Hotel Mora Puerto Madryn

We had such a wonderful time in Puerto Madryn – famed for its wildlife including whales, penguins, orcas, elephant seals and sea lions. The weather was fantastic (26 deg and sunny), the people are wonderful and the sights rival some of the best things we have done on the trip to date.

Our overnight bus arrived at 6am into Puerto Madryn. This allowed us to watch a spectacular sunrise over the bay in the ...

... ignored and got straight down to the lower deck. Boat still moving and his big plates of meat getting soaked Gary was reprimanded, as politely as the term allows, by Orlando.
We finally found a good spot for wales and, being informed that if the wales get aggitated they may ram the boat, we set about aggitating them. It worked. We got hit by one and the boat did rock. We were also privvy to some wales spraying, splashing and mating. We were told how the female male is the ...

... and the star attraction Orcas. At this time of year the Orcars are beaching themselves to catch young Sea lions in the surf. This is just one of two places in the world where they do this. We did sea one Orca swim in and beach itself but did not catch anything. It then wiggled back into the sea. It was quite amazing to watch even though it was quite a distance away from us. Today we are heading to Buenos Aires where we will be learning to TANGO!

Ok, so we hadnīt originally planned to go to Puerto Madryn but after reading that it was the gateway to the nearby UNESCO sites Pennisula Valdes (where you can spot Southern Right whales, sea-lions, elephant seals and orcas) and Punto Tombo (houses the largest population of Magellanic penguins outside Antartica from Sep-Apr), we decided weīd be mad to miss it. So, after a great week of camping in Villa Gesell, we packed up our tent and caught a bus to the nearby ...

... just found out that all of our pounds were gone! Aussie money for us now!). The penguin colony was a few hrs away at Point Tombo, where more then a Million penguins migrated to breed. It was a vey cool day, the penguins weren't scared of you at all and you could get just a few centimetres away from them. Our guide was very knowledgeable and ...

... cake. Admittedley the Welsh must make more than one sort of cake but I had pinned my hopes on the ones my gran used to bake (like flat scones that are cooked on a griddle - I believe you can also now buy these in M&S - surely a testament to their fame). Sadly I donīt think I hid my disappointment very well, not even the very cute kittens could make up for it. The cake was very good (black welsh cake), it was like a moist fruit cake with ...

... to the beach, we were surprised at how big and empty it was. It was at high noon and the tide was out. When we returned later in the day around 5pm, the tide had come in and there was only a few 100 feet of beach and there wasn't one empty spot on the sand. All the locals arrive about 3pm and stay until around 8pm. There are all sorts of wildlife in this area too. Just outside of town is Peninsula Valdes with a penguin colony of over 1,000,000, multiple sea lion colonies ...

... a humbling place to visit and not something I will forget about quickly. Tuesday: Another day of walking, this time around the many parks that Buenos Aires has. They are situated in the north of Buenos Aires not far from our hotel, and are where the Portenos (name given to someone living in Buenos Aires) spend their leisure time. Very similiar to Central Park, with a road going through it that is divided up for cars, joggers, roller bladers and walkers ...

... Auf dem Parkplatz werdn wir von einem Guerteltier begruesst. Dieses laeuft vorwitzig zwischen den Menschen herum und hofft wahrscheinlich auf etwas essbares. Knuffig der Kleine ;) Auch die Seehunde raekeln sich in der Sonne und mit Action ist hier nicht viel. Aber wir bekommen ein paar Babyseeloewen zu sehen, die neben den Seebullen winzig aussehen. Danach geht es wieder zurueck nach Puerto Madryn, wo wir gegen 19.00 Uhr ankommen. Um 23 Uhr nehmen wir den Bus ...

... guarding there nests and screaming really loudly. We even got attacked by a few! They warn you to stay a meter and a half away and we were very careful to but it was hard because in some places there were sooo many penguins. At one point, Katie was taking a picture of the penguins playing in the ocean in the distance and one came up behind her and bit her leg! The ones in the ocean were very cute...riding the waves and just looking like they ...