up close and personal
flying to puerto madryn was a splendid idea; two hours on a plane, a journey commencing with some spectacular views over the fuegan peaks which i was happy to see we were flying over as opposed to through, bolivian style, far outstripped 4o hours on a bus in the comfort stakes, as well as buying us an extra two days. puerto madryn is on the trail because of its proximity to a stretch of atlantic coastline favoured by southern right whales so, having checked into a bizarre hotel room which looked and felt as cheap as it was in every single way except for the totally anomalous presence of a flat screen tv, we settled down in preparation for our trip to the peninsula valdes in the morning.our mini van was rammed and bumpy and the combination of the rough journey and the early start meant spirits were slightly dampened as we stumbled out into the bleary sunshine at puerto piramides after a couple of hours on the road. resplendent in reassuring bright, but disquietingly loose, lifejackets we trooped onto the boat to get closer to the fabulous beasties which we had already seen playing offshore on the way in. i had already had one whale watching experience following ######## in new zealand, a slightly perfunctory hour where i´d glimpsed three whales do very little other than catch some air on the surface before obligingly arching their ##### and providing the moneyshot of their jagged tails plummeting beneath the surface. this however was to be a completely different affair as, within a few minutes of heading offshore, we were joined by two southern right whales. these are smaller than ######### and, frankly, quite ugly beasts, covered in parasitic callouses and moulting skin. we were only able to make this judgment, however, because of how incredibly close we got to them, as the pair circled the boat, diving under it and surfacing yards from our faces. it was if, rather than being mere spectators, we were on a vessel which the whales had chosen to activley engage with, and subsequently had no concerns about getting in remarkable proximity to. amazing stuff, as during the rest of the ride we saw plenty of whales milling around and jumping out of the water to amuse and impress, and got absurdly close again to a few more, including a mother and a calf.
the rest of the trip was, understandably, a bit of an anticlimax, as elephant seals and various birds were going to struggle to compete. we did see a mana, an extremely curious rodent which looks like a rabbit with ratlike front legs, a sighting which was memorable largely because, amid the din of other questions relating to this odd creatures mating or living habits the french woman beside me asked, in all seriousness, whether they could be eaten; you have to love the french, if it moves they will eat it. i was disappointed to have been eluded by the armadillos though, that will have to wait for another day.
all in all then a day which provided some seriously memorarable sights. we have some time to kill before our bus, so are going to head to a nearby beach to watch some more of these huge beasts playing like naughty children amongst the waves before moving to arguably the first real metropolis we will have spent any time in during this trip, buenos aires.
posted by bicrom @ 3:49 pm
