First Getaway: Peninsula Valdes

After spending all day moving into our new house, we got a few hours of sleep before a very early morning flight to Trelew (not pronounced how it looks), a small city in northern Patagonia. This week of vacation - our first time away since moving here in July - was the final phase of the "reset" following our bumpy transition to Argentina.

The sun was still rising when the plane landed and frost on the windows of our rental car. Had not seen this since our Maine days. Brrr!

After a couple of hours in the car and a stop at the region's Visitors' Center, we arrived in Puerto Piramides, a small town (but the biggest town) on the peninsula.

Most tourists come to this area between September and December to see Southern Right Whales, and stay in town only a couple of nights. We were quite happy to settle in and laze around all week. Our cozy little guest house had two comfortable rooms, a lovely caretaker who spoke no English, and a sweet pup who was very happy to keep us company. We spent the time walking on beaches, climbing sand dunes, looking for whale spouts out on the water, digging for fossils, criss-crossing the peninsula on bumpy gravel roads, befriending local dogs, and lunching on the best fried calamari ever.

We spent one (very chilly) day around Punta Norte where we stopped for lunch at a sheep ranch and visited a penguin colony on the beach.

After a day of clouds, wind and rain, the sun returned and stayed with us for the rest of the week. 

Our Ollie, reincarnated!

Liam's lunch treat: el submarino, how hot chocolate is done here.

We set out on a two-hour sunset cruise to get a closer look at the whales. 

Toward the end of the week, we took another drive to check out a few salt flats and came across another penguin colony:

In addition to whales and penguins, we saw lots of sea lions and elephant seals:

The first time one of these guys crossed our path, Liam says from the backseat, "What the heck is that thing?" At least, I'm pretty sure he said heck. Anyway, it was not a llama. Not a camel. A guanaca!

The challenge: hike to the top of that dune in the far distance.

The more we walk, the further away it seems.

And then, roll. down. that. dune!

This was an excellent trip chock full of fresh (cold!) air, much time outdoors, and lots of great food. We even muddled our way through a number of chats with people who spoke zero English. I believe this is testament to skill at both charades and wild guesses, and not evidence that we can actually speak or understand Spanish. Still though, it's rewarding to reflect on a conversation and realize that even though no English was spoken during the exchange, bits of information were gained. How does that happen?!  

If you are interested in seeing more photos from this trip, the full album is below.

Peninsula Valdes