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Ok so I think this next bit warranted a new blog entry.
So, we´re at the bus station, 2 tickets to Puerto Madryn, 17 hours south of Buenos Aires clasped in our sweaty paws. The Don Otto bus is due to leave at 19:15 and we´d decided to splash out on ´cama´ seats which are the ones that recline all the way back so that they lie at 180 degrees. When we got to our terminal though a green Via Bariloche bus is waiting for us looking a bit old and decrepit. We´re told it´s the right bus though so climb aboard and get excited about the seats which don´t go back as far as we thought but what do we know, they´re still cooler than coaches in England!
Then off we go, waving goodbye to Buenos Aires and heading towards Patagonia.
10 minutes into the journey I turn to Tim and ask if he can smell petrol? ´It´s probably just the heavy traffic fumes coming through the ventilation system´ he said. Another 20 minutes or so and i´m literally choking on these fumy smells. I look around but no one else seems that bothered. I wrap my jumper round my head and hope it´ll go away. At the first stop in Buenos Aires to pick up more people a lady gets off and begins to complain about the smell, there are a few grumblings but the driver says it´s nothing and not enough people are complaining about it so we set off again. The lady complaining says the Don Otto bus was broken so they found this one in the garage and decided to use it instead. Another 30 minutes in and the smell is unbearable, people are coughing with blankets wrapped round their heads, a lady at the back looked like she´s asphixiated and a gay german guy with his partner eventually ran past us exclaiming, ´It´s like Aushwitz back there!´.
Thank god enough people finally complained and the driver was forced to stop at a service station where we waited for 3 hours in the dark for them to send another Via Bariloche bus! At least it gave us a chance to meet the other passengers, mostly travelling couples from all over and the gay germans called michael and Ollie who seemed fluent in 4 languages.
Finally though, we were on our way, 3 hours later than scheduled but at least we could breathe! So, 20 hours after setting off from BA and 17 of those passing through the most barren landscape I have ever seen, we arrived in Puerto Madryn - the doorway to Penisula Valdes, the famous nature reserve of Argentina.
When we ariived, Michael and Ollie asked if wed like to share a car with them and actually stay on the Peninsula itself in the tiny village of Piramides. We said yes immediately and set off on the 2hour journey to the Peninsula squahed in a tiny rent a car between our big bags. As soon as we entered the reserve we saw wild llamas grazing in the orange glow of the sunset and all of us agreed itd been a great idea to take a car.
Stayed in a very expensive motel type thing after the cheap room wed booked turned out to be a family room with one double bed and two singles, hmmm maybe not we thought.
Had a lovely dinner with another couple whod been on the bus from Ternerife. They happened to be marine biologist specialising in whale communication and were there to look for Orca and Right whales. Michael and Ollie were so funny too, the most stereotypical gay german accents you can imagine and very feminine. Michael even gave me one of his chocolate face masks which hed lugged with him all the way from germany.
Set off at 9am the next day along dusty roads across the penisula. Its actually massive and takes about 2hours to cross to get to the sea, but on the way we saw wild ostrich with 10 babies, more llama, a weird bird and a grey fox. When we got to the beach though, thats when it was really amazing. There were elephant seals, grey seals and penguins all just lying on the beach and you could get so close to them you could see them breathing. The elephant seals are like lumps of lard its a miracle they can even move at all = it was great seeing them snoring away and we even saw 2 square up to each other which was pretty scary.
The best bit for me though was when we were eating lunch and an armadillo popped out of the bush and came right up to us. It even climbed on tims leg, which I wasnt too sure about, but she seemed friendly and even left wet nose trails down his trousers. We named her Mrs. Klinsman and it turns out shes a bit of a celebrity on the island as shes become tame.
We looked for a good hour but no whales unfortunately, wed missed high tide which is when the Orca can sometimes be seen coming onto the beach and catching the sunbathing seals. Its one of the few places in the world to see it happen, but the landscape was just incredible and we decided to stay another night in Piramides in a grimy hostel we found for 5 pounds a night. So glad we did though because as we took a walk along the beach in the glow of the sunset we looked out to sea and saw a whales tail splashing about in the cove. Then as we looked more we could see 5 more whales waving their fins, rolling around and jumping out of the water. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and there was only me and tim on the beach to witness it. There was also a little seal that had got seperated from its group too that we could get so close to as it snored away it was incredible.
After another funny meal with our frineda and a good nights sleep it was back to Puerto Madryn to wait for our overnight coach to Bariloche in the Argentinian lake district.
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