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Dearest Readers,
It gives me great pleasure in announcing that without a doubt for me, Puerto Madryn, the Pennisular Valdes is my favourite place so far in Argentina, and yes that has everything to do with the fact we saw Southern Right Whales both from the shore and in a boat 😊
Anyhow, where to begin - so when I last wrote we left El Calafate and took a bus (via Rio Gallegos) to arrive in Puerto Madryn. I won´t bore you with long bus tales however a few things to highlight is the cute kid at Rio G who took much amusement from patting mr gently and running away, the conductor of the bus who seemed to like the English chicas and kept checking we were ok, along with a fellow female passenger who kept looking back and smiling at us!! We arrived Puerto Madryn 12.30pm following the bus adventure from El Calafate. The route took us through endless Patagonia desert where we saw a few dozen sheep, and some "tasty" looking calves! The weather is much warmer already compared to El Calafate so we wandered to out hostel, which was frankly a building site! We put our
bags in the room, were met by a very keen lady who was scrubbing the floors and decided we needed to find a different hostel so we checked the address details for another hostel and walked there...the hostel, Chepatagonia was emmaculate and the manager happy to take us is so, we wandered back to the building site, apologised to Wan and left!
Settled into second hostel of day we had a short wander around the town centre and by the shore, looking out for whales of course! Having got the heating working, Brim cooked up some lovely steak for dinner and we were set 😊
Next day we had decided to hire bikes so we could head up the shore to a place called El Doradillo where we were informed that at high tide (about 2pm that day) you could see whales from the shore. So, bikes a bit rusty but ready we were given a pump, instructions to take provisions and watch the wind and we headed off. We were informed part of the way was on gravel road so knew it would not be too easy a bike ride however nothing could have prepared us for
the wind and dust on the way back! There were a number of occassions where either myself or Brim would scream into the wilderness as dust was in our eyes and the peddling was getting us know where. We were shattered (at least 20kms there and 20 kms back again) but it really was worth it because of the sight of the whales as we stepped onto the beach and looked out to the water. There were a few families along the coastline and some of the babies were obviously quite playful as they rolled into the water and stuck there faces up out of the water on a few occasions. Although not captured on camera I even witnessed one whale breaching a couple of times where they literally lauch themselves out of the water and splash back in again. Absolutely a...ma....zing 😊 We spent a few good hours, watching the whales and moving along the coast to keep up with them. At times the whales must have only been about 30 odd meters from the shore line. There were a number of other people at the whale obseration area and on the beach but once you were staring out
at the whales in the water you could have been the only one there. Brim and I tried as we might to capture their tails out of the water, I think we both ended up taking alot of pictures that day! Anyhow, the sunshine was warm on our faces as we ate our sarnies and watched the mammals in the water....it was brilliant, in fact, I have tears in my eyes just thinking and typing about it now 😊
As the day was drawing on we knew we had a couple of hours ride before us, so reluctantly we headed back. As mentioned above the cycling was tough and yes my bum was pretty sore that evening and the next day. In fact, Brim and I slept very well that evening from our excursion 😊
Next day we decided to try and take it a bit easier and headed for the town of Gaiman which is a Welsh settlement in the heart of Patatgonia! In order to get there however we needed to take a 1 hour bus journey to Trelew and from there a 30 odd minute bus to Gaiman. Trelew is pretty boring and nothing to
write home about so I won´t. We wandered in the town for about an hour, decided we were not bothered about the dinosaur museum and headed to Gaiman hoping it was going to be this lovely little place, a reminder of Wales.....we were slightly underwhelmed! Gaiman was not pretty, it didn´t look particualrly Welsh and the atmosphere was of a ghost town until the bus journey back to Trelew when the bus was boarded by school children making there way home. Anyway, we decided to make the most of it and followed the walking tour provided by the tourist information office. Brim acted as my guide as we walked up at various streets looking at the old post office, the first house (which did look slightly more Welshish) or the first missionary house...and even a 300 meter tunnel. We started to wlak down it but because of the bend in the tunnel it soon became pitch black, seriously dark so we didn´t even know if anyone else was in the tunnel with us....suffice to say we quickly headed back out again! Anyhow, walking tour complete the town was in its siesta with nothing really open and no one around so
we headed back to Peurto Madryn via Trelew. On the bus poor Brim was like a giant standing up against all the local people who kept looking her up and down! We met a nice guy on the bus from Trelew whose English was pretty good. He told us some facts about Peurto Madryn and the local art exhibition!
