Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Kara says:
Pinguinos! Lots of pinguinos. And other animals too.
We came all the way across the country to the east coast of Patagonia (on our way from the west to the northwest) because Karl wanted to get in touch with his inner David Attenborough. He did. And I got a little excited myself to be honest.
Punto Tombo has the largest penguin ...thing....breeding place...rookery?....whatever....outside Antartica. There's acres and acres and acres (sorry, don't have the actual figures) of hills by the sea peppered with penguin nests. Most of the area is fenced off as a reserve for the penguins but alot of the little fellas still choose to build their nests around where visitors are allowed to walk. So you get to walk right by them, peer into them, the penguins come out every once in a while and have a bit of an 'oul stretch and a poo, a peer at the people, and then go back to sitting on the eggs. Bunches of them wander down for a swim and a feed and walk around completely unperturbed by the frantically photographing tourists.
Photo of me and a penguin by the sea, photo of penguin with her/his egg. And video (if it works) of penguin waddling around.
We bravely hired a car and went head to head (sometimes literally) with argentine drivers to see the Valdes Peninsula - a pretty bare patch of land full of estancias (with mostly sheep and very reminiscent of country australia) and with a nature reserve around the coastline. Very pretty. In fact if I had to describe the beauty I would say it was intangible (see photographic evidence).
The peninsula gets lots of sealions and elephant seals in the breeding season. See photo of long stretch of beach with (look closely) a whole line of elephant seals by the waterline and photo of a few lying around looking like they're recovering from a big night. The females weigh up to a ton and the males up to four tons - they're absolutely enormous.
Then we have Karl continuing his search for the most cow you can fit into a sandwich. And an armadillo! They really exist!
This area was settled by the Welsh in the late 19th century and there's still a few villages with some Welsh-style architecture, a few red-headed kids and more than the occasional Juan Jones. See photo of non-Argentine looking house.
And finally photo of me, Karl & Termito at the beach.
Pinguinos! Lots of pinguinos. And other animals too.
We came all the way across the country to the east coast of Patagonia (on our way from the west to the northwest) because Karl wanted to get in touch with his inner David Attenborough. He did. And I got a little excited myself to be honest.
Punto Tombo has the largest penguin ...thing....breeding place...rookery?....whatever....outside Antartica. There's acres and acres and acres (sorry, don't have the actual figures) of hills by the sea peppered with penguin nests. Most of the area is fenced off as a reserve for the penguins but alot of the little fellas still choose to build their nests around where visitors are allowed to walk. So you get to walk right by them, peer into them, the penguins come out every once in a while and have a bit of an 'oul stretch and a poo, a peer at the people, and then go back to sitting on the eggs. Bunches of them wander down for a swim and a feed and walk around completely unperturbed by the frantically photographing tourists.
Photo of me and a penguin by the sea, photo of penguin with her/his egg. And video (if it works) of penguin waddling around.
We bravely hired a car and went head to head (sometimes literally) with argentine drivers to see the Valdes Peninsula - a pretty bare patch of land full of estancias (with mostly sheep and very reminiscent of country australia) and with a nature reserve around the coastline. Very pretty. In fact if I had to describe the beauty I would say it was intangible (see photographic evidence).
The peninsula gets lots of sealions and elephant seals in the breeding season. See photo of long stretch of beach with (look closely) a whole line of elephant seals by the waterline and photo of a few lying around looking like they're recovering from a big night. The females weigh up to a ton and the males up to four tons - they're absolutely enormous.
Then we have Karl continuing his search for the most cow you can fit into a sandwich. And an armadillo! They really exist!
This area was settled by the Welsh in the late 19th century and there's still a few villages with some Welsh-style architecture, a few red-headed kids and more than the occasional Juan Jones. See photo of non-Argentine looking house.
And finally photo of me, Karl & Termito at the beach.
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