Penguins Everywhere!!!

First we caught a whiff of an odd smell. Next the wind carried a few distressed honks our way. Before long there was a little black and white body curiously peering around every bush. 1.1 million Magellanic Penguins live the good life at Punta Tombo. They land there to nest, mate, have little penguinos, eat, and lay around. When winter arrives they swim 6000 km north to sun themselves on the Brazilian coast.




When the penguins do decide to get up and waddle about, we were informed that they get "right-of-way" in the reserve- it's their turf. So if a group of tourists is walking along and a penguin waddles out in front it creates a hilarious little traffic jam. Despite their small size, the penguins can be territorial as well; we saw one chase a nosy Guanaco away from its nest!



Punta Tombo is 120 km south of Trelew, a Welsh town on the Patagonian coast founded in the late 1800's. We stopped solely to make the trip to the Penguin colony (renting a car is the best way to learn to drive stick!), but found more there than we expected.


Our first evening in Trelew we saw a few streets blocked off. Our first thought was "no big deal, parade or protest, life in Latin America." Out of curiousity we asked what was going on... last night of Carneval!? We'd hoped to celebrate Carneval in the previous weeks but had given up hope, thinking that Lent marked the end of the fiesta...


We ran back to our hostel to grab a bottle of rum and our Japanese roommate, Kazu. As soon as we explained to him that we'd discovered a fiesta he jumped out of his chair, threw his fists in the air, and shouted "LET'S GOOOOO!!!!!"


Riding the wave of Kazu's enthusiasm, we spent the night enjoying live music, dancing, and costumes we never thought we'd see outside of Brazil.


Before leaving Trelew I also decided to pay homage to my childhood love of dinosaurs and check out the Paleontology museum. Patagonia is a treasure trove of mid-Jurassic fossils, which show the effect of climactic changes on dinosaur evolution... The woman at the front used the tattoo on my arm to explain how the breakup of Pangea enacted these changes.


It's a lucky stop when you find penguins, Carneval, and dinosaurs!