17 Patagonia (Argentina)

June 26, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ -4 °C

23/06/17-27/06/17 Patagonia (Argentina)

We finally reached Argentina, thanks to the lift from our car rental friend (although, he told us that if he'd remembered that Chile were playing Germany at the football that day he would have charged us extra!). It was beginning to feel like we would never make it!

Our first stop in Argentina was a small town in Patagonia called El Calafate. It is a very touristy town, with lots of wooden buildings, trees and wide roads. It reminded us both of a resort like centre parks.

From El Calafate we visited the Perito Moreno glacier. This is one of the world's only stable glaciers, and hasn't changed in size during the last century. It was very impressive. At its tallest, it measures 70m high and a beautiful shade of blue. We walked around it, and also took a boat trip to see it a bit closer. It was freezing. Stood next to it, you could see and hear bits of ice breaking off into the water. The sound was incredible, and so loud. That evening we went to an ice bar, which was quite good fun, although equally as cold as at the glacier.

The following day we took a bus north to Puerto Madryn. Surprise surprise our first bus was cancelled, but after a few phone calls the company put us onto a different bus that left two hours later. We were worried that we may miss our connection bus, but luckily got it just in time.

Our second bus was very slow with lots of stops due to the snow (we were surprised it wasn't cancelled). We eventually got into Puerto Madryn 4 hours later than planned, making our total time on a bus 26 hours.

Our main reason for coming to Puerto Madryn was to see the Southern Right Whales. After our mission to get there we really hoped we would see them. We hired a car and drove to a port in the national park where we got a boat.

As we were walking to the boat we spotted our first two whales from the coast, and knew that it was already worth it. Once on the boat we saw loads, including calves. They would swim right up to our boat and go underneath. It was amazing. Definitely worth the hassle!

We are now heading further north, which we are both excited about, mainly as temperatures are above 15 degrees, which in comparison to the last 2 weeks is tropical! Although we are both sad to be leaving Patagonia.Read more