerful telescope. It contains a replica of a chapel built at Fuerte
San José.
THE LITTLE PRINCE
From an apartment in Manhattan in 1941, a French pilot and writer, in exile from the
battlefields of Europe, scripted what would become one of the most-read chil-
dren's fables, The Little Prince. Antoine St-Exupéry, then 40 years old, had spent
the previous 20 years flying in the Sahara, the Pyrenees, Egypt and Patagonia -
where he was director of Aeropostal Argentina from 1929 to 1931. Intertwined in
the lines of The Little Princeand Asteroid B612 are images of Patagonia ingrained
from flights over the windy, barren landscape.
Legend has it that the shape of Isla de los Pájaros, off the coast of Península
Valdés, inspired the elephant-eating boa constrictor (or hat, as you may see it),
while the perfectly conical volcanoes on the asteroid are modeled on those seen en
