Penguins are like gophers.

Nov. 20 Puerto Madryn to Gaiman via Punto Tombo

Now that we have seen sea lions, and whales it was time to cross penguins off the list as well. We have been told that the best place to see them is at Punto Tombo, which is 200km south of Madryn. The morning got sidetracked when I noticed another broken bolt in the skid plate on my bike. I have no idea why these keep breaking but it is getting annoying. I took the bike to a repair shop as the hotel did not have a drill. The first shop could not help me until 3:30pm as he was in the middle of putting an engine back together, he did suggest I try another shop up the street. When I pulled up the guys were all sitting around drinking Mate, perfect they are not busy. The shop is called Autopartes Capitol, which is actually a chopper and hot rod shop. The owner is very helpful and sends one of his guys to the hardware store to buy some long bolts while we drill out the frame. When the guy returns with the bolts they are too short and that was the longest they had; time for plan B. He had some ready-rod in the back so we bent them into a U-bolt, drilled a couple more holes in the skidplate and mounted it the best we could. I think this will be the last time I have to worry about broken bolts in the skidplate on this bike. It seems very sturdy so far and I guess only time will tell if it hold up.

Back to the hotel and load up the bikes again, our planned early start is now looking like 12:30. We take a dirt road Rte#1 from Madryn to Rawson in order to shave off a few kilometers, the road is in good condition and quite large and we figure it is a good indication of what Rte 40 has to offer. Lots of gravel covering a rutted road underneath. This makes it a bit tricky at times because the front wheel grabs the ruts and causes the bike to fish tail a bit every so often. This is not usually a big concern and have become accustomed to the feeling of the bike kicking around beneath us, at this point we are standing on the pegs. If we were sitting down it would be alot less comfortable. Anyway, Rawson greets us with its garbage dump and 25C weather, stinky is being generous, then the town itself turns out to look fairly nice. We just pass through and do not really take much time to look around, then it is onto pavement for the last stretch down to Tombo. Once inside the park gate the pavement ends and the last 20km is a dusty dirt road. About this time the gas light comes on, hmm that wind seems to be making the bikes burn alot more fuel than usual.

This is a Guanacoe not a penguin silly.

The park at Punto Tombo is very well organized and starts off with a tour through a interpretive center to read about the penguins as well as the numerous other animal species that live within the park. Everything is covered from feathers to hoofs. We were surprised to see that there are 18 different kinds of penguins.

At this time of year the penquins are still in their burrows waiting for their eggs to hatch. We expected to see millions of penguins on the beach but instead we see what reminded me of a gopher infestation. The hills are covered with burrows and the penguin pairs take turns sitting on the egg while the other goes out to sea to eat. 

There is a steady procession to and from the water, and some of the burrows are kilometers away from the shore. They are so far from the shore that the local rancher has sheep sleeping amongst the penguins. Of course with all this walking they do they cross the paths set out by the park people and we get to see them up close and personal. One little guy even tried to nip at Brenda’s boot as she was posing for a picture with him. They seem to have the system figured out, but we are shocked at how far the hatchlings will have to walk in order to get to water. It is no wonder that there is a high attrition rate for them, the sea gulls and foxes will have some easy pickings once they start their march.

Nearly 6pm and the park is closing so we have to make tracks, we dump in the jerry cans and do some math. Nope not gonna make it to Gaiman, and that is the closest gas station. I see a quad parked beside one of the buildings and figure if the parks people have a quad they must have gas. Sure enough they sell us a couple of liters of Naphta and we are set for fuel. The shortest distance in this case is another dirt road that cuts across country to Gaiman from the park turn off. 40km of dead straight gravel road and not a thing to look at besides the road, because if you look away for a second that is when you drift into the deep gravel or hit a rut, this is definitely preparation for Rte40.