Puerto Madryn – penguins and whales
We seemed to get used to the long bus trips and around 2pm we arrived in Puerto Madryn. Due to high season we ran from one hostel to another until we checked in a good one. Anna and Jenny found a close by hotel with private room and in the evening we booked together a tour for the next day. Punta Tombo and the Penguins were our goal.
In Punta Tombo is the biggest penguin-colony outside of Antarctica. 500 000 little Magellan Penguins nesting up to 1 km inland, laying two eggs per pair. They work as a team, while one partner is watching the nest the other one goes hunting for fish.
The next day we waited with 20 other tourists for our tour and when they called out Punta Tombo we four were the only one to step up. The rest were on the way to the Peninsula Valdes to see the whales and seals. With Fabian, our tour guide, we hopped in his Opel Zafira and enjoyed the private tour.
In Rawson we made a stop for the dolphin tour which Jenny had booked. Since we had seen so many dolphins already we saved the money for other trips. After 1 ½ hours she came back with a big smile and totally excited. She had not only seen dolphins but also whales. That was a great start for the day and we were happy for her. So let’s see the funny, little penguins.
And so it came that we wondered around 500 000 of those sweet animals, waddling to the shore with flat bellies and coming back with big bellies full of fish. Every time those Happy Feet take the exactly same route and when people got in theirs way they just stopped and waited until you gave the penguin some space. Michael couldn’t stop to take pictures and he already got concerned about the sorting of the pics. That’s the downdraft of the technical development with SD Cards.
After this fantastic experience we decided to drive to the El Doradillo beach from where you can see the whales playing in high tide. And just 15 m off shore we observed totally stunned 8 big beautiful creators. Two mothers with theirs calves where especially curious and we just asked ourselves who is observing whom.
This was a wonder of our world and exactly why this makes our trip so special!
The next day we had to say goodbye to Anna and Jenny whom we had been traveling together for nearly 3 weeks. We had a great time together and it was a strange feeling since we felt a bit like the four Musketeers. It is very rare that you can travel so long without further complication in a group.
Since the two were addicted to coffee - and we made sometimes fun of our coffee junkies - we had a last coffee together before we headed ours ways. Our next stop should be Salta, all the way up in the north of Argentina. Another long bus ride of 33 hours lay ahead of us. Let’s do it!
Accommodation: El Gualicho Hostel & Tours, Marcos A. Zar 474, Puerto Madryn,
www.elgualicho.com.ar
Price: $ ARG 150 p.p., 4 bed dorm, shared bathroom, incl. breakfast
Comment: big, well organized hostel with tour agencies and cozy community room, garden with
hammocks
Tour Operator: Southern Freedom – Turismo: Fabian Geor (English & Portuguese) –
http://southernfreedom.wordpress.com – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.