Mum can I have a sealion?

---

"Sealions don´t have hands, so they use their mouths and teeth to check you out". This was both the warning and the reality of our fantastic dive we did yesterday next to a colony of sealions. Fully suited up for the dive in 16 degree water we spent an hour down with these fantastic creatures. Although not the best visibility it didn´t really matter as they come right up to you. We weren´t expecting them to be so friendly but they´re so inquisitive - nibbling you and swimming around you to play; you can hold their fins and tails and put your fists in their mouths (they don´t bite that hard). Just like a pet dog in water really, and yes i want one. A highlight of our trip for sure.

Anyway Happy New Year to everyone, our last update was Christmas...

Sucre (one of Bolivia´s 2 capitals) was a good place to spend Christmas. With nice european architecture, attractive little streets and a few nice restaurants we managed to relax, eat (and drink) well over Christmas. A lively little market was also good fun (certainly suitable for buying each other silly Christmas presents), particularly when trying to compare prices between the stalls to try to avoid Mr and Mrs westerner mark ups! Our only foray of note in Sucre was to the Dinopark (or whatever it was called) which boasted 130 million year old fossilised footprints of dinosaurs on a quarry wall. Some of these are 80cm in diameter (belonging to some very large ex-dino). Unfortunately they are only visible from 300m away (and only really seen through blackpool pier binoculars - 50p in the slot jobs), so the fact that they still survive is more impressive than actually seeing them yourself!

We were out of Sucre on the 27th and managed to find a very cheap flight to Santa Cruz. Delight all round as it avoided a 20 hour bus journey which we assumed went on some very dodgy roads as distance wise it wasn´t that far. Santa Cruz is where the new money is in Bolivia due apparently to the main industry being the growth of cocaine! Because of their wealth the area wants autonomy/independence from the rest of Bolivia. However fortunately they´d decided to have a break in their protests, riots, blockades and calls for autonomy/independence and were we assume having a chilled out festive period while we were there! The city sits much lower than the other main cities and is surrounded by jungle - cue humidity and mosquitoes. We also found it didn´t have that much to offer. The nice buildings and streets of Sucre or the hustle and bustle of La Paz were replaced by dull buildings and no real atmosphere. What we did find were a few expensive shops (missing form the rest of Bolivia) and some massive cars. Looks like the cocaine trade is alive and well anyway?! We went to the zoo which although lacking some facilities (having said that i´ve seen a lot worse conditions for animals in France) they had a lot of native animals and a parrot breeding programme. We saw jaguars, pumas, humping tortoises (these things are worse than rabbits - if a bit slower), flamingoes (yes Sarah they´re pink) and a fair few birds. Apart from this we did very little in Santa Cruz apart from chill out around the attractive central plaza drinking wine and coffee (someone´s got to do it).

Itching to get on the move again we were glad our flight both left for and subsequesntly landed in Buenos Aires on the 30th. Greater Buenos Aires is home to some 14 million people and is massive, but most things to see and do are fortunately quite central. We were there for 3 days over New Year, with the intention of returning for a few days before having to leave for home. So far, we´re very impressed. It´s got a big city atmosphere (well it would do wouldn´t it) with a strong european feel much like Paris or London. The streets are lively, the buildings impressive, the restaurants busy and everything is open all hours. Areas like San Telmo with its lively street market are also great for a stroll. The shopping as well looks great so we´re already planning on dumping all the travelling stuff and getting some bits and pieces (if we have any money left) before boarding our Jumbo home. For New Years we found a restaurant in the revamped dock area of Puerto Madero that served a lot of good food and inclusive champagne all night. We had a good night: champagne, fireworks, dancing and a 6am finish (early by local standards probably).

On the 2nd we headed to Puerto Iguazu, 17 hours away by bus (the first of many mammoth bus journeys) up in the north-east jungles of Argentina. The only real reason for our visit was to see the impressive Iguazu Falls. Unfortunately the heavens decided to do their own water falling during our 3 days there but we got enough breaks in the rain and cloud to enjoy our stay. The first day we spent 6 hours odd on the Argentinian side. The Iguazu Falls are spread out over a large area and you get close up to the waterfalls here via a few walking circuits. The highlight being the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat) view. Although a little wet from the spray you get a close up view of the most powerful part of this huge waterfall. We also opted for a 12 minute boat ride with a close up view of a couple of the falls. We were drenched after - I guess we weren´t expecting it to be quite so "close up".

