Punta Tombo, Argentina

Punta Tombo is a nature reserve about 100km from

Trelew. It has the largest colony of Magellanic

Penguins on the continent, which can reach over a

million. The landscape enroute is uninteresting -

flat, dry and deserty for the most part.

 

Inside the reserve thousands of black and white

penguins, characterised with a v-neck stripe, are busy

rearing their chicks. The newborns are grey, fluffy

and slightly awkward-looking. Under almost every bush

there's a penguin nest. Some are really close to the

(tourist) trails but the penguins seems completely

unperturbed by us. Only 10% of the reserve is open to

visitors so penguins can live relatively undisturbed.

 

On the way back, the tour guide announces we're going

to Gaiman. I`m not too alarmed as I think I could have

missed something interesting yesterday. Unfortunately

this is not the case. I end up revisiting all the same

places and when we arrive at the same tea house I went

to yesterday I decide to go off and visit 'El

Desafio', the recycled park which I snubbed yesterday.

It's an odd but charming kind of place looked after by

an 82 year-old man. Every enclosure or exhibit has

been made out of rubbish i.e. plastic bottles, cans

and scrap metal etc. It's a bit run down but very

colourful. There are cliched messages pinned

everywhere but some of these you never tire of? One of

my favourites is ´Live your life however you want.

Just live it'.

Done