Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 10: Punta Tomba and Gaiman

Besides finding accomodations, today's main goal was to see the magellanic penguin colony at Punta Tomba. According to the guide book (local signage at Caleta Valdes would disagree), Punta Tombo is the largest single colony of penguins on the continent, with a population of more than 500,000 birds. The penguins nest behind the stony beach in scrapes underneath the bushes, with a close eye on approaching strangers. The reserve is open between Sept and late March. At this time of year the penguins are tending to their eggs and are most active in the morning and early evening.

The other big attraction around Punta Tomba are some of the Welsh communities which speak to the history of Welsh immigrants who first settled in this area of Argentina. Although Trelew is the biggest of such communities, while driving through it we didn't think it too pretty so we opted instead to go to Gaiman which has innumerable quaint little Welsh teahouses. It is also home of El Parque Desafio, a curious little park featuring art made entirely of recycled materials. Unfortunately we didn't have time to make it to the nearby paleontological park which also looked interesting. So much to see, so little time!

the photos: