Patagonia—Penguins and Pastries

Being in a bustling city like Buenos Aires was fun for a while, but I’m glad that I got out of the city and visited another part of Argentina for three days. 

When I was planning the SAS programs that I would sign-up for, the trip to Patagonia was the first one that caught my eye. Penguins and seeing Patagonia! It was too good to be true. Never in my life did I think I would have a chance to say I had been to Patagonia

The landscape here is not what I expected. Patagonia is actually quite a big region of Argentina and the part we were in looked at times like a series of beach towns and at times like open prairie (someone on the trip said that it reminded him of west Texas). 

Because we were below the equator the seasons are reversed so it was mid-spring for this region when we visited. For most of the trip, we drove around the Valdes Peninsula and visited the wildlife. We saw:

Magellan penguins

Cathy, our Academic Dean and former astronaut said that the landscape looked like landing on the moon, but with penguins!

The penguins were taking turns sitting on eggs when we were there. Their eggs will hatch in a couple of weeks.

Southern Right Whales

We spent a couple hours following a mama and baby whale who swam right along side the boat.

And Southern Elephant Seals

Those blobs behind me are elephant seals

The Elephant Seals mostly slept and occasionally got up to bark and then flop back down on the ground. I’ve never seen such listless creatures! But, they had their reason. Apparently these were all females who had just finished nursing. They where now in the process of molting--a painful experience that left tufts of fur all over the beach.

When not viewing animals, we had free time to wander Puerto Madryn, a small beach town not yet in season. Here I found one of the best bakeries I’ve ever been too. 

At first I only ordered one small pastry filled with dulce de leche and drizzled with chocolate. After I ate it (I was already outside of the store at the time), I had to go back in and risk embarrassment as I said, “Tres mas, por favor.”

Argentina was one of the first countries that I visited where I really felt a language barrier. “Agua con gas” and “pepino” only got me so far. In the back of my head I had so many other phrases to say, but they never came out at the right time (Emily, Suzanne, and Cathy, I wish you were there to help!).

On the last day I met a very nice yarn store owner (Patagonia used to be a major merino wool supplier until Polar Fleece became so popular). She and I spent about twenty minutes trying to discuss yarn in pantomime with minimal success. I know that the yarn I bought should be washed in cold water, it came from a sheep, and I should use size ocho needles, but there was so much more she was trying to tell me that was just lost. 

I hope next time I can visit her and converse in Spanish. Also, next time I would like to travel more south and see the glaciers. 

For the time being, however, penguins and pastries will have to be enough--and amazing landscapes!