Driving out - literally out to sea - from Puerto Madryn puts you on Península Valdes, a wildlife protection area filled mostly with desert grasslands. Most of the land is divided between private estancias (ranches) that mainly raise sheep. Lots and lots of sheep and lambs, with some horses, ostriches and guanaca - the undomesticated ancestor of the alpaca, the only member of the camelito family in southern Argentina. Along the coast of the peninsula, however, a whole host of marine life finds its home for part of the year: most famously, dolphins (of which I haven’t actually seen any), whales, elephant seals and penguins.

All of these animals are cool, but seeing penguins was a real first for me. The number of stoner penguin movies that have come out in the past few years of course made them seem even cooler, but mostly I just never thought I would see live penguins (unless I someday visit Antartica).

These were Magellanic penguins, who are in this part of Argentina to birth their young. Interestingly, both the mother and father penguins take care of their babies, which partially accounts for the sheer number near each other at a time.