My favorite part of Spring break was the penguins. That was an incredible day. We were staying in a town called Trelew which is about an hour and a half away from the penguin colony. On the way there our guide provided interesting details about the penguins and the surrounding region. We were outrageously excited once we got there. The penguin colony at Punta Tombo covers an enormous area so we parked near the outskirts of it and followed a path leading to the more populous areas. The first penguin we saw was hiding behind a bush next to the path. It was quite the thrill to finally see a real penguin in its natural habitat. We realized later that a lot of the penguins were hiding in bushes by the path. Our guide informed us that we came at an interesting time. Almost all of the young penguins had already left the colony to spend a few months at sea, but the adults stayed behind a few more weeks to moult. During this time the penguins don’t eat for about two weeks. So, naturally, they wanted to find a good place to hide and stay mostly still. Fortunately, there were other areas where the penguins were more in the open and we could get closer to them. It was interesting to see penguins that still had their old, brownish feathers, penguins with their new, shiny feathers, and penguins still in the process of moulting. We spent about two hours walking through the colony taking pictures and having fun. The joy and excitement of being with the penguins was overwhelming.

We'll continue posting about our spring break this week. Check back for more updates.

Chau,
John and Jamie