We left rainy Buenos Aires behind and flew two hours south to Trelew, in the northeast corner of Patagonia. We´ve come primarily in search of whales, as they soon leave the breeding grounds to head back to Antarctica. We´re an hour north of Trelew in a small town called Puerto Madryn; the primary industry here is aluminum - they make it with boxite from Brazil - and produce it as a powder as well as in blocks and ship it away. Fishing and tourism are the other two main sources of employment.We hear the two types of weather here are windy and windier... it certainly is rather chilly and we´re wearing many layers, but enjoying the sunshine. It´s very dry here and flat - a steppe, which was settled by Welsh immigrants; we´ve seen Welsh cake in tins for sale in gift shops.
Today we walked all along the seawall, which was full of people strolling, having picnics, rollerblading, cycling, skateboarding, and in the water (with wet suits), kitesurfing. Our destination was the Ecocentro, which had full whale skeleton, and many fine exhibits of the marine life here.
Guanoco photo by bucaorg (Flickr Creative Commons)
