Category: Argentina

When I first became obsessed with penguins about 20 years ago, after an expedition to Antarctica and then volunteering for a penguin census in Argentina, there were 17 species of penguin, according to this Penguin Bible. And, because you must know this, here they are, divided by group:

Large penguins: King penguin, emperor penguin

Brush-tailed penguins: Adélie penguin, chinstrap penguin, gentoo penguin

Yellow-Eyed penguins: yellow-eyed penguin

Crested penguins: southern rockhopper penguin, northern rockhopper penguin, penguin erect-crested penguin, Fiordland penguin (Tawaki), Snares penguin, macaroni/royal penguin

Banded penguins: African penguin, Magellanic penguin, Humboldt penguin, Galápagos penguin

Little (or Blue) penguins: Little penguin

Around the time I was getting to know penguins, the rockhoppers began to be recognized as two different species — and while Penguins lists the macaroni and the royal penguins as one species, some ornithologists consider them to be two species, which brings the number to 18.

In addition, some research advocates splitting the southern rockhopper penguin into two species (eastern and western). Other evidence indicates the little penguin should be considered two species as well.

And, most recently, research suggests that the gentoo species be split into four species. (This article also has background about penguins’ 22-million-year history. Check it out.)

It’s all quite fascinating … and even with my penguin obsession I’m having a hard time keeping track. I hope one day to meet all the species of the penguin world … and this new information definitely makes my plans a bit more interesting.

But for now, the official number is 18. And counting.

And if you want to meet some penguins without getting on a plane, here’s where you can find them in my novels!

For Adélie, chinstrap, gentoo, and Magellanic penguins — and a lone emperor:

For Galápagos penguins:

And stay tuned! While I didn’t plan to be a penguin novelist, I just can’t seem to escape them. Since writing My Last Continent and Floreana, I’ve been fortunate to meet little/blue penguins, Tawaki, yellow-eyed penguins, and most recently, the shy and elusive Humboldts.

I absolutely loved talking with Brighde Reed of World Vegan Travel about a few of my favorite things: writing, penguins, creativity, travel, and food. Check out her wonderful podcast here, where you’ll meet travelers, chefs, and many more fascinating and compassionate people.

Click here to listen to our chat, and if you’re ready to travel the world again (it’s been way too long!), don’t miss the upcoming trips with World Vegan Travel … from Japan to Thailand to South Africa to France to Italy, these trips look amazing!

I loved researching penguins for My Last Continent, but World Penguin Day is as special to me as it is bittersweet because every year, the world is a little harsher for penguins: fishing, climate change, and warming oceans are endangering a great many species.

There are many ways we can learn more about penguins and how to protect them, and many ways to help them directly, even if we’re (very) far from where they live.

For example, since most of us are currently staying home during the pandemic, one great way to help scientists (and to glimpse these amazing creatures in their natural habitat) is to join this citizen science project, Penguin Watch, which allows you to count penguins from your computer screen.

And here are a few ways to help penguins every day, all year:

• Re-think your consumption of seafood. Overfishing is one of the biggest causes of penguin death, whether it’s because humans are eating their food (such as krill) or because they get killed by fishing nets and longlines. Even “sustainable” seafood has an impact on the oceans and wildlife.
• Be a thoughtful traveler and a respectful birdwatcher. If you must travel to see penguins (and it’s pretty irresistible), choose places that can handle your human footprints — and always go with eco-friendly tour companies. Once there, always pay close attention to guides and naturalists who know how to keep a safe distance. If you’re traveling without a group or guide, be sure to study up; learn about the birds’ habitat so you can be sure to stay out of their way.
• Do all that you can to combat climate change (see the Climate Reality Project and Cowspiracy for some good tips).
• Support such conservation efforts as the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, which monitors penguins and works on the ground to ensure protections for them.

Strolling around Puerto Madryn during our Penguins & Patagonia tour, we almost missed this lovely bookstore, Boutique del Libro, which is on the first floor of a shopping mall on the main street through town (“first floor” in Argentina is what we Americans think of as the second floor). This is the view from the street:

Boutique del Libro has a robust online store and branches throughout Argentina, including Ushuaia, Calafate, and several in the greater Buenos Aires region.

Once inside this Puerto Madryn location, this small bookstore revealed an abundance of books, from local and regional authors to international bestsellers — with an ocean view as a backdrop.

It’s a very quaint store with a lot of gift items as well as books — a wonderful place to browse, even if you aren’t a fluent reader in Spanish.

It has an especially sweet Patagonia section, with art books, calendars, journals, prints, and so much more that highlight the flora and fauna of the region.

If you’re in Puerto Madryn looking for gifts (or Spanish-language books, of course!), don’t miss this lovely bookstore on the first floor of Puerto Madryn’s main street.

One afternoon on our recent Penguins & Patagonia Adventure, we walked through the glamorous Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta, an area with an abundance of beautiful boutiques and shops. Bookstore geeks that we are, we couldn’t resist stopping into this beautiful antique bookstore.

There’s something so appealing about old books, and this store is no exception; it even has a wonderful old-book smell, like that of a vast library. The store offers myriad old and rare books, all in Spanish, most of them about Argentina, with a great many about Patagonia.

It’s a nice place to browse, but for security reasons you have to be buzzed in, and because the books are so old and some are so fragile, it’s a better place to look than to touch. But that was just as much fun for us.

The Antique Book Shop also has maps and illustrated books; we visited twice, enchanted by a nearly 100-year-old map of Chubut Province, a copy of which was also hanging in the living room at Rincon Chico. The map was made in 1928 and outlines the parcels of land that makes up the Peninsula Valdes. Because the peninsula is all privately owned, the map has the family names of all the landowners, the vast majority of whom pass down the land from generation to generation.

If you’re in interested in the history of Argentina — from literary to geopolitical to natural history — this bookstore is a must-stop on your visit to Buenos Aires. The store owner and employees are very helpful and speak both Spanish and English.