Wales and Whales...

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So we left Buenos Aires on Tuesday 19 September and caught the overnight bus all the way down the East coast of Argentina to Puerto Madryn. It was a 20 hour trip but fortunately we were in a business class style bus so was pretty luxurious. They had a bingo game for which Amelia called the English-Spanish translation and then went on to win! They also insist on playing the bloodiest, most violent and scary films imaginable at about 11pm!
Puerto Madryn is the nearest town to the Peninsula Valdes which is a funny shaped national park sticking out into the Atlantic. We did a terrifying jeep tour up and down impossibly steep lunar coastal terrain. The most exciting part was the whale watching. We were worried that they wouldn't come out to play for us but luckily when we arrived there were about 12 whales in the bay so we could pretty much take our pick. They're absolutely massive and come up very close to the boat - swim under it infact which is a bit scary! We also saw the bizarre elephant seals which are the fattest most immobile things ever and lie on the beach like giant slugs.
Quite randomly we bumped into Amelia's brother's friends who were staying in a hostel just down the road from us and we joined them for some delicious seafood at the seafront restaurant.
We also went to see the penguin colony at Punta Tombo. Apparently penguins have the same partners for 20 odd years and always return to the same nesting site. They're just coming back for the breeding season at the moment - lots of boys waiting for their girlfriends to turn up! They live in little burrows and rather like lemmings can only walk in a straight line so you have to get out of their way because they can't work out how to avoid you. Bushes are a problem for them.
On the way back from the penguins we passed through Gaiman which is the largest remaining Welsh colony. It seems the Welsh conquered a small part of Argentina. All that's left is a very kitsch tea shop and a few Welsh flags. Apparently they still speak Welsh there though and eat lots of scones.
On Friday 22 September we took another overnight bus all the way across Argentina to Bariloche. Film this time was "When a Stranger Calls". We both had our earphones in with our music at full volume but it wasn't quite enough to block out the stalker breathing and general screaming! We've hit Bariloche at the end of the ski season and before the summer seaon really gets underway so there's fewer activities than usual. But it's set in Argentina's beautiful Lake District. Very fancy hotels (which we managed to gatecrash for drinks!) and lots of nice shops. We did a boat trip on Sunday out into Bariloche's nearest lake. It's truly spectacular lake and mountain scenery. As well as a random orange wood which looks like something out of a Disney film.

We're planning on leaving over the next few days for Mendoza. We'll cross over into Chile to see Santiago but we haven't quite worked out how we're going to get into Bolivia.

Thanks for reading and keep in touch!
xxxxx

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Photos

On the boat
Mmm...nice life jackets!

Comments

[Carol]

Looks amazing! Keep up the blogging, am very jealous but loving the photos and chat. xxx

[eva and patsy]

great whales and wales
wonderful pix -well done! lots of love mummy

[Sam]

sounds like you're having a whale of a time
sorry, had to be said. sounds like great fun, and great photos. enjoy Santiago! S x

[Cousin Alan]

Boyos in the Hood
Which of the chaps was Santiago? Oh, sorry.

[Nicola]

Wow!!
You look like you're having an awesome time. It looks almost as fun as the LPC! The little pengiuns are so cute - can you bring one home for me please?

[Maddie]

Beautiful pics - even better than my daily scan of Glamour.com. A - the grey New Look shoe boots are EVERYWHERE on High Holborn. You may need to avoid on your return....

[Michael]

Looks like you girls are having a whale of a time! Sorry...