The Hi Patagonia hostel seemed to be a private house, turned into a hostel. Hi Patagonia hostel looked like a typical suburban house, made of bricks, with a small but well maintained lawn separating it from the street. The lower floor comprised of reception, social areas and staff kitchen, from where breakfast was served. The rooms and bath rooms were on the first floor.
Behind the main house, there was a backyard with a small bar, implying that this place knows how to party.
Next to it lied an annex house, where the common kitchen and the mandatory Parilla (Argentinian barbeque facility) were residing. All this contributed to a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.
The excursion to Peninsula Valdes is a full-day tour, covering a total distance of about 400km, mainly on Makadam roud, which is in very well maintained, allowing cars to drive around 60-80km/h. Going on a guided tour is of course convenient and informative, but this tour can also be done with an own vehiacle, which I would recommend if you are 3 persons and more. As Peninsula Valdes is a provincial (Chubut) natural reserve and there is a entrance fee of 130 ARS (about 25 USD). The fauna to found is depending on the season, but typically, whales, dolphins, orcs, sea lions, sea elefants, lamas, number of bird species and Magellan pinguins can be spotted. As I was out of season, it wasn't at all sure that I was going to spot so many of the above mentioned.
The reason for the rich fauna is the gulf of Peninsula, where warmer currents from the north and colder ones from southern Patagonia meet - making this a nutrituis place for fish, crabs, shrimps etc. Access to food makes it a perfect place for all the sea lions, orcs, whales etc.
The terrain it self is more or less a dessert, even though it is possible to have sheeps on it, but you need a lot of land to be able to feed a descent amount of sheeps. My guide told that about 100 years ago, the land in Peninsula Valdes costed 1 USD per hektar (10000m2) and that you usually bought square kilometers of land. Now this land is worth much more because of the reservate.
The Atlantic ocean however, is blue as the sky and in many places transparent, looking like a paradise. There was exactly what we encountered at our first stop was Punta Norte, about 90 km from Puerto Madryn. The sight and the sound of the sea lion colony strucked me at once, although from a distance (visitors are not allowed near), the sight looked amazing. Seing sea lions babies playing with eachother in the crystal clear water is an incredible sight. Swimming in the water joyfully, makes you want to jump into the water and cuddle with them. On the land, they don't look that elegant though, basically dragging them selfs around and sounding like sheeps. I wonder is sometime, a confused sheep is attracted by that sound? You know, sheeps are not that smart..
Before heading further to look for pinguins, I was lucky enough to get a glimse of an orc, which is a gigantic dolphin but many times mistaken for a whale. Arriving to the usual spot where the Magellan pinguins were, to our guide surprise, there were still some pinguins left in the colony. This time, we were allowed to get really close and I was finding myself only a meter from a pinguin - it was fantastic and they looked exactly like on TV. The wonderful thing, is that they weren't afraid of the humans, the just stood there, soaking the sun, occupied by themselfs, not caring about what's happening around them.
One of our last stops was the pitoresc (I am on a train, without Internet to check the spelling) city of Puerto Piramides, which lies within the reserve. During season June-Mar it is filled up with people wanting to spot whales and dolphins and there are a number of companies providing boat tours for a close encounter. There is also a beach, which many times can be a good place for spotting whales - so why no combine a beach hang out with whale spotting.
By the time we arrived to Puerto Piramides, at 16.00 I was starving, after having an apple for breakfast. Living in Buenos Aires makes you miss good seafood, and I was curios to try the seafood and Puerto Madryn, which is suppose to have one of the best in Argentina. Being a low season, many restaurants were closed and the one we found was empty. I took a big chance ordering seafood, but the restaurant owner was assuring that it was all fresh, and catched in the reserve, where only traditional fishing by traditional methods was allowed. I wasn't dissapointed - it was like being in heaven, my sea food abstinence was bigger than I thought. This made me even confused; Argentina HAS good seafood but for some, for my completely mysterious reason, it is not easily to be found in Buenos Aires. Now, I have a good memory, that I can live on for a while.
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