Puerto Madryn and Valdes Peninsula

Gipatik: 28.08.2017

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Once again, 24 hours on a bus... but at least we're only 300m away from the hostel! Traveling by bus is a great way to get to know this huge country, but it can be exhausting in the long run.

After a hot shower, we took a short walk to the beach to stretch our tired bones. Maybe we'll even see a whale. 'Look, one is jumping out of the water over there' 🐳. Suddenly, we were wide awake and filled with a sense of adventure.

Who would have thought that renting a car in Argentina is neither punctual nor without a little bit of obligatory organizational chaos. With a delay of almost 2 hours, we were finally able to start our day trip to the Valdes Peninsula. After driving 300km on gravel roads, we had circled the peninsula and seen countless merino sheep (with little lambs), guanacos, sea lions, elephant seals, maras, a huge vulture, and even an armadillo. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of penguins... until this point!

On day 2, we went to the beach in El Doradillo during high tide and couldn't believe our eyes when we saw whale mothers swimming with their babies just 15m away in the shallow water. Later we learned that the Northern Right Whales prefer this beach because the sea floor slopes in terraces, allowing the newborns to rest on these terraces for a while.

Just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, a penguin swam about 2m away from us and let itself float on the waves.

At low tide, we changed locations and were able to observe a sea lion colony from a distance. With a bit more time and, above all, money, we could have even gone snorkeling with the sea lions. They are very curious and 'examine' their guests very closely.

A little while ago, we took a short walk to the beach to stretch our legs before the final long bus ride to Bariloche, when unexpectedly, a sea lion decided to pose for us. It seems that boats are also a good place for sunbathing, I would keep such a stowaway!