Puerto Madryn is a 15h bus ride south of Buenos Aires. This is the starting point to see the huge array of wildlife that Argentina has to offer. We headed out on a whale watching trip and i am glad to say that this time round we saw plenty of them. It is the breeding season for Southern Right Whales and they spend several months along the Atlantic coast of Argentina. For two hours we watched as they surrounded the boat and performed for us, it was fantastic.
Further down the coast there are colonies of elephant seals that come to the Argentine coast to have their young this time of the year. The adults are huge, ugly and awkward and seem to just lie on the shore soaking up the sun. Their predators are the Orca whales, who have a fancy for the young pups and i was secretly hoping we would see a shoal of whales appear out of the blue ocean looking for a spot of lunch. Alas it was not meant to be- at least the young pups were safe for another while!!
Another day we took a trip to see the Magellan penguins, the second largest colony after the Empire penguins in Antarctica. This time of the year they are nesting and incubating their eggs. The tour allowed you to walk among the nests, which span for miles, and watch them go about their business. They are a protected species and in this colony they have the right of way. It was amazing to see all these animals in their natural habitat.
There are a couple of towns outside Puerto Madryn that have a strong Welsh heritage. In the early 1900s 153 Welsh made their way to Argentina on the promise of land and set up home in Trelew and Gaiman. Today, they are still very proud of their heritage and many speak Welsh. One of the main tourist attractions in Gaiman is Welsh Tea- I didn´t know such a thing existed but it is very big in Gaiman. The four us stopped in for a cup of tea, scones and cakes, cakes and more cakes- it was the biggest afternoon tea i have ever seen, it was great.
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