Hi all,

Well we arrived in Puerto Madryn actually quite refreshed after our 18 hour overnight bus journey!!!! The buses are so much nicer than any at home. There are 3 classes, semi cama (normal upright coach seat), cama (a really comfortable large leather chair that reclines quite a long way so your almost lieing down), and delux cama (an actual bed!) We decided as we are on a budget, but could not handle the thought of sitting in normal coach seat for 18 hours we´d try the cama. It was amazing!!! We got fed (dinner and breakfast but worse than aeroplane food) and watered. Even wine if we wanted! We were entertained with a game of bingo, in Spanish, but I think I did quite well, and if I had hadn´t taken 4 or 5 numbers to get into the game I would have won!! We also got to watch The Shawshank redemption and then I settled myself in fo the night and slept for a good 8 hours. Not bad on a normal bus journey. The nect day we ahs to endure 2 Bruce Willes films i a row. I think the conductor was a fan cos he stopped working and sat at the back of the bus watching them.

Its a good job we were entertained on the journey because between Buenos Aires and Puerto Madryn there was nothing. The land of nothing. It was very flat for miles and miles and miles. Not a tree in site, just grass and sandy stuff!

When we arrived in this town we were a little scared about where they were leaving us. It looked a bit rough around the edges, and then when the taxi driver duped us and took us to the wrong hostel we were not happy. Luckily we weren´t far from the proper one so walked there and found that it was really nice, right near the beach. The hostel owner told us to have a wander to the beach and we would see the whales. I thought he was joking and that we´d only be able to see them on the organised trips but he was right. Loads of them all along the coast, jumping and splashing. I did wonder what the point of going on the boat trip to see them was!

After an early night the next day we went on this tour out to the Peninsula Valdes(a unesco world heritage sight). The highlight being the boat trip. After not even 5 mins I spotted a whale. In sign language (still don´t know much Spanish) I tried to tell the captain to stop becasue there was a whale in the other direction but they ignored me and I couldn´t undertand why. I thought they musn´t have seen it and thought I was being stupid waving my arms around and pointing. Obviously I was a better whale spotter than them. However a couple of minutes later we came across about 3 of them, hard to tell because they were so huge amd different bits of them stick out og the water at different times. They were so close sometimes I thought they might tip the boat up. A load of dophins came at one point too swimming inbetween the whales. Initially the whales were being quite lazy just swimming around us, poking their heads up to have a look, and then just as we wer leaving after about an hour and a half, they suddenly started jumping, full on out of the water and crashing down, like they were showing off. It was amazing.

The rest of the tour involved a bus trip around the peninsula. Unfortunatley due to the time of the year there were no penguins, or killer whales, but we id see a few elephant seals, horses and sheep!!!!!!!!

We ahd made friends during the trip with a couple from england, and decided to meet up with them for a couple of drinks that night (like you do). this turned into a couple more drinks and nice food till 3 ish in the morning!!!!!

The next day we sorted another bus to take us to Bariloche in the Argentinian Lake district. Only a 16 hour journey this time!!!