Playa Hotel Trelew

... for Right Whales. After two hours of waiting to see something and feeling ready to give up, a huge whale breached the surface right in front of me. The three Right Whales (less than 20 metres from the shore) and I had the deserted beach to ourselves until sunset, when they decided to head towards deeper waters. The following day I took a guided tour of nearby Peninsula Valdes, where we got to see a few Elephant Seals before the minibus broke down and we had to hitch a lift ...

... museum with the first complete dinosaur skeletons I´ve ever seen. Patagonia´s unique arid, cold, climate is ideal for fossil preservation, and many species unique in the world have been excavated here. We were lucky enough to walk in the museum just as the English guided tour started. Normally, I don´t go for that sort of thing and prefer to find my own way around, but the quality of this tour was incredible. I wouldn´t have batted an eye if the woman ...

... where Madonna once sang to a big crowd of people (something like that, feel like im missing something there...) saw a really big statue in a shape of a flower - no particular reason for it, but why not? Had some massive ice-creams from a very nice lady ...

... Outside Antartica, some 600,000 penguins all waddling around, I took loads of pics and vids and they were great to watch. They were just out of mating season and to start with for up to a year they cannot swim due to loads of feathers on them which they systamatically pluck off. Once they have rid of the excess feathers they are ready to go and they start their own catch of shrimp and sardines ...

Zoals Annelieke al eerder wist te melden, ga ik daar nog even op door. Patagonie is dus niet zo veel. Patagonie is echt niets anders dan steppe, struikjes die niet hoger zijn dan 50cm en een eindeloze hoeveelheid dor zand. Ik wist ook niet dat zand zo dor kon zijn maar geloof me. Links, rechts, voor, achter op en onder, steppe steppe steppe.. Om een soort van aan kapot te gaan.. Eenmaal in puerto Madryn ben je er eindelijk van verlost en is ...

Patagonie, het klinkt veelbelovend, maar het is verpletterend... Er is namelijk gewoon helemaal niks!! Nadat we uit El Calafate waren vertrokken richting El Chalten waren we vol goede moed. Maar het zakte in onze schoenen toen we er aankwamen. Het is een speciaal voor toeristen uit de grond gestampt dorpje die in het gebied willen wandelen. Dat wilden wij ook, het natuurgebied is namelijk prachtig. Maar toen we het dorpje zagen ...

... and well kept neighborhoods. We camped in a large area along the river, within walking distance to town, and where other campers and travelers came as well, to enjoy the offerings of this small friendly town. Back to Trelew, to find a vet, who will hopefully have some expertise on removing a growth from the inside of Gillies lip and clean her teeth, at the same time knowing the right procedure for our old girl. Everything went ...

... with their young but most of the time being lazy bums! Further down the coast we got to see some more of our good friends, the magallenus penguins, although by this time of year their young were were a lot bigger than when we were coming down on the Marco Polo, about 3/4 the size of their parents with most of their fur looking nearly ready to go, but dam hungry buggers! Was cute to see these guys again. Further down we got to see some elephant ...

... him some leftover food from my sandwich, but he went smelled it then looked at me as if to say..."you have got to be kidding me!!" So, we once again climbed back into the marvelous tour bus and made our journey back across the dirt roads of Patagonia towards Puerto Madryn. We could see the coast looming before us and we turned into the city only to stall as we were going over a speed bump. Our crazy driver tried to start it up again...even pop start it, but it was to no avail. The ...

... we take a short taxi ride from Gaiman to the middle of nowehere and the Bryn Gwyn Paleontological park. The taxi drops us off and as it drives off leaving us standing beside a small hut, I wonder whether the museum is open and how we are going to find our way back.. We meet the caretaker who tells us that the last visitors were 3 days ago. Its easy to see why not many tourists visit as our education involves a 1.5 hour hike up a cliff face. I somehow ...