I stayed with Christian in Puerto Madryn, he was kinda introverted but a nice guy. Another Couchsurfer stayed there for one night, an Italian dude called Massimo who has been traveling for years and works in between on an online help desk (basically a call center on the internet). It won't make you rich but keeps money flowing while traveling on budget, a cool concept.
This is him. On the day of his arrival we planned to hitchhike to the peninsula 'Valdes'. Long story short: It didn't work. You need a bit over an hour by car and we haven't even made the half after three hours. Originally we planned to go whale watching there but it was already late and it would have been dark on our arrival even with the perfect lift in the next minutes.Endless, empty Argentinian roads..But we found this dog on the way which looked more like a hyena then a dog.There has also been this mural which somehow is connected to the Argentinian history but I didn't look deep into the matter.Massimo made Risotto in the evening which was a welcome and delicious change in terms of food. I'm not implying the food here is bad but it's a lot of meat and bread. On the next day I went alone to the peninsula. The only bus that goes there is at 8:45 in the morning, the only one that leaves is at 18:00 and that is the whole timetable.While I sat in the bus, rangers who care for the national park told me I had to pay 850$, which is about 14€. Well since I had no options I just payed. One of the rangers smoked a cigarette outside and just threw the cigarette butt on the ground while the other one explained the importance of a clean park. Awesome double standards here.Anyway, I arrived in Puerto Pirámides which is often described as beautiful and calm. I found nothing else then bars and restaurants for tourists and dozens of agencies who offer whale watching and other wildlife activities. No calmness or beauty for me to find 🤷🏼♂️I strolled through the dunes while I waited for the boat to go on a whale watching tour.It looks like there is not a piece of sand without mussels.It was nice but in the end they were just dunes.Until I found this badass spider.This is by far the biggest spider I have seen in the wild so far (probably going to find bigger ones in Australia 😂) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SAfClCI3GMVYUYw_rNvWTEl3NCQt7hit/view?usp=drivesdk Here is a short video of it moving (pretty fast..). Anyway, I continued to go to the boat and was super excited. Maybe a bit too much because in the end I saw some flukes, some heads and the whales blowing air but as long as they don't jump out of the water you only get to see a very small fraction of the animal.Don't get me wrong, it was cool, I think I just had my expectations a tad too high.These are actually the only two good fotos I shot.But I have some video footage that is better, check it out if you want but don't expect jumping whales in front of a sunset 🤣https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1SKLGeWuWLMw8DANKctu3sNfYLPvGgu2s Afterwards the boat went to an island which is crowded by sea lions, here are some cool shots (more like always in the foto section) And here is a video of them which I like way better then the fotos (watch with sound if you can)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SKqtkPX_S_MIh7pNId8_-aXe4bKBosmR/view?usp=drivesdk Interesting seaweed on the way back.. I was done at about 3 o clock and had 3 hours in a town which I didn't like to wait for the slow bus. I tried hitchhiking again and got lucky, a veterinarian (animal doctor) who works in Puerto Pirámides took me almost all the way back to Puerto Madryn. She was awesome and told me the money I payed on the entrance actually goes directly into the pockets of corrupt politicians and never get to the island or it's nature.. When I told her about the plans for the next day, to rent a car and visit the penguins and sea elephants she actually thought a second about being sick and joining us. She is an absolute anima lover. In the end she didn't do it but we had fun anyway. Back in the city I met Roman again (you remember him from the Bariloche post, right?)And we drank some mates together (you see him holding the hot water in the picture actually). I totally missed to take pics of that ceremony it, it was divine. He taught me the most important stuff:The Mate leaves have to build a ramp in the cup which isn't filled 100% in the first infusions but later you gradually go more up.Then you tap the straw while you pour hot water in order to prevent particles in there. If you serve a friend, you take the first draw, spit it away (because there might be particles in) and give it then to your friend. You also never say thank you when receiving a cup, that means you are done and don't want more. Oh and of course, DONT EVER STIRR. I think there is the death penalty on that here..And there is always only one person serving, it's like you don't take a chef his kitchen away.Talking about chefs and kitchens, the regional mother's day is here and there are plenty of gifts for mother's. This one is my personal highlight:Gift for Mom, in case she forgot where she belongs 🙄Later in the evening Roman and me decided we haven't had asado in long time (2 days) and ate some:Typical asado is not only meat but also organs. By now I know which organs I dislike and can tell them to change them for some pork or chorizo. Next day was car rental day. I made an event in CS to gather people and split costs for the car and fuel. Roman wanted to join, Massimo as well. Two German girls joined by the app and we got the car full! Started as early as the car rental opened (9 in the morning) and left 180km south to 'Punta Tombo' which is the penguins paradise here. On the way we saw some guanacos, which are similar to the llamas but very shy.In the nature's preserve for the penguins was this map. It shows the current plans of the penguins to take over the world - they've gotten pretty far already! Here is the first of these adorable creatures. We have seen hundreds (plural) this day. They are small, maybe up to me knee or a bit more but incredible cute.I'll just put some pictures here, more are as always in the picture section. Cutest traffic sign I can imagine 🤩 These are hugging 😍😍They genuinely don't care for humans but everyone was giving them the space and time they need to cross the way which may take several minutes 🤣This one standing up to get more comfortable, so I got a rare shot of his (or hers? They take turns on breeding) eggs. While the partner is breeding the egg the other one is looking for food. They swim up to 600km in order to get some!! If none of them is looking for food usually......they are cuddling. 🤩🤩Totally in love with these cuties...All these holes are houses for them. In this area are living thousands of them. On the route back is a spot called 'Isla Escondida' where are sea elephants. We didn't get disappointed, they were right there at the beach.They were just lying around, barely lifting a head to look what the few tourists are doing.This small one got fed by its mum and was by far the most active. There was another one about to leave the water, pushed itself forward two times and rested for several minutes again. During our 30 minute stay it made maybe 20 meters. These animals are not made to move on land (even tho they can be quick when tourists get too close so we have been careful)For a size comparison, the smallest ones in the picture below are still bigger then a seal. The big male one was longer then 3 meters and probably weighed over a ton. Even tho I have seen animals which were bigger in size these one are the fattest I've ever seen. Apparently they like to eat penguins even tho they didn't eat up..This one was also a male but not as big as the other one. Still a massive animal tho..And the small ones are super cute (even tho they eat penguins 😠).
And this is the crew..
Massimo forgot his sunglasses to make the picture perfect 😂The sunglasses were actually not for the sun but helped a lot with the wind and the sand.
Afterwards we went to 'El Paradillo' which is an area of several beaches to see the sunset and the chance to see more whales (maybe even orcas with a ton of luck) but we haven't been so lucky and just got really cold while watching the sun disappearing behind the mountains. I forgot my cable and apparently no one else uses USB C so I couldn't shoot some pics there.
Right now I arrived after 28h on the road in 'El Calafate'. If you want to spoiler yourself, google for the glaciers there (I didn't, avoided all spoilers possible). I also might have the chance to see mountain flamingos but I'll keep you updated as always.
Oh and in case you missed that, I updated the last post so there are pictures and videos of me swimming with seals now 👍👍
