Cohica Travel
  • About
  • Custom Travel
  • Designed trips
  • Guided Trips
  • Inspiration
  • Blog

Patagonia: Punta Arenas & The Penguins of Isla Magdalena

11/29/2015

0 Comments

 
Fittingly, the end of the world feels just like the end of the world. Harsh wind sweeps across the grey sea and whitecaps race toward a grassy coastline. Further inland, snow-topped mountains, the symbol of Chilean Patagonia, stretch high into the all-encompassing cloudy sky. Rusted and battered barns are scattered across the vast countryside, where woolly sheep graze on green and gold grass.
Picture
Picture
​It takes nearly 4 hours for our flight from Santiago to reach Punta Arenas, Chile’s southernmost city. From the airport, a small, white, round bus takes us into the city center. Although Punta Arenas is home to about 125,000 residents, the low lying buildings and cold deserted streets make it feel more like a small town than a city. Still, the charm is inescapable. Like a movie set of a modern day zombie apocalypse film, the whole town feels a bit deserted and wonderfully trapped in time. Cloudy days are cold and windy, sunny days are slightly less cold but just as windy, and nights are both extremely cold and extremely windy. It’s no wonder everyone stays inside. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
​We have one goal for our time in Punta Arenas. Penguins. And not just a few penguins. 120,000 wild Magellanic penguins. From the city port we’re taking the Melinda ferry 22 miles north across the Strait of Magellan to Isla Magdalena, where each (Patagonian) summer 60,000 penguin couples migrate to mate, lay eggs, and raise their young. The sea is choppy, but not too choppy (it gets bad here and it’s not uncommon for ferries to be canceled due to bad weather), and nowhere near our previous ferry experiences (thank god). Like most of Chile, the ferry isn’t cheap, but when it’s the only way to get to an island of wild penguins, you do what you have to do. 
Picture
Picture
​The entire trip takes five hours: 2 hours to the island, 1 hour spent walking along the paths to the lighthouse and back, and another 2 hours home. We dock on a rocky beach to the sight of Magellanic penguins everywhere. Many lie within their small burrows, escaping the rough wind. Others scamper up the beach, cleaning their feathers after an afternoon of fishing. A few carry tufts of grass and dirt quickly to their holes, building nests for their eggs. They’re all incredible. And hilarious, really. While they are spectacular swimmers and migrate hundreds of kilometers each year, viewing the earthly penguin waddle in person is definitely one of the funniest things of all time. With giant smiles across our faces, we contemplate these lovely, complicated creatures. Monogamy isn’t a common thing in the animal kingdom (humans included), but these birds find a mate and stick together for life, through “thick and thin” and all of that. They actually act as an example of a perfectly functional and equal relationship, divvying up family duties like fishing, building nests, and caring for their young. Who knew inspiration would come from a couple of 2.5-foot birds. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
​As with so many tourist destinations, the visiting crowds seem to deflate the experience a little. With another 200 travelers on-board the ferry, all scrambling to get off the boat and be the first to see the penguins, the experience isn’t exactly unique. In their excitement, people eagerly push their way to the front of the boat, straightening out their compactable selfie sticks on the way. We’ve experienced this in many places and try our best to avoid the small crowds huddling around those penguins who dare venture close to the path. We snap a few shots and take videos of the waddle (for whenever one might need a laugh, of course), but try to take in the experience without morphing into penguin paparazzi. The island itself is incredibly scenic, with rolling hills, a red-striped lighthouse, narrow pathways, and high clouds from the intense wind. It has a middle-of-nowhere feeling, exposed completely to the elements, and only accessed a few times each week. Just being here is cool. 
Picture
Picture
​The ferry ride home is long, and we both fall asleep amidst a post-penguin excitement hangover. A late dinner, a good night's sleep at (the sustainable) Hotel Rey Don Felipe, and we’re already walking to the bus terminal for the next stop on our Patagonia tour. We’re heading to the town of Puerto Natales to hike through Torres Del Paine, a national park with what might just be the world’s most spectacular scenery. 
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Cohica Travel

    A travel design agency.

    Categories

    All
    Argentina
    Belgium
    Cambodia
    Chile
    Colombia
    Croatia
    Ecuador
    Expat Life
    France
    Germany
    Greece
    Guatemala
    Hungary
    Iceland
    Indonesia
    Italy
    Laos
    Malta
    Mexico
    Morocco
    Nicaragua
    Peru
    Portugal
    Romania
    Scotland
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Sri Lanka
    Thailand
    The Netherlands
    U.S.A.
    Vietnam
    Vlog (Video Blog)

    Archives

    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Follow us on Instagram @CohicaTravel

    RSS Feed

​​cohica designed trips
custom travel 

TRAVEL GIFT CERTIFICATES
​​TRAVEL INSPIRATION
BLOG

 CLIENT Log IN
TRAVELER REVIEWS
PRESS
CONTACT US
​TERMS & CONDITIONS

Picture
  • About
  • Custom Travel
  • Designed trips
  • Guided Trips
  • Inspiration
  • Blog