South: Estancia Harberton and Isla Martilla

Day 14:

I had a dream last night.  I was playing cards at Putin and Medvedev's house (I assume they share a house together, not that there's anything wrong with that).  I tried to convince them to covert their laundry room into a poker room.  They said no because they don't drink(?).  

I'm having the hotel do all of my laundry today, finally.

Back to reality.  Marge is in charge of the trip now.  And the first order of business-- penguins!

I am eating cocoa puffs.  It's so weird to have someone to talk to while having breakfast.

We walk down to the tour pick-up point and I see a Fiat RV from France.

We head out in an Iveco van.  We take a dirt road for 90 minutes to Estancia Harberton. There, we take a tiny boat to Isla Martilla (it takes just 15 minutes) to see a colony of penguins (gentoos and Magellanics).

This is the scenery along the way.

Our outfit is the only one allowed to land on the island and walk with the penguins.  There are rules.  We have to be quiet; no sudden movements; walk as a group on the designated trail; be at least two meters away from the penguins.

Though seeing the penguins was an incredible experience, in retrospect, I think the penguins should be left alone.  We, no matter how well intentioned, were simply too close to them and their habitat.

Here is the estancia,

On the way back to Ushuaia, we saw Puerto Williams, Chile, which is the southernmost town in the world.

We had lunch back in Ushuaia.  We ordered a 375 ml bottle of wine, but the waiter served this full-sized bottle instead.  We ordered paella, but the waiter served this parrillada instead.  We didn't complain.  It was delicious.

I ate about 3/4 of that meat.  I was so full, when we walked back to the hotel, I was doubled over in pain.  It felt like the meat was rioting and trying to escape through my belly button.