J: we arrived at Puerto Madryn before sunrise, we strolled along the beach front as the sun came up which was nice, then found a hostel and caught up on some sleep. Once refreshed we wondered the town trying to replace my very broken flip-flops which are only together with the wonder that is duck-tape. But every shop said my feet were too big and sent me away, damn these little footed countries! So we just stocked up on some shopping, rented a car for the following day and had an easy afternoon around the town.

S: Then next day we set off early to visit Punta Norte to see Killer Whales. Now I've been after whales this whole trip (yes I do know that an Orca isn't a whale it's a dolphin - but it's pretty close) and for once we were in season but it still was a luck game. After some research and asking locals we had worked out, to be in with a chance to see the Orcas you needed to be there 2 hours before high tide and up to 3 hours after. It was quite a long drive to get to Punta Norte and we eventually got there at midday, high tide was at 2pm. So we sat and sat and then I got talking to a researcher from Canada who explained that today was the perfect conditions to see the Orcas. She explained they had been spotted a week ago but it had been over a month since they stranded themselves. She also explained how she took photographs to identify each Orca and their pod, it was really interesting to listen to and look at the pictures she had taken. Then a of sudden one of the guides said they had spotted the whales air blows in the distant bays, I was so filled with excitement- surely we couldn't be this lucky?

J: then suddenly out in the distance along the shore we saw them, to start with we could only see a fin out of the water then another, then we realised there were in fact 4 of them! Everyone was excited that the Orca's had appeared. People were sharing the public binoculars which allowed for a better view, then we saw in the distance that one had stranded on the beach to try catch a seal pup, this was the only place in the world this happens and we were here to watch it, albeit in the distance. Then a local man named Matthew who was actually French but moved there 6 years ago, offered his binoculars for me to use, they were excellent binoculars even though tiny and I could see them clearly. Then again the whales attached up on the beach, we couldn't get good photos but we were still amazed at our luck of seeing it. Then it looked like they started to come along the beach towards us......

S: after a couple more kills, they finally made it down to the bay we were all watching from, they were just 40 feet in front of us now. It was like watching the TV programmes on nature, it was one of life's finest moments, watching nature at its best. We watched the pup seals playing in the water and all of a sudden there was a fin coming into shore fast on one of the Orcas, the next thing you know is the Orca has stranded itself and had caught a seal in its mouth - it was incredible to watch. Don't get me wrong I did feel sorry for the seals but to watch Orcas hunt is something I'd thought I would never see. After a couple of hours, of James talking to Matthew who lived in the nearest town, James explained to me that we could spend the night in his house with his family. We had planned to sleep in the car, but this was brilliant, he just wanted to hitchhike a ride back with us and we could both practise our Spanish as he said his family only spoke Spanish.
We decided to that we needed to all eat as none of us had eaten since breakfast and that was at 8am and it was now 4pm. We started to walk away and the Rangers whistled us back.

J: There was another pod coming in from the north! The tide was now half out and we could see some rocks but this next pod smoothly came along from the left, a female with her young made the fastest attack of the day, she was directly in front of us and completely out of the sea! She made a kill and shuffled back into the sea, it was genuinely fantastic! We couldn't believe our luck, that day we managed to see 30 attacks, 6 successful kills and 2 different pods totalling 8 Killer Whales. Mathew said it was the greatest day he had ever heard of, Lady Luck was on our side that day.
After some food we headed back to Matthews place and gave a lift to his friend Simon. Sam quietly asked me if the situation we were in was ok; that being in a car with 2 strange guys and going to a house we didn't know. But I could tell we were fine, so Sam fell asleep. Matthew was a traveler himself for 4 years then fell in love with an Argentinian girl and stopped at Puerto Madryn. After dropping Simon off in town we got to his place and met his family; Veronica his wife and Kendra his daughter.

