Puerto Madryn & Península Valdés

After a surprisingly comfortable 17 hours on the bus, we arrived in Puerto Madryn at lunchtime on Sunday and checked into the hostel we had pre booked. Although it is right at the start of the season, we had been advised to reserve in advance in Patagonia as reasonably priced double rooms in particular are hard to come by. For that reason we spent te first night in a dorm room. There is a great deal of tourism in the region - you'll see why in a minute - not just from foreign visitors but also from people from other parts of Argentina.

The hostel we stayed at was run by a lovely woman called Gladys. Yes, you have read that correctly. For those of you who don't know, there is a big connection with Wales in this part of the world as Welsh settlers came to here in mid 19th century because (in the words of a local guide) they had "a few problems" with the English. They were very successful, and the Welsh language and culture therefore remain very strong in the area, so much so that the recent Eisteddfod brought at least 200 people over from Wales. In Puerto Madryn itself this is not very obvious, but there are some signs; I'm sure John & Beryl will be pleased to hear that there is a Welsh tea shop there called Beryl! I opted to for some excellent seafood in favour of cream cakes - it would have been rude not to as we were only a block away from the mighty ocean.

On Monday we had an early start for our day trip out to the nearby Península Valdés wildflife sanctuary. Well, nearby by Argentina´s standards, ie 400km in a day! It was however, worth every minute in the minibus, and we were really lucky to have a great guide, Mauriccio, who really knew his stuff and kept us informed all the way. After a brief stop in the museum at the peninsula's entrance, we went on to see elephant seals, sealions, a few penguins, the local type of llama called Guanacos - and last and best of all whales.

It was an absolutely amazing day, especially seeing the whales get right up to our boat, as neither of us had seen them up close before. At one point there were five of them swimming around as well as under the boat. Suffice to say, it was one of the big highlights of the trip so far - I'll let the photos say the rest...