Isla de Chiloe

Penguins! We found penguins! Nate and I drove down south a few hours with another couple in search of penguins. We started on the interstate, but that ended in Puerto Montt and turned into a two-lane highway. Eventually, that ran into the ocean and we had to take a ferry (not quite like WA ferries...basically just a barge) to the Island of Chiloe. From there, we took a slow, windy road around the island. Finally, we turned onto a gravel road and traveled about 15 bumpy kilometers to the beach. We felt like we were going to the middle of nowhere, but when we reached the beach we found a tour company. We paid them to take us out in a small boat to look at the penguins. This spot is the only place in the world where the two kinds of penguins cohabit. The Humbolt penguins come down from Peru and the Magellan ones come up from the southern tip of South America. We rode in the boat through the very choppy sea to the different islands where the penguins were living. It was awesome! The company provided waders for us since we had to walk through the water to get to the boat and because it was wet inside the boat from the waves. Of course...Nate was wearing flip-flops and didn't have socks so he just had to get wet! In addition to the penguins, we saw lots of other marine life such as porpoises, sea otters, and many different kinds of birds.