This is Patagonia. This is whale watching mecca. We were not here "in season" but were able to go to their Ecocenter where they have videos and some small sealife in exhibits. This area of the Atlantic Patagonia (means big foot), has an interesting history. A group of Welsh people left Great Britian in 1865 as a result of religious persecution and came here, sometimes through the USA. Often, they were carrying large pieces of machinery for farm work. They established their own colony in the Chubut Province of Patagonia, Argentina. Puerto Madryn is the capital of this province. Welsh farming culture still exists here today. The Southern Right Whales are what people come here to see. These whales feed, mate, give birth and nurse their young here. The interesting thing about these whales is that they have two external blowholes on top of their heads, when they emerge from the water, they blow a V-shaped water blast that can be seen from miles away! We will need to come back between June and December to see all this happen!
Our day today was spent at Punta Loma (high point on the hill) to look down at sea creatures like sea lions, elephant seals, and birds, a trip to the Eco-center to see how they are protecting their sealife there and then the stop that will forever be one of the most interesting,funny, beautiful and farm life lesson learning places we will ever encounter. We went to an Estancia. An Estancia is sort of like a ranch at home. The Estancia was for sheep. They had many sheep. They sheer the sheep there and send the wool off for sale. We certainly learned a lot here. Only 3 male sheep are allowed to reproduce with the herd of females. The rest of the males are castrated. Some things we will leave for our summer slide show at the lake! We had a fun day. The kids got to "volunteer" at the Estancia. They went out to the corral and carried in a sheep that was to be sheered. It weighed about 80 pounds. They carried him like you might invision someone carrying a goat or pig tied on a long stick for a B-B-Q out to the big pit, he was hanging upsidedown. Luckily, sheep don't bite, spit or kick. They managed to carry it into the barn for the sheering and we all enjoyed the "show". Afterwards, we enjoyed a snack of ham and cheese sandwiches, some sort of sweet empanadas, and some sort of doughnuts without the sugar. Of course they offered, coffee, tea and the famous mate`. Kathleen will try anything. She tried the Mate`. You can see by the look on her face what she thought of the local delicacy!! The cute llama was in the restaurnat with us and his friend was out in their corral. We met some more good Auburn people! The Bealls from Atlanta. They ate with us at the Estancia after the "show".
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