S: they were very welcoming and soon we were all trying to communicate in broken Spanish and English. Kendra their daughter was busy making crafts to decorate the house with and then we spotted the cat and we both instantly fell in love. She was gorgeous and reminded us of our girl cat at home, and boy did the cat want some love lol. Matthew explained he went walking around the island and had found some fossils and showed them to us with whale and sharks teeth. They were a great family and very hospitable. Matthew being French loved to cook and made us dinner which was pasta, but by the time we added all the other little ingredients it was amazing and we of course had a couple of beers. They were very apologetic they didn't have anything else to offer us, but the food was fantastic and they even infused their own olive oil. We finished the night off deciding that the three of them would join us in the car tomorrow to explore the rest of the peninsula and hopefully see another stranding as Kendra had never seen one. In the morning we awoke and had shared the spare bed with the cat lol, we didn't mind and we felt so welcome in the house. We had brought our breakfast with us, so we quickly ate that, and then explained we had some food to share for lunch if the guys were game. They brought some cheese and we were off for the day. We first visited Punta Cantor to see the Elephant seals and they were massive just basking in the sun, taking it all in. On the journey there Veronica and Kendra were playing a version of 'I Spy' but in English instead of Spanish to practice English. It was very sweet to watch but just reminded us of how bad our language skills really are.

J: we then headed to a point where we were likely to see some penguins Matthew said. We got there and to his shock there were hundreds of them! They were playing in the still creek in front and talking to each other, it was quite a show. On the next drive we saw loads of animals in the road including; Mara (a small deer sort of animal), lamas and rhea (a ostrich looking bird). Then we headed to try our luck at the Killer Whales again, as soon as we got there we heard that they had just arrived, over to the distant right, they quickly made a kill! We decided to eat and while eating we watched them 'play' with the seal, they even smashed it high out of the water with their tales, it was unbelievable. But the wind was in the wrong direction and stronger that day which meant they never came really close, and after a little while we didn't see them again, but we stayed there just waiting, enjoying the scenery and everyone's company over some Matè tea that they brought with them (Matè is Argentinean, they have a special cup filled with bitter leafs, some sugar then filled with hot water. You drink through a straw which only allows the water to pass through) while sharing the Matè we saw a grey fox with a freshly killed cuis (guinea pig). Then an Armadillo which wasn't fearful and wondered very close to us, it's an odd looking animal, I didn't expect to see one of them in Argentina.

S: we headed back to the town with the guys and brought some freshly caught fish from the local fisherman, which was Veronica's brother. It had been decided that we would stay another night and leave early in the morning to return the car. Now James doesn't really do languages but I have been so impressed with him in South America, and he continues to learn new words everyday. Veronica and James had a good hours conversation talking about travelling and life, Veronica speaking English and James speaking Spanish. It was brilliant to watch and learn new words at the same time. Meanwhile Matthew had cooked us fish and chips and it was delicious. We enjoyed the meal with a couple of beers to share and we really felt at home which included their cat lol. I think we would of taken her with us if we could of, but I think Kendra wouldn't of been impressed. Simon had joined us to have a couple of drinks for the evening and that's when the Falklands came up. James and I had experienced in the South still some bitterness and anger towards the British especially as they believed the Falkland/Maldivas should belong to Argentina. We both explained it was before our time and that we didn't really have a view on it but maybe the people living their should be able to make their own decision.
The next morning we were up early and thanked Matthew profusely for his generosity and how it had been a fantastic experience to be taken into their home and treated like family. We really had had a wonderful couple of days that would be very hard to top anywhere.

J: something that was wonderful about spending the time with them all was seeing just how happy they all were even though they clearly lived 'below the bread line', everything in the house was second hand or hand made by them. Money and happiness don't go side by side and they were a testament to that.
But when we got back to returning the car the nice owner was so happy to hear about our extra successful 2 days, he said no one has ever come back with photos like ours and it was refreshing to him to see our smiling faces rather than disappointed ones.
After breakfast we walked to the promenade read our books and enjoyed the people watching, it's a random thing I enjoy these days.
We even managed to Skype Lauren in Australia as Scarlett wanted to ask us to save some people in trouble somewhere around the world, she is cute!

S: we decided that we had spent too much time in the car lately and we went for a good walk along the promenade. It seemed that it was the thing for all the locals to do, as it was very busy. We stopped on the beach and read our books for an hour or so and then walked back to the hostel to cook dinner and then catch the bus. Our trip at Puerto Madryn had been magical and we really couldn't of wish for a better time.