Peninsula de Valdes!

Holaaaa,

Just got back from another really great trip this weekend. I took and 18 hour bus ride with LB to Peninsula de Valdes on Friday night and then came back Tuesday morning. The whole peninsula is a nature reserve famous for the Southern Right Whales that come there to breed and nurse calves every Spring, and October is the best month to see them. So we took the bus overnight and then got there in the afternoon on Saturday and rented a car. We drove two hours more south to go to what the hostel owner said is "the most important penguin colony in the Americas." One problem, the car was a standard, and between me and Betsy, she was the only capable of driving it. I had tried it once before about a year ago, but the thought of driving a rental car while trying to learn stick shift on the highways of Argentina didn´t sound too appealing, so poor Bets drove there and back. It was definitely worth the drive, or at least for me was worth sitting in the passenger seat playing navigator for 6 hours, haha. (yes 6, there was a gravel road that took an hour for us to go down each way and we got pretttttty lost on the way home). There were penguins everywhere, all in their little holes sitting on their eggs. And there were wild horses, sheep, llamas, and maras (kinda like big jackrabbits). The ride was beautiful, especially on the way home with the sun setting when we were the only people on the road. As far as getting home, we had wanted to go and eat dinner at the Welsh settlements that were seemingly near penguin colony, but ended up getting miserably lost for over an hour. But finally we made it home...

The next day we drove out to the peninsula and took a boat out to see the whales. We were on a small boat, with less than 20 other people. It was very different from whale watches in the cape where you have to elbow your way through a crowd to get a glimpse of a whale. We spent most of our time watching 2 southern right whales, a mother and calf, RIGHT next to the boat. We saw a few more whales on the way back, they were just coming out of the water in every direction. Then came my turn to drive! All the roads on the peninsula were practically deserted if you don´t count the occasional llama, cow, sheep, mara, armadillo, horse crossing. And Betsy was understandably getting tired, so she turned the wheel over and coached me on how to drive. And I am now proud to say that I learned to drive stick shift on a deserted peninsula in Argentina. Wasn´t as hard as a I thought, but I think it helps to have a good (and patient) teacher- thanks Bets! So from there we drove to Punto Norte to see a sea lion and elephant seal colony. We were also told that that is the place to see Orcas (killer whales) hunt the sea loins by beaching themselves. Unfortunately, we hit the end of the season to see that and didn´t see any Orcas. But the sea lions were all over the beach, and the elephant ones were huuuuuge. From there we drove to another point further south in the peninsula to see a few more penguins and seals as the sun was setting. We were probably the only tourists on the peninsula at this point. I pulled over and turned the car lights off at one point to see the stars and it was beautiful, I don´t think I´ve ever been in such darkness outside. Then after about 3 seconds we both got the creeps and turned the lights back on. This is how a New Yorker and a Bostonian roll in Argentina...haha.

We took it easy on Monday morning, went out for lunch, took a walk and hung out at the beach straining our eyes in the sun to see a few more whales. We also watched the news in the morning to see that Christina Kirschner had won the presidential election- not good news. As far as we can tell, she is the most conservative of all the candidates, and Evi has been telling me that her election would mean that she and her husband, current president Nestor Kirschner would just alternate terms and it would turn into another dictatorship. That´s what she says anyway.

This week has gone by, just getting back into the swing of things with going to the internship, Spanish lessons, and the gym. Liz is moving out of our house verrrry soon. She´s leaving tomorrow to go to Uruguay for a week and then she´ll be back in BA for just a few more days before she flies back to the states just in time for thanksgiving. It´s making me realize how I´ll be home before I know it. I´ll miss having her around. And I have to say it has made me a little homesick seeing her getting ready to go back and see her family, friends and boyfriend. Definitely makes me miss everyone I have at home. But Evi had some wise words for me yesterday, she said that I will be home all too soon, so I should focus on being here now and be present. Kinda sounded a little bit like a UACT ground rule, but so true. Home is waiting for me, and will come too soon I´m sure. For now I´m going to enjoy my last 3 weeks in BA. 3 Weeks! That´s so crazy.

No, I won´t be home home in 3 weeks, but I´m leaving on November 23rd to travel around Argentina for 4 weeks before I fly home. I will be starting up in the Andean North in Salta with Betsy, then down to wine country in Mendoza where Mari will meet me, the Bariloche and the seven lake district to meet Kara, and then she and I will continue south through Patagonia and the glacial parks. After all this, Kara and I will come back to BA for two days so she can see the city and I can say my goodbyes. And then home. It´s going to be amazing, all of it.

Ok that´s it for now, I´m going to try to post my pictures from Peninsula de Valdes later today!