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An earlish start for another long drive to Puerto Madryn and the extra distance we needed to make up for the previous day. Again there was nothing to spectular about the drive and the scenery and we ended up playing spot the house for something to do. Arrived in Puerto Madryn around 4.30pm, a seaside town that was founded by welsh settlers in the nineteenth century. Pulled up at the campsite and SAS and Encounter were already there, wondering what had taken us so long. Went out for a group meal that night, we are now down to 14 people, as Sam and Nick had got off in Rio Gallegos and had arranged to go out at 7pm. The taxis however decided on something different and eventually turned up just after 8pm with a whole host of reasons for the delay when Kirsty kept phoning. Had a very nice steak (just can´t get enough of the great Argentian beef) and an early night in the end.
Got up early and after breakfast we headed out in Rosita to Valdez Pennisula, a area renowned for the wildlife. Stopped at the gates and the weather poured down, apparently this is very rare - didn´t feel that priviledged to experience that one! We then decided not to take boat trip where there was an opportunity to see whales but to include the northern tip of the pennisula instead. We we headed out towards the eastern part where we were to see rare Elephant Seals but Andy forgot to turn and we ended up in the north first. Here we saw sealions, which our guide had explained all about earlier, and went Armadillo hunting. Saw lots of Armadillo holes but no Armadillos. This point is also where Orca Whales in the high tides come up to the beach and eat the seal cub. Didn´t see any of these as it was low tide and at the shoulder of the season. Saw the germans from the Vampire bus and apparently one of the passengers there didn´t wake up and died in the night. Not a good experience for the passengers. Next we headed down the coastal road to the eastern point but disaster stuck again. We got bogged down again and despite our best efforts couldn´t get out. We then had lunch and our guide flagged down a guard who would inform the grader that was further down the road to come and rescue us. This wasn´t necessary as we saw SAS heading in the opposite direction and they offered to help. However, they also got stuck and had to dig themselves out but they had the added benefit of a snow thing (can´t remember the name but metal plates that could be used for traction). This released them, for them to get stuck again, but the got released that time as well. We then borrowed the metal plates and managed to release ourselves. Andy drove quite a while before stopping and then asked for us all to sit towards the front to help with the weight. We arrived at the easterly point and saw the Elephant Seals but again no armadillos. The ones in this area are Hairy Armadillos and eat meat as well as plants. Headed back to the campsite and after dinner stayed up drinking for a little while with Julie, until Andy kicked us out of the truck as he wanted to lock up.
previous travel blog entry
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