February 13, 2020
Refugio south of Parque Penguino Rey
We woke up this morning not sure at all whether we would go back to the junction after visiting the penguins or to stay another night in last night's refugio. In the end we decided to be ready for any decision and would pack up completely and make our decision once we were finished at the penguin colony.
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The students were heading southwards towards Cameron and had started hitch hiking. They break into two groups of three with a girl in each group to increase their chances of getting picked up. They said that if the girls were in the same group, the group consisting of guys would never get a lift.
The visit to the only King Penguin colony on Tierra del Fuego was great. We were the second people through the gate and the first hour and half of watching them was very peaceful. We knew that once the ferry made landfall in Porvenir the cars and mini-buses of tourists would start pouring in so we made the most of the time we had them almost to ourselves. The colony only established itself about twenty years ago although King Penguins have been on the Tierra del Fuego at various times for at least 5000 years.
While watching the penguins it became clear that the weather wasn't going to be great on the cycle back to the junction. The biggest challenge would be water and the advantage of the refugio south of the penguins is that there is reasonably good water four hundred meters away. So after about three hours of penguin watching we returned to last night's refugio. Three of the students were still there, the first group having got a lift quite a lot earlier. We sat chatting to them in the refugio while they waited for vehicles heading southwards. At about three o'clock a pickup stopped and all three got their lift towards Cameron.
After that we moved back into the refugio, setting out our mattresses and sleeping bags in the tiny dormitorio above the small communal area. While having lunch we shared the area with a Chilean family who stopped in to have theirs and afterwards a group of three Argentinian guys dropped in to have a late lunch. By this stage we had moved upstairs and I fell asleep despite the guys chatting away a few feet from me.
It is pretty wet outside and the rain has yet to stop so I think our decision to spend another night here seems to be a good one. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more condusive to cycling. Even if it isn't, we will have to make it to San Sebastian because we have only enough food to see us through until tomorrow afternoon.
Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 1,542 km (958 miles)
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