In Iguazu we bumped into a couple we´d met in Uyuni and also been in the same group as on the death road cycle. Well I say the same group, at the speed Sarah was going I think at times we were problably closer to the following day's group than the one we should have been on! Anyway it´s a small travellers´ world and we had a cheap drink and dinner with them that night. One highlight was, as English, being given the "Margaret Thatcher/Iraq Terrorist" tag by some street vendor, who we managed to annoy by telling him his clay model looked nothing like the girl he was trying to sculpt - it was true and he did ask!

The next day before our bus journey back to BA we visited the Brazilian side of the falls. Not purely to obtain another passport stamp, the Brazilian side actually offers a different perspective on the falls. We only needed 3 hours there as the views are much more accessible. After waiting for an age to get in and get the bus once in the park (we felt like we were in Disney World here - much more touristy and theme park-like than the Argentinian side) we made it to the falls walkway. Here you get a better overview of the entire falls and the view from the catwalk at the end was superb. I think here I appreciated the size of the falls much better but which side we prefer we´re still not sure. It was good to see both.

Our bus back to BA was a joyous 20 hours (think our driver was on go slow) and as we´re verging on the masochistic we´d booked another 20 hour bus journey for 6 hours time. To get the joints moving we headed to Recoleta cemetery - not every day a cemetery is a main tourist attraction but this one is "home" now to some of the wealthiest Argentine families. The crypts for the dead are impressive with statues and the like competing along rows of crowded avenues. We found the grave of Evita, sang a song from the show and then got on our way back to the bus station. With our new found love of massive bus journeys (I hope you can sense the sarcasm) our next 20 hours took us down to Patagonia and Puerto Madryn. The relief is that Argentina can 1. build roads that aren´t as potholed as a teenager´s acned skin (Boliva take note) and 2. run buses that have room for people larger than Ronnie Corbett (Bolivia yep its you again). Fortunately we´ve had 3 nights here which is just about long enough for the brain to accept boarding another 20 hour bus this evening.

The bus journey was worth it though as we´ve had a good time here. Puerto Madryn is very busy at the moment due to its holiday resort appeal. There´s a big beach here (although not the nicest) and being January and the Argentine holiday season, nationals have flocked here. Unfortunately Argentina is the one country in the whole trip we´ve hit at peak time making it busy and more expensive. Anyway we came for a different reason - the Peninsula Valdes. A wildlife haven, we took a day trip out there. Unfortunately the Southern Right Whales are gone at this time of year but we did get out to see the little (and still comical) Magellanic pinguinos, the huge elephant seals and sealions. Now I´ve set myself a target of trying to eat my body weight in steak over the month here but I will still be pushed to match an elephant seal´s 3 or 4 tonnes! The male sealions come in at a paltry 300kgs but make up for it with their constant fighting and barking. At the moment there are also a few babies which seem to be constantly trying to avoid all this (a few do get squashed apparently). The average harem size for a male sealion is 8-10 ladies but the record stands at something like 150 - now that´s a lot of maintenance... and visa cards!

We were also fortunate to see a pod of about 6 Orcas (killer whales) near to the coast. The females were teaching the young to beach themselves (intentionally strand is the correct term I think) in preparation for the upcoming "sealion eating season". The Orcas here are some of the only ones in the world who come 3/4s out of the water to feast on unsuspecting sealions or seal pups. Although at a distance (oh for a 5000 pound camera), it was still great to see.

On the way back we also saw some little Maras (big Hares) that live here. Apparently they have a bit of a kinky mating ritual: when the male finds a woman, he pees on the female´s feet, if she´s up for it she´ll accept him, if not she turns around, pees in his face and then hops away. Not sure if this originates from the Netherlands but certainly is a bit strange.

Yesterday was our fantastic Sealion dive and yet another steak dinner. They have a load of steak here and the cheapest wine. Walking down the supermarket wine aisle, i´m tempted just to set up camp and stay there.

So 3 weeks left of Argentina (and maybe a foray into Chile) and then back. Argentina is a fairly well developed country, the only reason accessible for budget travellers being the peso crash 6 years ago. There´s some great stuff to see (we will only touch the surface in the month we´re here) but on the flip side we haven´t found it as friendly as the rest of South America as yet. Hoping that the next 3 weeks goes well and we can get everywhere we want and that 3 weeks of steak and wine don´t mean i have to pay an excess weight fine for the trip home in 3 weeks!!

---

Photos

Sealions
Much more majestic under the water!

Frisky Tortoises at Santa Cruz Zoo
Slowly does it!

Little Pinguino
And what would you like for main course sir?

Comments

[Mum]

No, you can't have one......
because I'll end up looking after it like Beatrice............, and the pond is not big enough, or the bath-and they smell!!