Puerto Madryn - The Whales!!

And so it is, after 6 weeks travelling, I finally arrived in Patagonia. Instead of taking the guided tours to Peninsula Valdés and see the whales (the main point about coming to Puerto Madryn), I got together with 7 more people that I met in the bus station and we rented 2 cars. The price diference is not that much, but like this we could go where we wanted, when we wanted, and I really feel like a lemming in those tours for turists, all in the bus following the guide.

So there we go: me, an american guy, two french guys, a german and a spanish girls and a couple (he was from France, she from Japan). As strange as it may seem (at least for me), the one I liked the most was the guy from the USA... He was driving and I was co-pilot (modesty apart, I am good with maps, and this other people almost could not distinguish left from right, so we were"leading" the trip).

We rented the car the night before going to Peninsula Valdés, and the 1st thing the guy did was to turn on a one-way street, the wrong way, we just started to see all the cars coming in our direction, the spanish girl started to scream and I just couldn't stop laughing... I mean, not even 1 minute after we left the car rental place and he does that... c'mon!!! However, that was the only thing that went wrong (and nothing happend really), we was actually a very good driver.

So that was it, next morning, 7am we were leaving the hostel, trying to be in Puerto Piramides before 9am to get the 1st boat to go and see the whales. We were quite lucky and saw 8 of them, all moms and babies - one of them white, just like Moby Dick. The boats are not so big and get really close to the whales (one of them like half a meter away), that also swim under the boats and everything.

After the whales, we continued our trip going South. On the way, we saw a road that was not on the map (and actually can't really be called a road, but wtv) and lead us to the Salinas. To those who have been in Bolivia or in the North of Argentina, it was not a big deal. For me, yes!! Gourgeous, amazing, a pink lagoon surrounded by a white field!! And stepping the grass, impregnated with salt, feels like stepping popcorn. The german girl and the french guys took their clothes off and went to the water..

After their bath, there we went to a bay where the sea lions sleep. It is a big beach, on a bay with turquoise/esmerald sea, where you can see the sea lions sleeping.. and that's pretty much it. Following North, there's a peninsula with more sea lions, again the same. They are very sweet, lying in there peacefully, but... I was expecting some action, an orca jumping off the water and grabbing one of them!! Nothing, no orcas, no BBC documentary live for me.

A bit more to the North, penguins. Those yes, are the best! And are really used to people, so are like half a meter away, posing to the camera or just sleeping quietly. After the penguins, it was time to go, my bus to Bariloche was that night and we still needed to give the cars back.

They all went with me to the bus station, still with time to grab a beer and watch the River vs. Boca game, and off I go, all Patagonia is still waiting...