The first whales They can already be seen in the vicinity of Puerto Madryn. It is not yet a flood, but they are ahead. Days ago, for example, Gonzalo Gopar, a photographer fond of travel and nature images,registered the first fourwho made their appearance in the El Doradillo Protected Natural Areaabout 15 kilometers from the city that shines on the coast of Chubut, the paradise in Patagonia that southern francs They choose each year to reproduce and have babies, that miracle of life in the Ocean in front of the eyes of residents and travelers who wait each year for the season to begin in the New Gulf. Gonzalo took those images of two whales and their babies from Garipe beach after taking a 48 km rodeo (the last six in gravel) due to paving works. Locals and visitors go to that strip of beaches to try to see them: due to the deep slope they are usually meters from the coast, meters from their pirouettes, from the unforgettable sound of their breathing. This time, the contact was not so close.
“No, look what that is!”
It happened when a group of friends from Cordoba were returning from doing snorkeling in Punta Norte. They returned marveling at the crystal clear water, the sea lions, the perfect view of the depths of the Atlantic. They would be about five kilometers south of Puerto Madryn and one km from the coast in Punta Este when one of them spotted a black mass moving on the horizon.
Seconds later, they knew it was a whale. Then the festival began culiau. Because friends combined that word from Cordoba with others: incredible, spectacular, crazy, look what that is, nooo.
Commanding the boat as the excursion guide, Raúl couldn’t stop laughing at the tunes and phrases. «At this time of year, seeing jumps like this is very nice, the whale season is getting underway. I hadn’t seen them yet this year. A few days ago they had seen one from the boat. In our case, on the boat he thrilled us all when he showed up. The truth? There wasn’t much chance of it happening. The people of Cordoba were very lucky. I was crazy“, account.
Adventures of a diver in the sea
In the saga of Raúl’s adventures in Puerto Madryn, the one he spent last weekend is one of the best. And he has plenty of stories: since he decided to dedicate his professional life to diving, he has lived the routine of the unexpected in this paradise of Patagonia. Here, on the coast of Chubut, their days pass between dolphins that follow the boat and jump a handful of meters away, baby elephant seals that stare at the camera when they wake up from their nap, or amazing battles between sea lions and conger eels. , among other wonders of nature. You may also have, for example, a dive in search of marine fruits or embark with tourists to go snorkeling and be approached by the most affectionate gang of sea lions. Or being next to a tourist from Cordoba in her first minutes of diving baptism just when a huge whale happens to pass by. Beautiful perks of the job. But there is always room for one more surprise: 10 days ago a family of orcas, last Friday the whale leap and the people of Cordoba.
About the most representative word for the people of Córdoba
In recent years, the word culiado in all its meanings and forms has ceased to be considered offensive to the people of Córdoba, who chose it as the one that most represents them in a survey by La Voz del Interior.
This is how Sergio Carreras narrates it in an interesting article: «The winning word was written by readers in very different ways: the more formal ‘culiado’, the more Buenos Aires and Latin American version ‘culeado’, the one for quick writing on the cell phone ‘Qliau ‘, the colloquial ‘culeaaaá’ that steals the last syllable of the word, and those that use the famous Córdoba augmentatives, such as ‘culiadazo’, ‘reculado’ or ‘reculidazo’.
«The most repeated version was ‘culiau’, which reflects the most common pronunciation in everyday speech, in everyday phrases such as ‘what are you doing, culiau?’, ‘una manga de culiados’ and many others. The word crossed social classes and barriers: 10 years ago it was not heard in the media, it was a ‘bad word’, a rude thing.”
