Penguins, Penguins, Penguins in Puerto Madryn

After spending two days at sea following Buenos Aires we arrived at the Argentine port of Puerto Madryn, the latter word our guide pronounced as "mahdrin".  

We had arrived in the part of the world where there are almost as many penguins as people, Patagonia.  Puerto Madryn is the gateway to the Peninsula Valdés, a UNESCO site and nature reserve for penguins, sea lions, elephant and fur seals, orcas, dolphins, 181 species of birds, and more.  The city itself is one of the fastest growing in the area where the economy is driven by mining/aluminum processing, fishing, tourism and sheep farming.  It began to develop and grow when the railway came in 1886 and the tourism component found a niche here recently as more and more people come to see the uniqueness of Patagonia and especially the Peninsula Valdés.

Puerto Madryn itself is on the Golfo Nuevo, a smallish gulf that’s formed by the Peninsula Valdés and the Punta Ninfas.  I was surprised to learn that it was founded in 1865 by 150 Welsh immigrants who migrated to enable them to maintain their traditional values, culture, and language, all of which they felt was being threatened in their native Wales.  To entice them here the area was promoted as having a climate and geography similar to their homeland so when they arrived and found a harsh, desert area they had to learn how and what to hunt from the natives, as well as ways to irrigate crops they wanted to raise.  The name “Madryn” has Welsh roots and there are still towns in the area that have schools that teach in both Spanish and Welsh to keep the latter language alive, our guide's children went to one such school in nearby Trelew.  The white triangle in the middle of the above photo is the base of a statue that commemorates the Welsh women who came to make a home in this new country.

After we left port to head to the Punto Tombo Penguin Reserve it felt like we could have been traveling in New Mexico, Arizona, or southern Utah rather than Argentina.  This is a harsher land to live in.  Distances between towns are great, you can go hundreds of kilometers without finding a gas station.  Being in Patagonia is being far away and a part of nature.

Trelew is one of the towns that still has lots of descendants of the Welsh immigrants and is the closest city to Puerto Madryn.  We drove through here on our way to see the penguins.  On an estancia, or ranch, not far from there the skeleton of the world’s largest dinosaur was discovered, the Patagotitan mayorum (second part of the name comes from the name of the estancia), or the Titanosaur.   The above statue recreating this massive beast sits outside of Trelew, you could see how large it was, averaging about 122 feet in length.

You could tell we were coming into a town because there were actual trees, unlike the desert scrub we'd been seeing.  Trelew is where you can get a taste of Wales, along with the town of Gaiman.  The latter is supposed to be the nicer of the two.  Street signs there are in Welsh and the Welsh tea houses have delicious treats according to our friends Joe & Audrey who visited one. 

Only one river runs through this part of the country, the Chubut, and it is used carefully.  Wells drilled in the area are salty so that water can only be used for washing dishes and for showering, drinking water has to be brought in or processed from the river water.  There are lots of giant windmills in the area, some used for water and the majority for electricity.  As young people move away from the estancias they often sell parcels of land to companies who place windmills on them. 

One thing about restrooms in South America that I had gotten used to was not throwing toilet paper in the toilet after using it but putting it in a nearby trash can.  I didn't notice the dispensers above, which are located outside the stalls. when we stopped at a gas station in Trelew.  If you don't see them, which I didn't, well, I'll leave it up to your imagination to what happens next.   I won't make that mistake again or forget to take my emergency tp with me!

Since we hadn't had breakfast before we left I got a few snacks at the gas station, including these fresh, traditional torta fria, which are pretty much like scones, dough fried in animal fat.  They tasted delicious and fulfilled Karl's instructions to get some "Patagonian food".

We tried a little Argentine juice as well and this flavor was our favorite. 

Our final destination was about two and a half hours to the south of Puerto Madryn, the Punto Tombo Penguin Reserve, located in a secluded desert on a former estancia.  It's only open from September through April when the penguins are there.  They return every year to lay eggs in the same burrow. 

This was my first penguin sighting.  You really did kind of have to do a paradigm shift in your head from what your expectation of where penguins live looks like versus where these Magellanic Penguins actually reside.  Would this be what you'd have expected?

