The last stop on our Patagonia tour together was the beach town Puerto Madryn.  We had plans of seeing whales, penguins and sea lions oh my!  Our hotel was a little oasis a bit outside of the town.  We were greeted at the door by an adorable beast of a dog, who by the looks of things had just had a recent surgery and was, thus, condemned to the cone of shame. We asked the dog’s name and the owner told us his name was ‘LuAnne.” Okay. . . interesting name for a huge male dog, but maybe it was a cultural difference?

Our first day in Puerto Madryn we headed to the Valdes Peninsula to do a little whale watching.  This was such a neat experience.  I’ve been whale watching before but previously trips have been on larger boats than what we were on.  For this trip we were riding on small raft type boats that allowed us to get very close to the Right Whales.  Off the coast of the Valdes Peninsula is a breeding ground for these whales so we were able to see many mamas and babies.

On day two we went to see penguins in the nearby town Punta Tombo.  These little cuties had the life.  They live on this huge peninsula where they build homes in the bushes, burrow their eggs, have parade walks to the water, and swim in the ocean.  We walked about a mile along this path beside them, pausing, of course, to let them pass.  Penguins have the right of way in Ponto Tombo.

 

After visiting the penguins we went to  Egidio Feruglio Paleontology Museum where we walked around the national park.

We ended our days in Puerto Madryn back at the hotel oasis where we started.  One night, I was chatting with the hotel staff and called the dog LuAnne. “‘LuAnne? No, el es Luján.” ‘No, his name is Luján.’  Oooooh Luján? You mean the classic Spanish surname derived from the Basque language and originating in Northern Spain? NOT ‘LuAnne’ the popular American name most common from the 1960s and 70s? Oops!!  Another lost in translation moment, but this time at the expense of a sweet furball.