The Penguin Reserve

What Sara and I thought would be a tour for a few hours only turned into an all-day event. The same tour that was supposed to pick us up yesterday afternoon at 4:00 picked us up at 8:30 this morning and brought us back at 5:00pm. It took us an hour and a half to get to the port, winding through the desert and small towns on gravel roads and up in the mountains. Once we were there, we put on our life jackets and got in a large boat with no top and motored around Choros Island. It was beautiful, and we saw lots of sea lions and only a few penguins because it's winter and they're nesting. Then we went to Damas Island and hiked around for an hour looking at the birds and rock formations and collecting large sea shells. The return trip in the boat back to the continent was much more chilly and wet from the wind and the spray from ocean waves--not the best combination for the middle of winter, but what were we doing on a boat tour in July in Chile in our right minds anyway??? After we got our land legs back we headed to at a little restaurant for a lunch of shrimp and cheese empanadas and grilled fish. Delicious. Everyone on our tour fell asleep in the tour van on the way back, despite the roads. Sara and I were exhausted but happy by the time we finally got back to the hostel. We're going to recoup for a while, then go out for "onces" and get some hot chocolate. Pictures will be forthcoming on my Facebook.