I've been a little nervous about this post - nervous because I fear I won't have sufficient space for all the photos I want to share without creating the longest post of the century! So I'll do my best to pictorally sum-up our adventure. There are basically 6 parts: Whales, Elephant Seals, the San Guillermo Estancia,Seals, Penguins, & the Final Whale.
Whales:
We left Thursday night on a midnight flight to Buenos Aires (way past the Esau bedtime!) and slept in the airport (not recommended, though we'd do it again if needed) until our 6am flight to Trelew. We landed, got our rental car, and drove the hour and a half to Puerto Madryn where, I was quietly hoping, we'd get at least one or two really good whale spottings. I was preparing to handle disappointment, in a healthy way.
We arrived and as we walked into the oceanside storefront to pick up our whale-watching tickets, Greg pointed out the store window towards the beach and said ever so calmly, "There's what you wanted to see." I looked out the window and saw a huge whale tail sticking out the the water like a black boomerang against a clear blue sky. I was dumbfounded! I said, "Hurry! We have to go down there!" We ran the 100 or so yards to the edge of the water and I grabbed out my camera just in time to see this:
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| Yes, that's a WHALE, jumping out of the water! |
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| A whale jumping next to a boat - huge! |
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| See the four whales? We stood here in awe. |
We continued to watch and snap photos. I was mesmerized. We watched for a good 30 minutes, then headed for some lunch before our boat ride. Following are just a few of the many photos from our whale-watching trip!
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| LT & her whale: you can see the nose above & the tail is "next to" my hat! |
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| Mother & Baby |
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| Mother Whales lift their babies towards the surface to help them breath - this baby is rolling over and over on it's mother's back. The mother's nose is on the right and the baby is belly-up in mid roll. :) |
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| This is only its snout! I had a great spot on the back of the boat - they told me to stand on the seats for a better view! |
Though I hated the thought of leaving the whales, we continued our journey north to the remotest part of the area - Punto Norte. At certain times of year, killer whales can be found risking death by swimming onto the beach to grab seals. We didn't see any killer whates (maybe nextime??!!) but we did see elephant seals and seals - lot of them. I don't know if I was so busy before this trip that I didn't stop to think, "Wow! We're going to Argentina to see marine wildlife! I bet we'll actually see some!" or if it was a protection instinct in case we didn't see much of anything. But I was wrong. Way wrong.
The San Guillermo Estancia:
Dragging ourselves away from one of the most gorgeous, untouched coastlines we'd seen, we headed back towards Puerto Madryn to find our Bed & Breakfast before dark. We drove along the coast, somehow managed to find the unmarked "driveway" and entered, unbeknownst to us, into another glorious stage of our adventure: the San Guillermo Estancia. This place was a working sheep farm where 80 day-trip guests had just left hours before our arrival. And we were the only guests for the night. We may as well have been visiting family because that's how they treated us. I want to go back one day. You'll see why.
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| Driving to our B&B for the night - beautiful - no one in sight. |
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| The welcoming Committee! |
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| My first Matte - a hot tea, sifted through a metal "bombillo" to filter out the bits. |
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| These guanacos (like llamas) were SO soft! |
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| Getting a tour of the sheep farm - very interesting! We loved it! |
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| Giving Pepa (pronounced "pay-puh") her bottle - I got to feed her in the morning, too! |
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| Learning how to make empanadas - super delicious appetizers! And supper was just as yummo! |
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| Our very cozy, romantic room. |
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| What he really meant was, "if you don't give me some of Pepa's bottle, I'm going to spit in your face!" And he did! Gross!!!! (you can find the photo of proof on my FB. I couldn't bare to post it twice.) Ha! We laughed our heads off. Greg especially. We loved every moment at this place!!! :) |
We regretfully said goodbye and left our new friends and my buddy Pepa as we headed out for the short drive to the coast. There was a cove nearby that was home to some local seals. We just didn't realize how many. Until we got there. And looked over the edge. Oh. My. Goodness. SEALS! Five colonies worth! I told Greg I could stay there all day and just watch them! What fascinated me is that there was hardly anyone else around! We were in such a desolate, out-of-the-way area that the lack of tourists and people in general afforded another beautiful, untouched view of God's awesome nature. I should have had National Geographic pay me to take photos of all of these creatures in their natural habitats. Amazing.
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| These two big boys were goin' at it! We were told they're pretty possessive of their women. |
Penguins:
Once again, I was "forced" to leave the seals in pursuit of our next stop, Punta Tombo, to see the largest penguin colony in South America. We traversed more dirt & gravel roads to end up on a delightful walk among thousands of nesting, egg-laying penguins. We thought we'd find them in a mass along the water, but instead, they were scattered, two by two, throughout the coast-side. This coastline was spectacular and, again, gorgeous. We made a few friends before heading back towards Trelew.
The Last Whale:
We decided we had enough time to drive back to Puerto Madryn for, hopefully, one final whale-spotting, before boarding our flight back to Buenos Aires. We decided to go back to the seal colonies' cove and enjoyed a beautiful coastal sunset. As we drove along the coast towards the cove, we could see whales out in the ocean - a tail here, a flipper there - so I was hoping for one more good sighting. I spotted one whale playing around, doing nothing in particular, for what seemed the longest time. I grew frustrated and turned to look in the opposite direction, just in time to see one last, glorious, whale jump! Thank you, Lord! I just wanted to see that one more time and I did. It was magnificent. We stayed until we had to go...the theme of our trip!
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| I couldn't pass up a photo of this little guy scratching his chin with his "foot!" |
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| Waiting to see the last glorious whale show...and then... |
Even to think back about this adventure, I'm so grateful for the oppotunity we had to view such beauty. My senses and my joy were full and running over. I told Greg when we landed in Rio de Janeiro in August, that something about being outside the U.S. and in a foreign country made me feel alive. I think that feeling has something to do with "bigness." God's bigness. I struggled with some fear and anxiety about another Ex-pat assignment, but once the journey had begun, I was excited and sensed God's pleasure. I could feel Him. His presence with me. His peace. His love. I don't think I've ever felt smaller (or more out of my comfort zone) - but on the other hand, God's never seemed bigger. I think it has to do with trust. Will I trust Him to be faithful as He always has been? Our Argentine adventure was a beautiful show of God's bigness & a reminder that He is, indeed, faithful!
God, thank you for this opportunity. I believe you are who you say you are. You made all of creation with one word and it's beautiful. As I seek to trust You more and more, I want to believe without fear, without doubt, without impatience. For I don't want to miss the blessing of the beauty that's before me TODAY! Oh, how I love you, Lord.
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