So we arrived via plane for the first time since leaving in September.. it costed us a bit more but saved us a 24 hour bus journey and was so worth it. It only took us an hour and a half. We arrived in the evening, had a bottle of wine in the hostel and got chatting to a french girl called Clementine.
The next day, we headed to shop for some suncream (YAY ITS FINALLY SUMMER HERE). We spent the whole day at the beach!
The next day we hired a car with Clementine, drove to a place called Punta Tombo where there were thousands of penguins. There were paths for us to walk down, and the penguins joined us or just waddled infront of our feet. It is hatching season, so the penguins had dug little holes where they had their eggs and babies which were really cute! It was so funny watching them go for a dip in the sea and then waddle back with the other penguins. On the way back we stopped off at a place called Isla Escondida where there were lots of elephant seals on the beach. We could get up so close to them and it was really cool. Some of them were smaller and really cute and others were roaring and biting eachother!
The next day, we had a lie in and went out in the afternoon for some beers and to watch the final of the copa libertadores between boca juniors and river plate. The atmosphere in the pub was good and when we left, the streets were crazy. There were riot police out, people tooting horns, flares being set off, fans climbing up lamposts, chanting and it was pretty crazy! Puerto Madryn is only a small town so it must have been going mental in Buenos Aires! (The match was actually played in Madrid because of problems with the fans).
The next day, we hired another car to drive to Peninsula Valdes. This time we shared the hire car with an Argentinan couple we met at the hostel, Daniella and Adrian. Daniella spoke english and she had to translate to Adrian but it was ok. We are going to meet up again in Buenos Aires. When we got there we went on a boat to look for Whales. We were told not to expect to see one as some people don’t, so when we came accross loads of dolphins we were both happy and thought paying for the trip was worth it anyway! And then, we came accross 6 different whales so close up. One even swam under the boat which was scary as they are SO big!! We could see a few more whales in the distance and also dolphins leaping out of the water. We were so happy and had such a good day! After this, we went to see if we could spot any Orcas (killer whales) but didn’t…but as we got out of the car, an Armadillo ran right in front of Kerry’s feet and as we carried on walking we also came accross a couple of snakes!
The next day, we had an early get up as we had some sea lions to snorkel with. We got a boat to punta loma where there was a colony of sea lions. We were kitted up in our snorkel gear and got in the sea. We were told by a couple in the hostel that they did this excursion and only 1 sea lion swam past them so it wasn’t worth it.. so we were a bit worried. The guide also told us they are wild animals and if they want to play they will.. if they dont, they won’t and there is nothing we can do. But we were SO lucky… we had about 50 sea lions swimming around us playing and it was so cool. On the way back on the boat we were given wooly hats and tried our first “Mate” which is a traditional argentinan herbal drink. We had another “best day ever!!!”
On our final day we had another chill out day on the beach and then watched the man city game at the hostel before our night bus at 9pm!
Kerry and Jonho's Travels 