If I had a penguin

¨I´ve received a question from the Spanish man asking whether or not you can touch a penguin if it comes up to you. The answer is, no, you cannot touch the penguins. Their nervous systems are so sentive that the shock of your touching them could render the creature infertile for life.¨ - Our guide on our way to Isla Martillo.

Ushuaia is the southernmost city in Argentina and all of South America. It is known as El Fin del Mundo, or the End of the World. Many cruises to Antarctica depart from Ushuaia. Frankly, it´s cold, windy and overpriced. We paid $15 each per night to sleep in a 6-bed dorm room with people that snored, smelled or both. Thankfully, they had a comfortable kitchen. We cooked dishes such as gnocchi, corn, polenta, rice, and chicken soup and spent each night reading books over bottles of red or white Patagonian wine. The days were long and the sun wouldn´t fully set until past 11pm!

If you visit Ushuaia, skip the Glaciar Martial (one and a half hour long hike up a dry ski slope to see a block of ice covered in snow) and the Tierra del Fuego National Park (nice, but overpriced at $30 USD each including transportation). We do recommend the walk with the penguins. Eric and I have never seen penguins, and while expensive, seems to be one of the few things worth doing in the city.

We took a small 20 person boat to Isla Martillo, where there is a nature reserve and penguin colony. There was a lot of excitement when we arrived as we passed over a school of sardines. Gulls swarmed around the boat and penguins dove in the water for their share of the fish. The island is full of penguins and penguin nests with protective parents. Penguins are monogamous creatures, and mate for life. After being separated for months during migration periods, they can recognize each other´s song. However, when a male protecting a nest becomes very hungry, he allows his partner approximately 20 days to return before he will leave the nest in search of food or find the next passing female.