Not far along the trail I got my first closer glimpse of the Guanacos (gwan-ah-cohs) who share the area with the penguins.  The are related to llamas and vicunas and can be found throughout Patagonia.  I'll have a closer picture later.

These cute birds were everywhere along our trail.  Our guide had told us there were about 160,000 currently onsite.

It was another "pinch me I'm here" moment, which appears to be happening on a regular basis.  It was just a lovely setting here along the waterside.

The chicks would often huddle next to the parents.  They were usually screeching for food.  As long as they have the fluffy gray feathers they are unable to go into the water themselves so are dependent on their parents for sustainance.  

It was previously thought that the penguins mated for life but they've found that they are actually more attached to the burrow that they come back to each year rather than to the partner.  Typically a pair will both return to the same spot each year but if something happens to one or the other they will then pair up with whoever is in their burrow.

Magellanic Penguins grow to a height of about 45 cm (14") tall.  Their coloring is for camouflage when they're in the water, disguising them from predators both below and above the sea.

Predators on the desert include armadillos, foxes, and seagulls, the latter were the only ones we saw and none of them were hunting.  This year's babies are too big for them to bother at this point.

These chicks have to be fed by their parents for the first three months of their lives, a full time job for the mother and father.  One will stay with the baby or babies while the other parent goes out hunting for food.  

These little guys were just so cute I couldn't help taking photo after photo of them.  A hen will lay one or two eggs in the burrow and then they will incubate for about 40 days.  The parents take turns keeping the egg/eggs warm while one or the other goes in search of food.  After the three months of continuous feedings are over the parents will basically abandon their young for about a month while they go to sea and gorge themselves on as much as they can eat.  They need it before they start moulting, where they lose and regrow all of their feathers, a long and painful process during which they can't get in the water to hunt.

Penguins were peeking out of burrows all throughout the reserve.  Some were just in the dirt while others were under fallen trees or bushes.

These penguins were waddling back up from the beach.  When you walk like they do it takes you a while to get where you're going.

Lots of them were scattered here along the beach.  I wasn't sure if they were coming or going from a hunt.

Karl and I posed with the Argentina flag there at the reserve.  I'm definitely making a fashion statement with my blue boot overshoes.  I probably didn't need to wear them since most of the time were were on a wooden walkway and the penguin poop was dry, but I kept them on just in case so that I didn't have to worry where I was stepping.

The area at the end of the walkway had a large group of penguins either getting in or out of the water, or taking a swim.  They're looking for squid, anchovies, or both to eat.  Loved the contrast of the red and green here.

Are you sick of penguin pictures yet?  I'll try to finish up soon!

We needed to take pictures of ourselves with the penguins.  As usual, I'm not real great with selfies.

And then Karl surprised me by going down on a knee to gat a picture with this guy...or girl.  I'm not sure how you tell the difference between male and female penguins.  Karl just kept saying, "I can't believe we are seeing penguins in a desert!"

One last nesting penguin in its burrow, so much fun to see.

And one last fluffy chick, it just looks like something you'd want to pick up and cuddle. For videos of the penguins go to Karl's YouTube channel.  Link in the blog coming soon if you don't already haveit.

Shortly before getting back to the bus we saw a two of herds of guanacos, one on either side of the path.  A couple of them took off running away from something, and they were fast as a galloping horse.  Then there were these animals near the trail and the one on the right cooperated to look up just when I needed it to.  Llamas are a domesticated version of the native guanaco.  These animals are used for their wool and also for meat.  I guess I'd probably be willing to try some.

Mariana was a great guide, a native of Trelew who was proud of her Welsh heritage and of Patagonia.  Her reason for becoming a tour guide was based on her desire to share the land she loves with others.   I'd recommend her again any time.

As LeaAnn and I were walking back to the ship we looked down and saw what we thought were trash bags floating on the water but they turned out to be jellyfish.  As nice as the beach seemed I don't think I would have wanted to swim in those waters with so many jellies!

All in all it was another grand adventure to see the penguins at Punto Tombo from Puerto Madryn!