Hotel Territorio Puerto Madryn

... of 5 Southern Right whales (which are the second biggest whale in the world). With no one else in sight, it was a very special experience.

After a chat with our fantastic hostel owner Gaston and the barman Henry, in a matter of 30mins of our arrival we had an itinerary sorted for the next few days and then headed off for a visit to the elephant seal colony.

We were amazed at the size of the huge males ...

... in the mating rituals, having many males waiting there turn to copulate with her. We saw them trying to turn an upturned female to access the necassary region: "See how the males work together and then wait for their turn. They do not compete with eachother for the female." said Orlando (enter thought of Me and Christo at Uni....hmmm...)

After the hour and a half boat trip we were dropped safely on land and headed to a bar for some questionable breaded steak the locals call ...

... of Mar del Plata, where we were hoping to buy direct tickets down to Puerto Madryn. Oooops - we were wrong!! In order to get down there we were told we´d have to head to Bahia Blanca first (7 hrs away - ouch!!), but that there was an overnight bus from Bahia Blanca to Puerto Madryn every night. Hmmm, so we were faced with 2 choices - stay overnight in Mar del Plata and then travel all day to Bahia Blanca and all night to Puerto Madryn or get a bus that night from ...

... answer any question we had. They looked very cute waddling up and down the beach and jumping off rocks to get into the water. We were hoping to go snorkelling with some sea lions while we were here, but for 400 pesos, it was just a bit out of our budget. So now we are on to Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina and home of Tango dancing, can't wait.

In true Argentine style our Samba night did not happen as the concept of queuing does not seem to exist here and it is a case of whoever can get to the front first gets in! So in true Paddy style we politely waited our turn and got ousted after 2 hours when we finally reached the door, no worries though, a couple of bottles of Quilmes in the queue and good laughs with our friend Rolf made it go by really quickly. We also met a really nice couple ...

... and nuts - this, I have noticed, is available at all good supermarkets in the region for close to 5 quid!! Gaiman itself was disappointing. There were some old Welsh style houses but these were few and far between. There is a museum here (in the old train station), the lady here said that the Welsh was still spoken by a few and it is taught in schools and could be studied to a higher level in Trelew. She herself was taking classes, they ...

... well as dolphins and whales. We are going to try and get out to see some but it is a bit restrictive and expensive to get close access since they are heavily protected, plus we are hoping to come across some in New Zealand. Yesterday we walked out to the EcoCenter that had all sorts of information about the local Patagonian coastal wildlife. Pretty interesting stuff. Today we went back to the beach (again, not much to do in the area). The tide was out when we got there and ...

... is a Japanese garden that is so lovely and quiet, and a Andalucian garden that was given as a gift to Buenos Aires from the city of Seville. We had a lovely few hours strolling around, and you forget you are a stones throw from some 18 lanes of traffic!! - its incredible to see and it is a road that you cross as quickly as you possibly can.We then went to the Evita Musuem which is a few blocks from the parks, and very nice it is too - I only really knew who ...

... 1 Stunde Verspaetung nach Buenos Aires. Dilluns XXIX - XII - MMVIII Avui toca fer l'excurisó per veure ballenes! Quina emoció! Anirem a la Península Valdés. Ens venen a buscar després d'esmprzar a les 8.15am. Al entrar a la Península hem de pagar l'entrada al parc que, com sempre, es diferent el preu pels argentins que el preu pels forasters. El triple! Ens dirigim al centre d'interpretació que és un petit museu que hi ha a l'entrada. Allà ens diuen que el nostre ...

... having a great time. It was really an amazing sight. The next day we all booked a tour. The first part consisted of whale watching. Again, a really fantastic experience. We`re on this boat, looking at whales, everywhere. We see them off in the distance. Then, one goes under the water and Katie and I were kneeling by the railing to see where it would come up and...all of a sudden it was in our faces!! We both screamed we were so scared. They are crazy ...