Well, whale watching has to be in the top three of the best things we have done on this trip! It was the most amazing thing we have ever seen, and we probably won`t ever see it again. Honestly, in this bay there are around 400 Southern Right Whales and in a few months time they will number 600+! They are here to have their babies and generally party!

On Tuesday we cycled 20k up the coast to see these magnificant beasts from the cliff tops, and wow - hundreds of them splashing around - like a big whale soup! Well worth the gruelling bike ride on deep gravel in head on wind!

Yesterday we went on a tour of the Valdes Penninsula, and saw not much! We are out of season for pretty much all wildlife bar the whales, so no orcas, only a few elephant seals, no magellen penguins, a few maras (patagonian rabbit things), and some birds that run bloody fast and look abit like ostriches! However, after the somewhat unstimulating land excursion, we got to the good part - whale watching from a boat! We launched out in to the ocean and after 2mins - our first whales! We saw loads of them, blowing through their bolow holes, showing us their tails, way cool! We thought that this would be the highlight, but the best was yet to come - after the boat tour, we got back in the bus and drove to a beach, just down the road from where we had cycled on tuesday, and lo and behold - a group of whales, no more than 10 meters away from the tide line, rolling about and giving us magnificent shots of their tails in the sunset - absolutely awe inspiring! We never knew they came that close to shore!

Today we have just been chillin, cos we are both abit under the weather - soph has a stinking fever and andy has sore bowels - Gladys, our lovely hostess at the hotel, looked after us and made us drink lots of mint tea and her husband was equally kind, suggesting a host of drugs we could try to aid our sickness. (however, we just went to the pharmacy and played a games of charades with the lady at the counter which has resulted in us acquiring some drugs - god knows what they are, but we`ll try anything!) When Sophie awoke from her 2hr sleep slumped at the kitchen table, we went out for lunch right on the beach, where we were treated to yet more whale action! Again, just of the coast, a couple of whales were putting on a spectacular show, rolling about, leaping out of the water and whacking the water with their tails making huge splashes! It was absolutely astounding! WE LOVE WHALES! It was well worth getting ill for and freezing our fingers off!

So, tonight we are off to the Lake District, to a place called El Bolson, where it will be equally freezing. Then off to Bariloche, where it is -5 degrees and has deep snow!!! BRING ON RIO!!!!