Penguins? Penguins.

I present to you, historical wall art and a random picture of the city.

However, this was the day I befriended two girls from Finland and another from Denmark. 

Long story short, all of us (including my bestie from Germany) were hiding in the sauna, fully clothed (the heat wasn’t on), lights off, primed to scare the stuffing out of anyone who walked in. And of course, we were wearing shower caps. Why? Who knows :)

And they’re teaching me Finnish!!!! 

When I was younger, I spent my summers in Finland, speaking the language and learning about the culture (my dad is from Finland). But then I didn’t go for several years and lost it all. 

Hearing the rhythm of the language again felt so… nostalgic? And hearing that same stunted rhythm come out of my own mouth? Gosh, it makes me so inexplicably smiley!!! It comes so naturally—like lyrics of a song from childhood.

I know this is cheesy, but even though there were a lot of cool experiences on this trip, what made it worth it was actually building bonds with people from different countries.

Day 5

Twas time for the PENGUINSSSSS.

We all got up early, drank coffee or tea from those beautiful reusable hotel mugs, and went to the docks.

The boat was FUN. Waiting on every seat were those classic neon orange lifesavers, the huge space was already rocking with the waves, and the excitement was HIGH.

Look at the orangeeeeeee.

That was before the staff passed out barf bags to everyone.

Just like with the hike-that-never-was, the wind was coming in a littleeeee (A LOTTTTT) too strong. The waves were MASSIVE. And because of that... well. Half of us (me included) were jumping with the waves—literally flying out of our seats. The other half were extremely nauseous—green in the face and such. Poor Lisa had her head pressed to the table.

We all successfully held it in, but the people at other tables… oh geez. The smell was the worst. Or maybe the sound, it’s hard to decide.

ANyWaYYYY… yeah, the boat was turned around for safety reasons, which SUCKED.

But oh well.

The rest of the day was still interesting.

Starting with the most LOVELY souvenir shop. 

What kind of souvenir shop has starry ceilings and basement museum?!?!

Followed by the pleasant surprise of a souvenir shop was the most EPIC restaurant, covered floor-to-ceiling with traveler-type-collectibles. 

Here’s the special part: every person who comes through the door gets a little pin flag along with their meal, and before they leave they can pin it to a map of where they’re from. There were maps on every wall, each with HUNDREDS of little pins.

I pinned mine in lil old Minneapolis, MN, along with a few other wandering Minneapolitans. (EEUU is Spanish for USA).

And there was more than just pins. There were bottles, plane tickets, magnets, trinkets, messages, posters—literally anything you could possibly think of. It was cluttered in the best way possible and I ADORED IT.

Note: all of the places we went to for lunch or dinner were EXCESSIVELY fancy; with cute lil butter & buns and mini soups followed by a massive chunk of meat, and dessert. Always.

Most unexpectedly, we finished the day off with one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. I swear, the tombs were like mini palaces of greek gods.

To be honest, I have an absolutely gorgeous picture of the entrance of the cemetery, but I was so focused on the picture that I didn't realize that there was a literal funeral procession coming through 😅😅😅

Day 6

We got a second chance to see the penguins!

Penguin attempt number two went MUCH better. Clear skies and flat water.

When we arrived at Magdalena Island, people were already crowding at the windows of the boat, cooing at the lil black and white birds. 

Turns out, most of the black and white dots on the island were not, in fact, penguins. They were seagulls.

At a few points, I did actually give up on taking pictures of the penguins and took pictures of the ever-so-majestic seagulls.

Also, I have discovered that seagulls are FARRRRR more photogenic than penguins.

While the seagulls were soaring and standing proud, the penguins were lying on the ground, hunched over, picking at their feathers, and being their dorky, waddly selves. If one wants a good picture of a penguin, one must wait. And wait. And wait.

This is what those annoying lil dimwits look like most of the time.

My favorite part of the whole Magdalena Island thingamajig was when the penguins crossed the walking path. Because everyone MUST stay at least 2 meters away from the penguins at any given moment, wherever the penguins walk, they part the sea of people like penguin royalty.

Other than that, to be well and truly honest, they were kind of boring (though many disagree).

Conclusion

If I could go to Patagonia again, I would do FARRRR less shopping, more hiking, and I would just go with friends & family—if I have to follow around a group like a baby duckling again I’m gonna riot. AND I would want to go during the berry-picking season (calafate plants are ALL OVER the trails), which is during Minnesota’s winter. If I’m gonna be on day (or week) long hikes, I might as well have the luxury of eating the blueberry-like berries on the way.

Thank you for readingggggg!!