Mer 2 - Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Sam was really excited after two more days at sea to have an excursion today. The original excursion had been cancelled because rains throughout the week had washed out some roads. So the excursion that Sam chose was to Punta Tombo and a penguin rookery! Even though there was going to be a long bus ride each way, Sam wanted to see penguins. At a couple of the other ports, there had been opportunities to see penguins. But Sam’s fellow passengers hadn’t been too excited about what they saw……not very many penguins.  Virginia at the excursion desk assured Sam that he would see penguins and even young penguins. She had an acquaintance that worked in the area who had assured her that there were many penguins in the area and that many of the young penguins were still shedding their baby down.

During the bus ride, Mabel, the guide, talked about the scenery, the early settlers, the animals that he would see besides the penguins, and the economy of the area. Puerto Madryn is in the Argentinian province of Chubut. Each region is named for the river that runs through it. The Chubut River starts in the west of Argentina at the base of the Andes mountains and flows east into the Atlantic Ocean. The river is the main source of water for all the towns in the region as well as irrigation for the crops that are grown. Usually this region is very dry, averaging 200 cm. of rainfall annually and very windy, 20-50 mph winds most days. Today there were clouds, but no rain. There had been rain the entire week before Sam arrived. The region received 40 cm. of rain. Since the land is not very permeable, there was standing water in a lot of places along the road. It has to evaporate, run off, or be drank by the animals in the area.

When Magellan and his explorers first came to this area, which is part of Patagonia, he found native people here that were very tall. Both the men and women were 6’and over. In the 1860’s the Argentinian country encouraged settlers from Europe. The people from Wales came to this part of Patagonia and have maintained a strong Welsh culture and community to this day.

Some of the native animals that Mabel told Sam he might see on the trip included guanacos that are a llama-like animal is part of the camel family; maras that are large hares (rabbits); rheas that are emu-like birds; small grey foxes; and armadillos. Sam was excited to try and see all of the animals.

Mabel said that 95% of the Chubut region is dedicated to sheep ranches. They raise sheep that provide wool know as merino wool. Each sheep produces wool of four different qualities depending on the part of the sheep the wool is grown. The sheep roam the large ranch all year and are brought to the farm for shearing once each year. The sheep eat grasses the greenery from native shrubs. The greens are very hard to chew and the teeth of the sheep are worn down in about five years of chewing on it. Then the sheep is used for food. As the bus was driving along the road, Sam saw a gaucho (Argentinian cowboy) moving the sheep from one part of the pasture to another. The ranches are big, about 1500 hectors.

Finally the bus arrived at the penguin rookery. This is an area that the penguins have used for many years to raise their families. The male penguins come to the area in late October or early November each year. They find the nest that they used the previous year and make necessary repairs. The next week the female penguins come ashore. They find their partner by their song, just like the movie “Happy Feet”! Each penguin has their own voice and each couple has their “song”. Once the eggs are laid, both the mother and father take turns caring for it. When the baby penguin hatches, the parents are really busy. One of them has to go to the sea each day to bring back food for the baby. Sometimes the nest is as far as one mile from the ocean. The penguins walk on land because they have to when raising their babies. But they are not really built for walking… their legs are short. Mabel said it can take a penguin up to four hours to walk one mile! Baby penguins cannot go swimming in the ocean until they have shed all of their baby feathers or down. Usually all the penguin babies are ready to swim by the end of March and the penguins are gone from the rookery until the next November. It has been estimated that there can be as many as 5-600,000 penguins at this site during the height of the season.

Sam was so excited about seeing the penguins, he wouldn’t stop to pose with the penguins, he just kept looking around. The penguins were everywhere! They were up on the distant hills, and down toward the ocean. They were nesting near the walking trail that Sam had to follow. Sometimes the penguins wanted to cross the trail. Sam would have to stop and wait for the penguin to walk from one side to the other.