From ‘The Penguin Lessons. A True story’ by Tom Michell

In the water, penguins are transformed. When swimming on the surface a penguin resembles a rather deflated duck, with only head and tail above water, but below the waves they are simply sublime. No cheetah, stallion, albatross or condor is more elegant or graceful. Nothing is more masterful in the water.

Penguins have enormous and extremely strong feet, which are equipped with very sharp talons not unlike those of an eagle, and can shred human skin. Interestingly, the undersides of penguins’ feet are not a bit bird-like but are more like a monkey’s: fleshy, muscular and dexterous.

Only seeing penguins in their natural environment can give one a real understanding of the meaning of ‘gregarious’…….penguins crowd together in untold numbers with no apparent concept of personal space.

….thin air of the high Andes …….Those mountain ranges provide better views of the night sky than anywhere else on earth, which is why so many international observatories are situated there. The firmament, I discovered, is the most perfect inky-blackness from which the Milky Way blazes………I was amazed to discover that to the naked eye there are no really dark parts of the Milky Way at all…….stars shine out fiercely from the darkness….Even without a moon there is sufficient light to navigate on foot along the roads and paths without difficulty. But without the thick blanketing atmosphere, which at lower altitudes obscures most of the brilliance and beauty of the cosmos, the bitter cold can be unendurable.

On the surface, penguins swim like neckless ducks, propelling themselves with their feet. They bob about competently, but not elegantly – hardly compelling viewing. But underwater, penguins show a consummate mastery of their element that can transfix an audience.

The quality of Argentine food hasn’t changed at all ……..it is still possible to eat better in this country than anywhere else on earth and, interestingly, I saw very few people who were significantly overweight, which gave me food for thought, too.

……staff at Mundo Marino have…become experts in rescuing marine animals from pollution……….Magellan penguins ……a single penguin stood out…I was told he was a single rockhopper from a group of rescued birds and, although he had now fully recovered, he couldn’t be released until another rehabilitated rockhopper was ready to be set at liberty. ‘You cant release penguins on their own,’ the keeper explained. ‘Like sea lions, come to that, they simply wont go without a fellow creature of their own kind; they wont leave.’

What a revelation! Suddenly, after all the years of wondering why Juan Salvado had so persistently refused to leave me on that beach in Punta del Este. I felt I had a satisfactory answer at last. Oh, the relief!