Somos Amigos de Bebe Beluga

Nothing beats Do-Ri-Tos...and whales

Like the wisdom imparted upon us by our dear childhood friends Sebastian and Nemo, there is little that trumps the magic and mystery of what takes place under the sea. (1) Even a glimpse into the majestic lives of our underwater companions can cause one to gasp and marvel. And in Puerto Lopez, gasp and marvel we did.

The town itself is a beachside dirt- landing, equipped with plenty of shanty hospedajes and overpriced, bad food. So we went straight from the bus to drop off our bags in our less-than-clean hotel and straight onto the water.  With some helpful lies from our apparently well-informed-on- foreign-affairs tour operator (who, in order to fill up the boat with 6 people, so we could go on the trip,  cunningly told the Venezuelan family (2) he booked that  we looked like gringos because we were Argentinian, not because we were the capitalist- loving, oil-hungry, spoiled and ignorant arch nemesis Americans), we were out on the water within an hour of arriving.

Though ive never been, I've heard of whale watching before---that after hours of mistaking distant water ripples for humpbacks, some folks may or may not have seen the big wonders in action. I don't know if the gods were coming together to promote peace,  encorage the unlikely bonding between supporters of Hugo and Obama, or if Islas Bellanas pumps a brilliant mix of steroids and cocaine into the ocean water, but this was something else, something I can only hope to explain by describing my emotions that went with it.

A Mother humpback giving Beth the old ¨what up, my veggie friend¨.

After driving off the coast towards the island of Isla Ballenas to deeper water, within 15 minutes we were in the midst of one of the most fascinating shows I have yet to witness. A mother humpback, astoundingly grand, amazingly acrobatic and astonishingly beautiful swimming playfully next to her young, vivacious calf. Almost instantly, the whales were playing within 2 meters of our small fishing boat (made tiney-weenie in relation to the gargantuan mother whale), with the baby bounding out of the water, sometimes up to 90% of it's body almost vertical above the water.  There they played for the next 2 hours, our boat following along with never a dull moment. Endless jumping, the little guy just never tired! An experience I can most accurately describe as out- of- this- world, a sudden rush of emotion after being instantly drowned in so much beauty. The intensity of happines, of marvellment and wonder, most easily comparable to other two moments in my life where costco- sized beauty humbled and overwhelmed me: witnessing the birth of my niece and the first sight of Iguazu Falls. Yes, that it is to say, I nearly cried of joy and pure wonder.  

Beth is almost crying just looking at the photos.  Seriously, we saw this exact thing happen about 100 times in the few hours we were out there.  Incredible.  ¨A Whale out of Water, III.¨

I believe this is maneuver is called CANOOOONNNNNBALLLL!

If I was driving the boat, I might still be out there. But as this was not the case, here I am in my once-again too-dirty hotel room, relishing in reliving my all-too-short friendship with Bebe Beluga.  

We put all three photos of ¨A Whale out of Water¨ up because those are the only three we got, and we are sharing, whether you like it or not..

¨A Whale out of Water, II¨

(1) yes, even that sometimes pridefully, sometimes masculine Dickers watched The Little Mermaid.
(Note: he added this footnote, not me. "Pridefully masculine" wouldn't be in my top ten adjectives...)
(2) This clever ploy quickly disintegrated when they tried to speak to use in Spanish, and our response was a twister- face expression of bafflement. All was well, however, when they confessed they were the only vegetarians in all of Venezuela, who used to live in the good ole USA, where their son was born.) P.S. Fascinating fact of the day: Gas costs 4 cents a gallon in Venezuela. I'm guessing hybrid cars are not so popular there. Interesting  insight of the day; We were also told by our first Venezeulan friend that if gas were to go up there, Hugo would most likely be ousted by the people.  

Note: Getting photos was nearly impossible.  We took about 100 photos and these were the only ones that contained whale and not splash.  

An acrobatic whale like none ever before witnessed in its natural environment, except Willy.

A fin.

A blowhole.