Sun, sea, penguins and seals

After a mammoth 48 hours of travelling I arrived in the sunny seaside town of Puerto Madryn a bit dazed and confused.

During the two coach journeys it took to get there I watched the landscape change from lush, green rainforest to dry, dusty and sun bleached.

I stayed at Chepatagonia Hostel in Puerto Madryn, which was literally just 100 metres from the beach. The hostel was lovely and I would highly recommend it, it is run by a husband and wife team, who were really helpful and welcoming.

Puerto Madryn itself is a typical seaside town and being from the coast myself I always feel more at home by the sea.

As with a lot of seaside resorts the main town beach was quite crowded so I decided to give it a miss and instead wandered 3km in the opposite direction towards a headland. The further out of town I got the quieter the beach was until it was just me and a handful of other people all seemingly doing the same thing.

At the end of the beach I walked up across the rocks, which were pretty smooth except for a few hollows - handy to sit in. This end of the beach is also the point where the first Welsh settlers arrived in Patagonia in the 1800s. There were a few dug out caves in the rocks, which is where they sheltered.

Before I realised there was a Welsh connection in Patagonia I thought some of the place names, particularly in this area sounded a little Welsh. There is a town called Trelew about an hour away and even Puerto Madryn doesn't sound particularly Argentinian. I had read that you could get Welsh cakes in this part of Argentina too and I even found somewhere selling them.

The main draw for people coming to Puerto Madryn is the wildlife in this part of Patagonia and you can organise trips to various nature reserves etc. As I only had two full days I went on a tour to Peninsula Valdes where there was a chance to see a broader range of wildlife. The tour cost 740 pesos and was an all day affair.

The mini bus picked me and another guest up at 8am and off we went. There were only 6 other people on the tour, so it was a nice small group and our guide was extremely knowledgeable having been conducting tours of the peninsula for many years.

First stop was Puerto Pimimides a small, picturesque town, which is right on the coast. It was very windy and the sea was nice and swelly with waves crashing against the rocks. The town is the only place on the peninsula where you can find accommodation and is also the last place to get fuel.

From there we headed to Punta Delgada, where we saw elephant seals. They were quite well disguised on the pebbly beach and we were even lucky enough to spot a large male. It was quite something being able to see these animals in their natural environment.

At Punta Cantor we had an hour to stroll along the various trails and see more elephant seals on the beach. When I was half way along one of the trails the heavens opened and it started to chuck it down. Thankfully I had taken a waterproof with me, but the rain was so cold it felt like needles. I headed back to the shelter of the minibus where everyone was equally as drenched. It was only a quick downpour and by the time we reached our next stop it was all over and done with.

At the next stop we were able to see Magellanic penguins - this was the part of the visit I was most looking forward to and despite being a bit chilly and damp all of us were smiling by the time we left there.

Final stop was Punta Norte and the sea lion colony. It was amazing to see masses of sea lions and their pups stretched out along the shoreline. Our guide told us sometimes it is possible to spot Orca whales from this particular view point, but unfortunately there weren't any around while we were there.