Hola,

We survived another coach trip, this time to Puerto Madryn which is a coastal town on the way to deepest Patagonia on the East coast of Argentina. There isn´t really much to do except a 400km wildlife extravaganza tour of Peninsula Valdes, which is an hours drive away from Puerto Madryn. We are staying in Hostel Teuly which is a family run hostel with really nice rooms, especially the showers, the family have put our Spanish to the test and we have failed many times already. We decided to do the tour to the Peninsula today Thursday 22nd and so on Wednesday went to the beach. Being 18 hours south of BA at the beginning of the Summer means that you get a very hot sun but the wind means you have to wrap up still so we went and "sunbathed" in Winter clothing, much to the amusment of the locals.

Today we got pìcked up at 8:00 by a minibus to take us to the Peninsula nice and early to go whale watching. Yesterday we went round 4 tour operators and three of them said that today would be too windy to go whale watching. True to form we went to the only one that was still running them and arrived with a northerly wind just about to change to a southerly (which is a lot stronger). The boat was a 40 foot catarmaran and rode the incoming waves nicely with a bit of spray and in 20 minutes we slowed down to watch some dolphins which had joined us. We then caught up with a mother southern right whale and her calf which was amazing. We got to within 20 metres or so. Check out Alex´s videos. We then headed back, but me and Alex both thought we were going back a bit early as the trip was meant to take a couple of hours. Oh well we thought, they made there moneys worth, only later did we realise that we left early because the wind had changed!! There isn´t a peir at this village so all the boats run up onto cradles backed into the water by tractors on the beach. Our catarmaran´s cradle went down the middle of the two hulls so the captain just had to aim for it. Unfortunately, the wind had got up as had the waves and on the first try the boat spun and didn´t properly get the cradle locked. The tractor went back up the beach to try again but meanwhile the boat beached its twin outboards parrallel to the beach. At this point we realised that the wind really had turned for the worst as the first big breaker crashed over the side and drenched all seventy of us. The captain desperately gunned the outboards and eventually got us off the beach, we later learned that one of the outboards was broken in the effort. On the way back out to get another run at the beach we got even more soaked, literally to the skin! The second attempt went horribly wrong and we didnt even get close. Again we went out and got even wetter, some of the elderly passengers were really starting to feel the cold and some of the less sea worthy passengers were seeing their breakfast again. Quite a swell had got up and because the boat was down one engine it was being turned by every wave so that we always semed to be side onto the next big one. There were some worried glances going round at this point. The third attempt was closer and kind of got on the cradle but the cradle wasnt deep enough in the water so we didnt lock it in. This time though we were pinned on the beach by the wind, the whole beach was closed by this time and some of the locals started jogging towards us in wetsuits to help out and in true hero fashion literally held the boat at right angles to the shore so we wouldnt be turned. The police and ambulance had also arived. We kept our spirits up by watching the running battle of a group Germans trying to stand up and film the whole thing and the crew telling them to sit down again and again, ze Germans were having none of it!! Finally, another tractor towed a platform over to us so we could jump off and we were saved!! Quite an eventful morning im sure you´ll agree. We had been booked in to tour the rest of the peninsula but most of the group wanted to go back to Madryn so we managed to swap it with one going tomorrow. Needless to say we wont be whale watching tomorrow. We will update you on the things we see when we get to our next destination, Bariloche.

We have now been in Argentina long enough to love it. One of the reasons for this which we have failed to mention up until now is the love of meat. One of our best experiences was back in Puerto Iguazu where we went to a Parilla and got a half barbeque (supposedly for two people) which had..... 1 large rump steak, 1 large sirloin, 1 medium pork steak, 1 huge chicken thigh and its equally large leg, two sausages, 2 black puddings, 1 small rib of lamb and half a kidney. All for about 7 pounds!! We had to ask the waiter if we´d got the right one but we had but sadly couldnt finish it all. This food update was predictably brought to you by Tom. Alex is missing vegetables.

Buenos tardes chicos,

Tom and Alex