Puerto Madryn - Salva las Ballenas

We toasted the New Years in Necochea with our goofy fun hostel. There were about 20 of us crowded around the table all digging in to the yummy potluck. Kristin made an awesome broccoli salad (momma Pam's recipe!); Santi, the Hostal owner, bbqed some delicous chicken; and another guest made mashed potatoes. We also brought a small shopping cart full of champagne, beer, and of course, Fernet - a herb liquor that they love to mix with coke. After the delicious dinner we all convened on the roof with some champagne and watched hundreds of fireworks exploding around the city. It was a fun, romantic evening for us!!

Happy New Year!!

We took a 16 hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn, which officially put us in Patagonia. The city sits in a bay below the Valdez Peninsula and is basically dedicated to tourism and its booming aluminum industry. Our hostel was predictably expensive, but it was a great jumping-off point for different tours.


Our first tour was an all day bus-ride around the Peninsula Valdes. We hopped into a van with about 15 other people and started off. Our tour leader had the mic volume all the way up, so she was basically screaming through the small speakers, which was at first humorous, but later quite painful. Our first stop was a visitor center where we saw a whale skeleton, some good info, and a lot of pictures. There was also a lookout tower where we could see both sides of the peninsula into the north and south bays. Continuing on into the bulk of the peninsula we saw many animals and beautiful sights. We stopped at Puerto Piramides, where the majority of our group hopped on a boat to go whale watching. Kristin and I opted out of the tour since it isn't whale season, and instead walked around the small town. We had 2 hours to take photos, walk the beach, and check out the over-priced tourist shops. Our group returned with smiles, but they hadn't seen any whales...

Giving Moby some love..

Power Pose!

We continued on to the eastern edge of the island and saw some Magellan penguins, as well as some sea lions and elephant seals. The penguins looked bored/tired/stoned on land, but in the water they were little torpedoes that rocketed through the small surf and were amazingly agile. The sea lions, or lobos marinos, were making their usual racket of barking and belches. Kristin wasn't amused with Ivan's enthusiastic mimicking which attracted some curious stares.. We were excited to see the elephant seals, but they didn't do much of anything since summer is their 'dormant' season. Basically they just sit on the beach in a big blubbery mound of harem and its angry alpha male.

One alpha male and his harem- player!

Lobos Marinos

After this we drove up the coast to Punta Norte and saw some more of the same. The landscape was fairly monotonous, but incredible dramatic. It was nice to see that the droves of tourists have little affect on the landscape and it is monitored well by the park employees.


On our second day we went for a bike ride through town, and then intended to ride to Punta Este, about 17 km away. After an hour of riding though, Ivan's seat was giving him unspeakable pain in unspeakable places, and so we made a slow return back to town. Kristin was a good sport with all his griping about bad bike seats (and likely every other piece on the bike..), and we still managed to find a yummy restaurant to enjoy some cheap empanadas and such. We also biked to a remote beach and watched the boats move around the bay. Even though we seemed to have a painful day, we made up for it with a delicious meal with local white fish, steamed brocolli, and ravioli (of course the ravioli was for the hungry man) and a bottle of wine. Our meal was so extreme (for a hostel) we were receiving compliments, even from a French guy sniffing it with his prestigious nose! After we watched a great Al Pacino movie with some people at our hostel and recovered from our day of (painful) exercise.




On our third day we hopped in another tour van with about 12 other people and headed to Punto Tombo. Our first stop was at Puerto Rawson where about 40 people got into a large zodiac and headed out into the open sea to observe the Tonina dolphins. This is the worlds smallest dolphin, and is endemic to the Patagonia region. Our glided past a flotilla of rusty shrimp boats and then headed for the harbor mouth. We were all a bit worried to see large surf heading into the harbor. The swells were ranging from 2-4 meters, and Ivan's stomach immediately resented him for hopping on the boat. The boat only went out 2 km and was bouncing up and down, up and down, until we reached a group of the tiny dolphins. Their coloring is white and black, and they are very graceful and playful in the water. Kristin was able to take some great pictures with her little camera, while Ivan caught glimpses of them between heaves from the back of the boat. Fortunately the tour was only an hour long, and was plenty of time to see the majestic little sea mammals.

Jacket rash..!

Starting to feel the motion of the ocean

Another hour and a half down the coast we were in Punto Tombo. Before entering the park though, we enjoyed a yummy lunch of fresh tomato, baguette, jamon crudo, cheese, and cucumber. Even the snooty cruise tourists eyed our lunch enviously (their gurgling stomachs brought their thoughts away from the natural environment around them to the distant buffet table on their big boat ;).




The penguins did not disappoint!! This is the largest Magellan Penguin population in the world, with over 1 million birds milling about the stretch of coastline. We had such a nice walk, being able to see the penguins from up close. The birds seemed very lazy and were content to stand in various positions trying to cool off and pass the time. While they seemed docile, some were actually quite aggressive, hissing at passing tourists, getting in bloody fights with each other, or even pecking at rodents that hopped through the vegetation.








Unlike most animals, the penguin baby is perhaps the ugliest youngin in the animal kingdom. The young fat birds looked like the embodiment of the bird-flu virus - if it could be defined by a particular bird specie. It was adorable to see the penguin couples, monogamous through life, necking, beaking, walking wing in wing, and awkwardly copulating in the dirty underbrush. Kristin was very much at home with the little guys!!














We also loved watching the penguins walk, which is very similar to that of a young human toddler, where their pudgy body sways side to side as they laboriously put one foot in front of the other. It must take them ages to make it to the water!! After a full day of watching penguins, we cooked ourselves some garlic lemon rosemary chicken with brown rice. With many more jealous hostel mates eying with their curious noses.









The pattern of our journey is changing as of January 9th, where we anxiously anticipate working for Trey and Shelby Scharp at the Three Seasons Adventures lodge in the heart of Patagonia. We are both happy for a break from long bus-rides and hostels, and ready to get our hands dirty with some work in paradise at the Campo Cielo Grande!!
http://campocielogrande.com/index.html