First execution in Argentina

Trip Start Aug 31, 2008
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Trip End Feb 02, 2009


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Where I stayed
Municipal Campground
(Buenos Aires hotels)

Flag of Argentina  , Patagonia,
Sunday, November 16, 2008

Folks like to kill other folks in a ceremonious fashion here in Puerto San Julian. Or at least, desperate sailors did 500 years ago. Puerto San Julian is a sleepy little bedroom community on the south atlantic coast of Argentina. We stopped here to use their quite cheap and well-kept campground for a couple of nights. Magellan stopped here in 1520 to execute an unruly crew member to prevent mutiny on a mass scale. Francis Drake followed his example some 50 years later. I guess there´s just something about the way this place looks from the ocean that says "good final resting place for people who get on your nerves". This legacy is preserved in San Julian by deftly ignoring the corporal punishment, and instead focusing on the Catholic mass for the dead said directly afterwards the execution. Now the port is a popular pilgrimage destination: the site of the first mass said in Argentina. I personally feel that this is putting the cart before the horse, but what do I know?
However, we weren´t here to kill folks in a ceremonious fashion, we were here for a penguin stake out. We´d been trying to experience the local penguins cheapskate-style (no tour, no boat). I´m happy to report that we were sucessful, but sorry to say there are no photos of the little guys in their tuxedos. See, we were perched on a cliff after walking about 15 likometers or so, lamenting the lack of penguins, when I had the bright idea to use the binoculars. The island before us was COVERED with them, all running around and playing and looking quite adorable, I must admit. Yes, we were too far away for pictures, but having a secret penguin stake out was quite exciting, and gave us chance to observe some of their natural behavior. Nope, I can´tell you about it. Sworn to secrecy.
On the way back, we made a wrong turn and got to tour both the city dump and the sewage treatment plant. It kind of made me want to kill folks in a ceremonious fashion.
these photos are so exciting that you may want to pop a thorazine before you look at them
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