Puerto Madryn is famous for Whales, seals, penguins (lots of wildlife really) and for being founded by 150 immigrants from Wales in 1865. Before I got here though I had to negotiate a 24 hour bus journey...that's right 24 hours on a bus! Actually it wasn't quite 24 hours because there was a 2 hour change in Rio Gallegos but still I left El Calafate at noon on Thursday and arrived here after noon on Friday. My guidebooks said Rio Gallegos was pretty much a staging post and not worth hanging around in for too long. Apparently nearby there are the biggest Brown Trout in the world, but even this wasn't enough to make me stay longer.
(Puerto Madryn es famoso porque tiene ballenas, focas, pinguinos - mucho animales de hecho - y porque fue fundado de cien cincuenta gente de Gales en mil ochocientos sesenta y cinco. Pero antes llegue aquí necesite sobrevivir un viaja en autobus de veinte cuatro horas! Saldre El Calafate a mediodia en Jueves y llegue a Puerto Madryn después de mediodia en Viernes. Mi guía me dijo Rio Gallegos es solo un centro de transportación y no bueno para quedarse mucho tiempo. Hay las trucha marrón mas grande en el mundo! pero este no bastante para mi quedarse.)
I had a run on the lovely beach here on Friday night. I love running on beaches. The sound of the waves, the smell of the sea and the game of chicken with the waves. If you run just at the water line the sand is perfect - not too soft but just soft enough. However, running here means you need to be careful not to get your feet wet with the occasional big wave. Oh, the danger!
(Yo he corrido en la playa encantadora aquí en Viernes. Me gusta mucho corriendo en playas. Escuchar las olas, olfato el mar y exponerse pies mojado!)
A picture of Puerto Madryn beach from Friday - cloudy.
(Un foto del Playa de Puerto Madryn de Viernes. Nublado.)
It's nice to be close to the sea again. In Scotland you are never too far from the sea.
(Me gusta estoy cerca de el mar. En Escosia esta nunca lejos del mar.)
On Saturday I took a tour around Peninsula Valdes and a whale watching tour. There were two buses; one for English speakers and one for Spanish speakers. However, there was a problem because the English speaking one was over subscribed by two. The guides asked if anyone could speak enough spanish to go with that bus and it seemed there was only one person who could, so I bravely volunteered. Perhaps the other person could translate for me and I could do with the practice anyway.
(Sabado pasado yo tome un viaja de Peninsula Valdes y para Ballenas. Tome la autobus de espanol porque la autobus de ingles hubimos demasiados pasajeros - necesito practicar!)
I understood a lot of the guides introduction as I think he was being slow for even the non-Argentinian spanish speakers but I guess I understood about 30% from then on. Luckily there was a very helpful couple from Mexico next to me who helped translate as well as Lisa from Germany who also swapped buses.
(Entendi trenta por ciento del comentario pero Estoy suerte porque un pareja de mexico me ayudo)
Now for some photos of the wildlife...
(Algunas fotos del animales...)
A school of dolphins. Un Escuela de Delfines.
Southern Right Whales, a mother and baby. This mother is called the "grandmother" as she is so old. We don't know how long these creatures live for. One estimate could be 150 years!
(Ballenas, una madre y bebe. Este madre llamado "abuela" porque ella esta muy vieja. No sabemos cuanto tiempo ballenas viven. Tal vez cien cincuenta anos!)
Penguins. (pinguinos)
Seals - thats a baby one underneath the big alpha male!
(Focas, un bebe bajo el grande hombre!)
A great day all in. The whales were amazing. So big. When we arrived at the whale bit and we saw how big they were I thought I'd drop in the classic line from Jaws "we're gonna need a bigger boat". I was very disappointed only one person gave a small chuckle. We saw 8 whales in total and another mother plus baby (bigger one this time) couple. This baby was a show off and did some jumps. The other person that swapped coaches into the spanish one is a german girl (Lisa) who has been studying in Bs As. She got some great shots of the dolphins and another german guy (Simon) got a photo of the whale jumping. So we're going to share them around. Maybe I'll post some of these when I get them.
(Un día fantastico! Las Ballenas fue extraordinario. Tan Grande! Vimos ocho ballenas en total y un otra madre y bebe. Este bebe fue mas grande y hizo algunas saltos. Tal vez yo tendré un foto de este mas tarde de mis nuevo amigos de Alemania, Lisa y Simon)
At the seal place we might have seen some Orca "Killer Whales" as they prey on the seals around here. In fact this is where almost all of the footage of Orca in the wild is from and its the only place in the world where they can climb up the beach to catch a seal. Unfortunately we didn't see any orca on the trip but I did understand a lot of the guides commentary on them...
(Son algunas Orcas también, pero no vimos)
They live to be about 70 years old. They get really stressed in captivity and their fins fall over. They swim big distances every day. They only kill when they need to eat. They only have offspring every five years. And they need to eat 50% of their body eight every day (WRONG! numbers still get me in spanish when people speak quickly, its 5%)
(Entendi mucho del comentario pero no todo. Todavia numeros son dificil para mi)
I had a bit of a rest day yesterday after the excitement of Peninsula Valdes. I also organised my next travel and accommodation requirements. Tonight I go to Bariloche. Only a 14 hour journey this time. I must admit I don't think I'm really cut out for the backpacking lifestyle. I'm too old now to share a dorm room (private rooms all the way) and you should've seen the hostel kitchen on Saturday night. It was like Jenners on boxing day trying to get my tatties on the cooker (sweet potatoes that is). Also, I like to take things a bit easy. I don't like arriving, doing the activities and then moving on again. I like to take an extra day or so to get to feel the place a bit more. For example, today is so much quieter than the weekend. Lovely. It was a long weekend holiday so I think a lot of the locals came to the beach town for the weekend.
(Esta noche voy a ir a bariloche. Me gusta descansar también y no demasiado ímpetu. Entonces no estoy un backpacker profesional! Necesito un habitación privada y también sábado pasado la cocina fue como un tienda ocupada en el día del venta! No me gusta!)
Until next time bloggers!
Hasta la próxima vez!
That's right - take it a bit easy. :-)
ReplyDeleteJimbo - i've been a bit quiet recently, xmas and all that, but loving this post. Also loving the jack and victor slow pace to the backpacking that you've mentioned. hahaha.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well.
Schmoke and a pie.