Patagonia.. Welsh travels with Sian

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So after Malaysia, India & London, this year's annual "travels with Sian" was Argentina..


After a few days of sighteeing, exploring, partying and introducing Sian to the limited "vegetarian menu" (i.e. pasta and pizza) in Buenos Aires we headed down to Patagonia for some fresh air, wind and wildlife


We were surprised at how huge and empty Patagonia is.. as we drove for 17 hours on a bus from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn the scenery didn't seem to change at all.. long straight roads through dry shrubland and sheep farms (but as each sheep apparently has 4km square of land to roam in we didn't see many of them!). The bus ride was fantastic though as we had booked fully reclining "bed" seats, so was an enforced 17 hours of rest, sleep and films!


Stayed in a great little hostel in the seaside town of Puerto Madryn, which was full of Portenos enjoying their summer holidays on the huge (and very windy) beach, and found some great little restaurants for sea food.. our favourite was Margarita Bar (http://www.margaritapub.com/)


The scenery on the Peninsular Valdes was truly stunning.. clear air, vivid colours and huge skies!.. and the wildlife was amazing.. dolphins, thousands of penguins (so cute!), sea lions playing in the water, elephant seals (the most inactive creatures I have ever seen!), guanacos (Patagonian llamas), deer, ostriches etc etc. We missed the whales by a few months unfortunately, and didn't see any of the Orcas which were around (which come on to the beach at high tide to eat the sea lions), but there was plenty to look at.


We also visited Punta Tombo, further South, where thousand of penguins were resting and malting on a stop from Antartica before their annual swim up to Brazil. They are protected and studied here but tourists are allowed to walk in the reserve along designated paths. All of the wildlife we saw in Patagonia was kept at a reasonable distance from humans, so is well protected.


Of course we also had to do the tourist thing and take "Welsh high tea" at a Welsh tea house in Gaiman.. tea with milk, fruit cake, apple pie etc (we sat next to 2 Argentinans who asked if Welsh people really eat this!) .. where Sian was able to speak to the locals in Welsh. Interesting if bizarre to visit Welsh communities more than 100 years after they settled in Patagonia to flee from English oppression!.. Welsh schools, street signs etc make it feel very un-Argentinian.


.. a fantastic 2 weeks.. now to plan next year's meeting point...........! ..

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Photos

Orca attacking sealions from the beach
OK we didn't actually see this (this is a photo from a display at a museum) but it had happened the day before we visited Punta Norte on Peninsular Valdes!

Comments

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nice!
looks amazing babe! the penquins are really cute... Especially like the comment of welsh eating the food. Terry would find it funny..