I was due to leave South America on 16 November, thinking that a month would be enough to see Buenos Aires, Tierra del Fuego and Machu Pichu. Boy was i wrong though. Looking at a map of the world in the UK just doesn't give a real idea of just how big this continent is. Argentina on its own is massive, and to go down to the bottom and back up to Santiago is going to take about a month. Six weeks just to see a fraction of the southern tip of South America, let alone Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela etc. I guess I'll have to come back to do the north.
The bus trip was worth it though. I was up at 6.30 on my first morning to go on a tour of Peninsula Valdes - a nature reserve that juts out of the coast line just north of Puerto Madryn. After about an hour's drive through absolute nothingness we arrived at a tiny little village and jumped into a boat to head out to sea to try and spot some whales.
Our guide had spent most of the journey playing down our expectations, "It's the end of the mating seasoon," "They're moving on," "We don't always see them," etc. So it was pretty cool when we spotted this on the horizon.
Once the grizzled skipper had spotted the tail we headed out to where we'd seen it and switched off the engine and waited to see what would happen.
After about 10 minutes of bobbing around with 30 pairs of eyes scouring the surrounding water for a sign of the animal whose tail we'd seen, a blue black bulge surfaced just a few feet from the boat and headed straight towards us.
The skipper said it was only a young one, but it was huge. Easily 30 feet long and he swam so close to the boat that when he emptied his blow holes I swear you could hear a 'voice' - a kind of low rumble from within as he expelled the air. Apparently it was a southern right whale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_whale
After another 10 minutes or so he was joined by what the guide said was his younger brother and the two of them frollicked (as much as a 15-ton whale can frollick) in the water around us. At one point he waved his tail so close to the boat that a couple of people were able to reach over the rail and touch it.
Simply an amazing experience and one I'll never forget. There was no communing with the creatures or any of kind of spiritual connection with the deep, but I did have to stop taking pictures for 10 minutes just so I could stand and stare in wonder at them. As awe-inspiring as their size and grace was, I had to pinch myself to take in the fact I was in the south Atlantic off the coast of Patagonia meeting a whale. Crazy times.
I think it may even eclipse Jesus World!
