So once I finished my volunteer placement with Bottazzi it was now time for my own personal mission; see Orcas in Peninsular Valdes. The first morning, I woke up keenly and after breakfast I hitchhiked 80km from Puerto Piràmides to Caleta Valdes, a part of the peninsular with one of the best chances for spotting the animals during November, at least according to all of the guides and locals I had been interrogating over the last couple of months.

Until I came to South America I had never hitchhiked before, I think this is normal for someone coming from Britain but from speaking to so many travellers here I got the impression it was a lot more common here and perfectly safe… Just maybe a little awkward if you don’t speak Spanish.

My first ever hitchhiking experience was across the border from Foz du Iguacu, Brazil to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.  I had been told that the crossing was a simple one and could be done by public bus.  I took the bus from outside my hostel to the Brazilian border where I got off to get my passport stamped to leave the country, the driver said he would wait 5 minutes for the small group of us who needed to do it, a few minutes later we returned to the bus stop and he was long gone.  The next bus which we could take with our ticket would be another 30 minutes and I had a flight to catch in a few hours!  Plus I figured that the next bus would only take us as far as the border of Argentina which was on the other side of a bridge about 5km away, where I would then have to wait another 30 minutes for the next bus which would take me into town.  This process was going to take too long so others at the bus top suggested hitchhiking which I did.  I stuck out my thumb at the passing cars and within a few minutes I was crossing the bridge.

Back to Peninsular Valdes, I left Puerto Piramides at 9am and started hiking 5km uphill to the junction with the main road that goes from East to West across the peninsular, increasing my chances of getting picked up because here I also have the traffic going directly from Puerto Madryn on the mainland to Punta Norte, Punta Cantor or Caleta (Creek) Valdez.  On my way uphill a van stopped and even though the driver was going to Puerto Madryn he offered me a ride to the crossroads anyway, I gladly accepted.  At the crossroads about 10 cars passed in 20 minutes when a kind Argentinean couple stopped and offered me a lift.  I arrived at Caleta Valdes at high tide and waited patiently for three and a half hours looking out to sea for black dorsal fins.

Whilst I was alone watching and waiting I had an interesting realisation that I could hear nothing manmade.  Not an engine, a voice, a clock, a radio or a phone ringing.  Only wind, waves, birds chirping, elephant seals and sea lions grunting; it was a very satisfying experience and unfortunately short lived  as a bus full of tourists came over the horizon.  Once the tide was so low that the chances of orcas appearing were reduced significantly I decided to call it a day and asked a couple who were just about to leave the viewpoint  if I could travel with them to Puerto Piramides.  No luck today but I’ll be back to try again tomorrow.

Day two was a fairly uneventful day but an amazing day all the same.  Again I hitchhiked the 160km round trip and spent 5 hours at the coast around high tide .  Today I also tried my luck at Punta Cantor  just south of Caleta Valdes.  Punta Cantor has a superb panoramic view of the Argentine sea and a beach littered with elephant seal pups, which are actually about the size of adult sea lions but still perfect sized Orca snacks!  A highlight of the day was sharing my banana with a mocking bird that was surprisingly confident around people and comfortable eating from my hand.  I still didn’t see the elusive Orcas but fingers crossed for tomorrow.