Wednesday, December 14, 2005
March of the Penguins, Ushuaia, Argentina
Last night, at 10:30, it was still light out. The summer sun sets late in Ushuaia, a small, Argentine city that calls itself "the end of the world". Ushuaia sits on the southern shore of an island named Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia faces the Beagle Channel; the Andes Mountains wrap around it from behind. Antarctica is about 700 miles away.
Even though it is summer here right now, it is still cold. We don´t leave our hostel without three layers, one of them being a winter coat. Finally, Quang and I joke, it is starting to feel like Christmas. We´ve seen plenty of decorated Christmas trees in store windows and cafes, but as long as we were beach-combing in Uruguay and sweating it out in Buenos Aires, the holiday decor seemed fake. After so many years in Minnesota, it seems we are conditioned to a cold Christmas.
Since we are close to Antarctica, we are also close to penguins. Penguins live and mate all along Argentina´s south-Atlantic coast. Lucky for us, a colony lives and mates near Ushuaia. Today we went to see them.
Ushuaia has mastered the art of tourism. There is an organized tour for any activity we could ever possibly want to do in town. We just had to ask ourselves how much were we willing to pay. To walk with penguins, we were willing to shell out some bucks.
Our penguin journey started with a bus trip that took us an hour and a half east of Ushuaia. Then we boarded a boat and rode for another 20 minutes before landing on a beach littered with penguins.
We got out and walked among them. We had to walk slowly and speak softly so as not to frighten them, but they didn´t seem very intimidated by us one way or the other. If we crouched and crawled towards them, they turned to stare at us, but didn´t flee.
We watched them slip into the water and swim. We giggled while watching them clamour out of the water and back on to the beach; they weren´t very graceful. We watched them poop. Quang watched one pee. We watched one run back and forth as it plucked tall, wild grass and stuck it in the wall of a nest. We saw a freshly-hatched baby. We listened to them scream - a sound that is oddly gazoo-like. It was pretty darn cool.
Even though it is summer here right now, it is still cold. We don´t leave our hostel without three layers, one of them being a winter coat. Finally, Quang and I joke, it is starting to feel like Christmas. We´ve seen plenty of decorated Christmas trees in store windows and cafes, but as long as we were beach-combing in Uruguay and sweating it out in Buenos Aires, the holiday decor seemed fake. After so many years in Minnesota, it seems we are conditioned to a cold Christmas.
Since we are close to Antarctica, we are also close to penguins. Penguins live and mate all along Argentina´s south-Atlantic coast. Lucky for us, a colony lives and mates near Ushuaia. Today we went to see them.
Ushuaia has mastered the art of tourism. There is an organized tour for any activity we could ever possibly want to do in town. We just had to ask ourselves how much were we willing to pay. To walk with penguins, we were willing to shell out some bucks.
Our penguin journey started with a bus trip that took us an hour and a half east of Ushuaia. Then we boarded a boat and rode for another 20 minutes before landing on a beach littered with penguins.
We got out and walked among them. We had to walk slowly and speak softly so as not to frighten them, but they didn´t seem very intimidated by us one way or the other. If we crouched and crawled towards them, they turned to stare at us, but didn´t flee.
We watched them slip into the water and swim. We giggled while watching them clamour out of the water and back on to the beach; they weren´t very graceful. We watched them poop. Quang watched one pee. We watched one run back and forth as it plucked tall, wild grass and stuck it in the wall of a nest. We saw a freshly-hatched baby. We listened to them scream - a sound that is oddly gazoo-like. It was pretty darn cool.