Following the excitement of Gaiman I was not sure what our next adventure would entail...a guided tour to the Peninsular Valdes where we had booked to go on a boat ride for whale watching 😊
Our guide for the day was Leo, only myself and Brim were on the tour (low season again) so instead of a minibus we were in his cosy 4x4 all to ourselves. 😊 Leo was a brilliant driver over all the gravel roads and his English was pretty good considering he had onoy been learning for 2 months. The Penisular was a good 1.5 hours from Madryn so as he drove Leo gave us a bit of information about the area and the animals etc. The Valdes is a protected area in Patagonia which is made up of 45 different Ranch owners who keep sheep
on the desert land and conservation of the animals, those animals being various birds, grey foxes, armadillos, Guanaco´s (llama) elephant seals, sea lions and the whales! We had to pay an entrance fee into the park and had a short stop at an eco-centre to learn more about the area and the wildlife. Leo basically drove us the whole day from one part of the Peninsular to another. The Valdes is flat and the main view was of goarse, sheep, horses, some cows and the Guanaco. The Guanaco used to be worked but now the gauchos use horses so the Guanaco just roam free and cross all over the land including across the gravel roadways. On one of our stops we had the chance to see elephant seals. Only females as the males live elsewhere until breeding time. The seals were funny to watch. They were dosing on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. One even looked quite human as she scratched her chin and then flopped back down on the sand 😊 Along the coast line Brim was trying to track down the various animals and at one point excaimed, "look there is a dead penguin on the beach"!!!
It was not a dead penguin, thank goodness (just some drift wood), but from there on in I tried to encourage her to look for animals that were actually alive! 😊
Leo drove us to another section of the Valdes where we saw more of the sleeping elephant seals and we even spotted a grey fox 😊 Brim caught it on camera so check our her page for that shot. Again, the sun was shining away as we had lunch watching the sleeping seals and looking out at the ocean where we glimpsed some air blows from a whale far out there 😊
The main event for me however was the whale watching in the afternoon. Dressed in some ridiculous waterproof gear and lifejackets we boarded the boat and set out for some whale viewings....Brim and I the only English Chicas on the boat we again received special attention as the sailor, Pablo explained everything to us in English. The boat ride was amazing. As we got out of the cove there were a number of birds and a sea lion on the rocks and then as we turned our first set of whales. All the whales were Southern
Right Whales, called Right because when the hunters first killed them they found them easy to spot (because of the air from their clow holes) and because they then used the bones, blubber and meat from the whales. On this excursion however no hunting was done (Comper, be quiet) and we simply took a thousand pictures and enjoyed the view. The whales came very close to the boat and at one stage even touched it as it swam underneath us. The boat however was not too intrusive. The captain switched off the engine and let the baot drift as we approached the mammals. The whales, just as inquisitive as us came up to the boat for a bit would then swim away and then come back for a second look before swimming away again. The boat tour lasted about an 1.5 hours and in that time we must have seen 4/5 different groups of the whales with adults and their young ones. It was brilliant to be there, an experience I won´t forget 😊 again Brim and I hoped they would lift their tails out of the water, I think they knew it and waited till we were not looking
😊
Boat tour ended it was time to head back to the hostel. We teased Leo about hitting the Guanaco as he had a few dents on the car, but he confirmed if they hit the Guanaco they did not pick it up, throw it on the back of the jeep and have it for BBQ later however the Ranch owners would sometimes eat Guanaco, however, he took it all in his stride and in fact was a brilliant driver over the very gravelly and dusty terrain.
Back at the hostel we had time for a rest before heading to the bus station to get an overnight bus to San Carlos de Bariloche, again heading towards the West of Argentina so it is goodbye to the whales and the Atlantic for a while.....
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Reggie Perrin
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What shall we call the puppies?
I thought some of your family might have recognised you and posed for some shots...ah well ;-) Loving the photos...would love to see you attempt dolphins next please. Glad you had a sooper time, sounds lovely, and I'm glad you resisted the temptation to throw yourself from your bike onto the gravel this time!! xxx