Puerto Madryn> Entry into Patagonia

Penguins at Punto Tombo
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Traveled overnight to Puerto Madryn on a semi cama bus. my burns and the general lack of space plus the 16 hours did take its toll.  I was very pleased to have arrived and get into the hostel, that turned out to be lovely.  P.M was our first stop on the trip into Patagonia, and despite our worst expectations of cold, turned out to be beautiful weather in the day, so we spent a lot of time just chilling on the lovely *and relatively unpopulated* beach.

Puerto Madryn is famous for being the door way to "the ecological treasure trove" of Peninsula Valdes and Peurto Tombo.  We took a tour to Puerto Tombo to see the largest colony of penguins accessible in the world.  They were so cute.  Literally everywhere, lots of baby chicks waiting to take their first swim in the water, all molting their baby fluff for penguin coloured feathers.  Loved watching them on the beach, so clumsy, so like in Mary Poppins, and then their amazing agility and speed in the water where they zipped around showing off.

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PM is also in the heart of the Welsh valleys, where the welsh people tried to recreate a new Welsh Kingdom in the Patagonia wilderness. To the extent they suceeded to remain welsh and not be enveloped by the other immigrant and native groups, you find that welsh is still taught in the schools, the welsh flag still flies from a few villages, the names are welsh, and most importantly for me, they do a welsh tea for tourists- which included real tea in a pot!  Not sure white bread cheese sandwich with a garlic butter is exactly "welsh" nor the creamy cakes, but i enjoyed it even if it was rather overpriced and would have preferred a nice old Cornish tea instead!