As the launching station for so many Antarctica cruises, it’s not surprising that the port city of Ushuaia is packed full of penguin themed souvenirs. Sure, you can get your t-shirts and plush penguin chicks, but you can also get hats, fridge magnets, shot glasses, carved bric-a-brac, coffee mugs, pitchers in the shape of a penguin (with the beak as the spout), socks, gloves, sweatshirts, fleece jackets… you name it, you can get it with a penguin on it.
What you can’t get was the thing I wanted: this six foot square hand made and painted relief map of Antarctica showing all the species of penguins and where they live across the continent. This photo is zoomed in on the most penguin intensive region — the Peninsula, my destination. But there are penguin zones encompassing the entire land mass.
The map has a key — yet another hand painted penguin next to the name of the species in both English and Spanish. You can keep your pink rose quartz penguin eyesore, what I want is the one of a kind penguin map found at Ushuaia’s Maritime Museum.
They’d best amp up security there.*
*This is a little joke, see, the museum is in a former prison.
I want one too! Perhaps in the form of those wall-size mural posters one used to be able to buy in sheets that were cool in the 70s…
This is super cool! I’ve seen a lot of different penguin themes souveniers, collectibles, handmade pieces, etc. in various gift shops but never a map and definitely not one this fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing 😀