Pinguinos of Tierra del fuego

3/2/2011
Ok ok, so this time I am LITERALLY writing this from the road.. We are currently being bumped around in the back of a mini-bus rumbling along dirt tracks back from estancia harberton With a faint smell of penguin guano wafting up from my trainers and the stains on the knees of my trousers (bright green FYI having knelt in it, yum)
Up early this morning for a 7:30am departure from ushuaia (albatros hotel), cruising past the beagle channel noting the dramatic amount of snow fall in the mountains last night, we are on a Pira tour (booked at 8:30pm last night) - the only tour company where you can actually walk amongst the penguins (all the others you just look from a catamaran). The tour time takes about 6hrs (1.5hrs each way in the bus) stopping off at some stunning sites on route. On arrival we were met by a local guide (Annie) who is fluent in Spanish and English, we boarded a 9m rib with twin 200hp Yamaha EFTL outboards and a VERY useful full awning style canopy (it's pretty darn cold down here) so was good as a wind break when being transported at 30knots across the Beagle channel by a very competent skipper (though still ignores the killcords). On the approach you can hear the squarking and calling of the penguins, 100's of breeding pairs and chicks mid-malting EVERYWHERE! And then the smell of fishy guano hits you.. The skipper beaches the nose of the rib and we pile off with our jaws dropped..







Wondering around you can choose to walk with the guide and hear lots of info & facts or tail back and get up close.. This one had a good gander at me!








The penguins here are predominantly Magellanic which are native to this area (look a bit like the jackass penguins you see in zoos in the UK) but there are also some Gentoo penguins here which have obviously travelled from the sub-Antarctic islands whilst following their food and have stayed, they are breeding fairly successfully too!
There's some obvious and basic rules, be quiet, walk slow, don't get closer than 3m and give a wide berth to nests (remembering they nest under ground here in burrows, every so often you will see sprays of mud & dirt being ejected vertically.. They are obviously adding and extension!)








Clattering noises cause you to pay attention as there's a fair amount of beak battling going on which is amusing to watch, look carefully and you will see penguins in every nook and cranny..with no fear of us whatsoever., truly amazing.







After about an hour of marvelling at the handsome little fellows we head back by rib to a local museum called acatushum where they have a huge collection of full skeletons of Orcas, dolphins, penguins, seals, Sealions and a variety of whales it was set up by a passionate American lady who married a local guy from the area. All of the skeletons are from carcasses which have been found on local beaches.








The people available to tell you more about the skeletons and bones are biology and vet uni students on placement for 6months to study (jealous? I am).








Jo was obviously totally absorbed considering her choice of masters degree (clinical anatomy) - I think she knew more than they did!








Some facts for you:-
- breeding & local waters for magellanic penguins
- though gentoo penguins are sub-Antarctic there approximately 20 breeding pairs here
- gentoo penguins are called pinguino Papua here
- do you know what the difference between a seal and a sealion are? From a distance you can tell immediately as seals scratch with their flippers (they have nails on the end) whereas seamount scratch with their tail fins.
Sealions walk on their front flippers whereas seals flop (undulate) across land.
Seals ears are inside their heads whereas Sealions have cute little ears on the outside of their heads.
Ushuaia is a stunning little town, has just the right amount of necessities to be comfortable without going over the top. Tierra del fuego national park is 20mins away, martial glacier 7km, penguins 1.5hrs and a ski resort within minutes.. We intend to come back here without a doubt but hiring a car and having a tent and sleeping bags in tow. It may be the most southern city in the world but it's not lacking anything.

- Posted whilst on the road

Location:Ushuaia

Ecuador - Part 2

As we sat airside in our flying mobile we thought we had entered the red bull flying challenge unawares... picture this, you get put into the smallest plane in the world (did you know that there is more room in a 2-seater helicopter?) and a little Ecuadorean man in his orange jump suit appears to give the propellers a tug, not that it seemed to help much but after another 2 guys joined him (I think they worked in the cafe) they finally managed to get it going... at this point Jo is starting to hmmm raiders of the lost ark theme tune and Candi is burying herself down into her chair tightening the seatbelt to a rather constrictive position... we will leave you with those thoughts and jump forward to landing with Jo´s ear semi intact on the island of Isabella (Galapagos) - Jo jumps out of the plane at the airport (or rather a mud strip that was perhaps mistaken for the airport?!) with a spring in her step, a beaming smile and many hand-shakes with the pilot having had an amazing flight.. somewhere in the background Candi ejects herself from the tiny opening with a pale face and shaky legs...On to the check-point where our bags were inspected for organic materials (which are banned here) only to find with much amusement George & Maddie were looking back up at her from their sleeping bag... Enough said on that one.
Moving on... we arrive at Casa De Marita (advertised as the best hotel on Isabella... if I tell you it is the only hotel on Isabella it will probably explain everything... Mmm. It really is in a fantastic, idyllic spot, our room is right on the beautiful white sand beach... there’s hot water... erm... and MASSIVE spiders to keep us warm at night... oh and the other occupants of the hotel are Americans... now in a normal circumstance neither of us have the slightest problem with Americans.. in fact we quite like the whole culture but for some reason every rude, loud, irritating American seems to be staying at this hotel... did you know it is not possible to close a door, you must SLAM it...?? Plus, in all of Jo´s joy of being away on holidays... we awake on the 1st morning stroll into the breakfast room and EVERYONE turns around and stares at us (Candi is wondering whether she has a massive bogey hanging out of her nose?) and Jo says MORNING with glee... to get all of ZERO responses other than a grunt.. Mmm.. we scuttle around the back and sit quietly at our table...
Onto day 2 on Isabella and off on our first trip... much less eventful in the negative sense and much more eventful in the reasons that we are here...
Las Tintoreras - a panga (dinghy) ride across the bay (once again this is a time where Candi just HATEs the fact that she trains powerboaters as a job... a 14yr old sat at the helm of this crusty wooden panga with a 50hp Yam 2-stroke on the back, the kill cord is replaced with a bit of twine wrapped around the button (FYI this was not attached to anything or anyone at the other end just dragging in the water behind us) we manoeuvre our way through VERY shallow waters which are full of MASSIVE lumps of lava rock (very sharp) - every so often the engine would be thrown into the air by the 14yr old to avoid ripping the prop off and then dumped back down where he would then use it as a seat...??? For god sake... can you really mistake it for a seat? and on that note can you really steer it whilst sat on it? - Plus a few of you may be able to appreciate this too... pangas are personalised here in a very special way... t-shirts are cut and fitted to the engine covers... we even saw a Volcom one!! (much respect- he must have nicked it off someone’s clothes line at the hostel).
Animal counts on route (whilst on the panga) - penguins, sea lions, sea turtles, blue footed boobies, pelicans- quite impressive really!
 
Las Tintoereras is a little island resembling a scene from Jurassic park, firstly the landscape was volcanic lava mounds, but better than that was hundreds of giant marine iguanas (resemble dinosaurs), sally light-foot crabs, and much to Jo´s absolute ecstatic joy white tip reef sharks...just as she is dangling her sandal clad toe over the water’s edge Candi reads aloud the sign a short distance away ´Shark sleeping ground - no swimming´ and I am sure below this in small print it would have said for fear of legs being chewed off.. but alas Jo still wanted to throw herself in amongst 20 sharks so she could stroke them (as she has done before) like they are a pet dog or something?? INSANE... Candi is stood well back at this point... with a very worried expression.
More to come...