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| Day 8: December 29, 2005 - Puerto Tomba, Argentina |
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Our guide claimed us from
the hotel at 8am sharp. We had a lot of ground to
cover and we needed to do it before the 6:45pm flight
to Ushuaia. We piled everything into the van and
headed the 2+ hours south to Puerto Tomba. Piorina
informed us that the road might be closed due to
all of the rain but our spirits were good and we
were hopeful that the road was open.
The trip down was uneventful and we saw the same
steppe landscape as before. Maybe it was the rain,
maybe a lack of sleep, but this area of Trelew felt
greener and a bit more lush. On the way, we picked
up facts about the Magellenic penguins: they mate
for life but don't see each other outside of the
breeding season; the female chooses the male by
the location and decoration of the nest that he
built; they will range as far as 200 km to find
food for the kids; they will normally lay 2 eggs,
but this season they seem to be laying and hatching
3-4 young penguins.
We spent almost 2 hours wandering among the penguins
of Puerto Tomba. We saw them do everything from
feeding their young, to a courtship dance, to wading
into the water to swim and feed. It was a real privilege
to be able to get as close as possible to these
quirky animals. Most of the time we were just a
few feet away. We learned to watch the penguins
so as not to be an obstruction to them in their
journey to the water. Everyone loved it.
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Penguins courting |
Penguin walking |
Penguin chicks |
A very unhappy penguin parent |
Penguin swimming (or at least attempting to get through the surf) |
Howard and Kirsten with the penguins |
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From there it was a long drive back down the gravel
road to Trelew where we headed for an organic farm
named Las Rabinas. The proprietor was a gentleman
farmer who had been a former agricultural engineer
for the government. Now he tends one of the few
organic farms in the Chubut valley. He also teaches
organic farming at the local agricultural school
and has a weekly radio segment. He was very proud
of what he has been able to do with his 70m by 500m
plot. He has vegetables, chickens, rabbits, a horse
and a few cows. Everything from the farm was available
to us at lunch and we ate with gusto. We were hungry
- but this was the best Argentinian meal so far.
Before going to the airport, we stopped briefly
in Gaiman - a Welsh town that was settled in the
late 1800's. We stopped and saw a tea house - the
same one written up in the NY Times - and gave the
proprietor a copy of the article. We also saw some
native Welsh houses and the first school.
Then it was off to the airport to Ushuaia. We arrived
in Ushuaia around 9:30pm and the sun was just starting
to set. We found out that the sun rises here about
4:30am and sets around 10:30 or 11pm. After getting
settled, we went off and got some snacks, then it
was off to bed.
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