Having a whale of a time!

We´ve just returned from 2 days on Argentina´s valdes peninsular and are literally buzzing! We got lucky. Very lucky. We saw 2 orcas (killer whales) and were fortunate enough to see them hunting a sealion by beaching themselves on the shore. For those of you who have seen the David Attenborugh footage of orcas doing this this is what we saw at the only place in the world where this happens! Awesome.









We also got close encounters with southern right whales form a boat trip that we took. They were named right whales by hunters who classed them as being the right whales to hunt on account of the ease with which they could aproach them. In fact, so curious are they that they actually approach the boats. Happily, this now means stunning close-ups for many tourists. Each year between 4 and 600 whales come here to breed and we saw dozens of mothers with their calves. The hardest thing was trying to fit such large animlas into a single photo but as you can see Katherine didn´t do too badly!








We also saw a penguin breeding colony where the half a million penguins come to nest and breed each year. We were lucky enough to be there just as the first of the eggs were hatching! For me the most amazing thing was the level of committment of these birds. Each year they nest with the same partner in the same place. They share the responsibility of protecting the eggs taking it in turn to sit on the nest while the other goes after food. Due to the sheer volume of penguins on the site sometimes the nests are far from the sea meaning for the furthest away a 7 hour walk to the ocean and 2-6 days fishing before the return journey of 7 hours to the nest! Now that is love for the family!

Action Adventure!

We are just back from El Chalten and the Fitzroy mountain range. We did two days trekking (5 & 8 hours) with absolutely perfect weather. We were able to see the famous Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy peaks clearly and saw some great country.











Yesterday we had a 12 hour day and went on an organised hike with Fitzroy Expeditions. We trekked for 4 1/2 hours to a glacier in the park. We crossed a river by rope on a harness pulling ourselves across with our hands. We were then fitted with crampons and went walking on the glacier! It was such an amazing landscape! All crevices and valleys and peaks. Incredible! We were then given a chance to climb an ice wall in the gracier with ice axes and our crampons! So much fun and quite and achievement! Something I would definately recommend! We were on the glacier for about 3 hours and then had the 4 hour walk back out of the park! Huge day but well worth it!










We are off to the Valdes Penninsular tomorrow - a 24 hour bus trip! Hopefully to see lots of penguins and orcas!

Whats news out there anybody?

Hola! We have just completed a fairly gruelling 5 day trek in Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile.
The scenery was incredible! Amazing granite peaks, snow capped mountains, surreal coloured lakes across a tremendously hardy but accessible landscape. The weather was forgiving considering it is notorious for high winds sweeping across the plains from the snow capped mountains and glaciers. We camped 4 nights in a 2 man rented tent in gale force winds and snow! All of which added to the experience.

We are now in El Calafate in Argentina and are off to see the largest glacier in the world outside Antartica tomorrow before heading off for another 4 days trek in the Mount Fitzroy region of Patagonia. Here is a link that will hopefully give you a taster of what we have seen this week and last week.
http://www.todocalafate.com/english/


Such an awesome experience! Have met some great people along the way too - hello to the W crew if you ever get to read this! Ultima Esparanza rules!