Part II: Earthwatch Expedition

Off to Patagonia

Early in the morning, I left my apartment in San Telmo and took a taxi to the airport. It was time to begin the next phase of my trip, an adventure with penguins in Patagonia. It was a fairly easy drive to the airport, even in early morning rush hour traffic. Getting through the airport was easy as well, since an internal flight did not require going through customs.

Off to Patagonia: boarding the plane at Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires

It was just a two-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Trelew, but we arrived in a completely different world. After flying over the rich patchwork of farms and ranchland outside of Buenos Aires, we landed in the dry and austere desert of Patagonia.

Trelew is a small city in the Chubut Valley, an area of central Patagonia that was settled by Welsh pioneers more than 100 years ago. I was here to take part in an Earthwatch expedition, an educational volunteer job called "Trailing Penguins in Patagonia." I met the other volunteers at the airport in Trelew, then we were met by Andrés, who picked us up for the 240-kilometer drive south to Camarones. There were seven other volunteers on the expedition: Jesse and Lori from Las Vegas, Jet from Los Angeles, Lynn from Boston, Leslie from Washington D.C., Amy from New York, and Patricia from Tampa, Florida.

The desert was mostly flat here as we traveled down the highway in a straight line. After a few hours, we turned eastward toward the coast and the landscape began to take on a more rugged, almost mountainous, appearance.We arrived in Camarones and were met by Gabriela Blanco, the lead researcher on the project. She showed us our houses, one for the men and one for the women. We then met the other two researchers on the project, Romina and Genoveva.

Gaby brought out a big platter of empanadas, savory meat pies that made for a warm welcome after the long drive, and then we began the orientation to the project. We learned about the Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) that we were going to be monitoring, as well as the pingüinero (penguin colony) where we were going to be working.

A platter full of piping hot empanadas greeted us upon our arrival in Camarones

Camarones is a tiny little town, with about 1,500 inhabitants. It sits on the Bahia San Jorge, a dramatic bay with rocky outcrops and long wide pebble-strewn beaches. The town has a quiet emptiness about it, an isolated outpost along a rocky shore. Nevertheless, it has played a major role in the history of Argentina. A small monument along the waterfront commemorates the landing of Spanish explorer Don Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor in 1545, the earliest attempt at settling Patagonia that resulted in the short-lived Provincia de Nueva León.

Camarones was also the boyhood home of Juan Perón, the two-time president of Argentina (1946-1955 and 1973-1974) who founded a popular political movement that is still a major force in Argentina today. His old house is now a small museum and community center. On our first night in Camarones, I went there with fellow volunteer Patricia to see a presentation by Gaby about her latest project, a study of the southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus).

The presentation was impressive, especially to see the enthusiastic response of the townspeople, most of whom are involved in the fishing industry. In many places of the world, fishing communities are at odds with national parks, but I got the impression that the local people here were very supportive of the work being done to protect public lands and wildlife.

After the presentation, it was time for dinner, which was always at 8:30pm. This was relatively late for those of us not accustomed to the Argentine schedule, so our appetites were strong. We had dinner each night at Alma Patagónica, a local restaurant whose name translates to "Patagonian Soul." The food was excellent, hearty country fare that gave us a good taste of Patagonian cuisine.

After dinner we went back to our houses, wanting to get a good night's sleep before our first big day working in the penguin colony.

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