Patagonia: Dinasours, Penguins and of course more Ice Cream

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We finished our visit to Buenos Aires with a short train trip to the Delta of the Rio de La Plata, where we took a boat ride through a very tropical Venice. The river’s water was brown with mud and it was hot and humid, but we still enjoyed the boat ride through canals filled with houses. And now we are in Patagonia, where it is cool and dry, and the good life continues:

Shakked: “After twenty hours of bus riding (12 at night and 8 in the day) we arrived at our destination: Trelew. This is a humble little town on the coast of Patagonia. Even though it took so long to get from Buenos Aires to here, the bus could not have been more comfortable if I had my own bed on it. The seats reclined all the way and were so soft you could almost sink onto them. After 12 hours of sleep we switched to a different bus, which was slightly less comfortable, for eight more hours. One of our highlights in our two days stay here has been an amazing paleontological museum. “

Amit: “Today we went to the most amazing dinosaur museum on the whole world! There were something like 35 complete skeletons plus 7 bones of the biggest dinosaurs - it was amazing!”.

Shakked: “Patagonia was once covered with water, so the land yields many fossils. Because it is so hot and dry here the fossils have been perfectly preserved. In the museum, after paying, I was the first one to enter the first room. I almost screamed. Grinning down at me from its perch on a rock, its sightless eye sockets staring into mine, was the full skeleton of a saber-tooth tiger. It went on and on like this, through several room s and a score of exhibitions. Every time it was the same, skeleton after skeleton, grinning down (or up) at me, some of them five times my height, sometimes I five time theirs. Most of them had two things in common: a mouth full of razor- sharp teeth and fearsome, curved claws. Scary.”

Amit: “ The next day we went to a natural palace of Penguins. Can you believe it Amit: you saw real penguins! They were so elegant and we saw three chicks. The most amazing thing we saw was at the sea. They react so different in sea than in land. In the sea they are elegant - in the land they are wobbly.”
Shakked: “We went to see a penguin rookery. It wasn’t a place you would expect to find penguins in. No ice, no snow, no glaciers. Just an expanse of hilly scrubland culminating in the sea. But, if examined closely, the land revealed more. Under almost every bush the soil was scraped away to form a shallow hole - a penguin nest. It was under a bush to keep away any hungry foxes or seagulls who would snack on an egg or helpless chick. Where a bush was not available a deep tunnel had been excavated by the parents to protect from predators. There were penguins everywhere. They were there in heir hundred thousands (250.000 the day we were there, 700.00 in their peak in January). Under bushes, in burrows, swimming in the ocean, even walking across the paths. Most were molting and everywhere there were feathers, feathers, feathers, a sea of feathers, a sea of black and white. It was an amazing spectacle.”

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Comments

[Nesya, Amiel, and Selilah]

We liked your pictures of the fossils. Amiel was really hoping for a shot of that saber tooth tiger. We couldn't believe you could get so close to the penguins, and we were surprised that Maytal didn't just waddle off and join them. They seemed to be just her size!! By the end of your trip, you guys will surely have earned the official title of world's best ice cream tasters or maybe best of the world's ice cream tasters. I think you all need to hug both your parents immediately for daring to take you on a 20 hour bus ride! The seats looked comfortable, but 20 hours is 20 hours!! Very long.