I Love a Good Immigrant Story

I really like immigrant stories. There is something very compelling about the narratives told by those leaving their homelands and venturing out into the world unknown. Sometimes those tales are harrowing and sometimes they are heroic. In my mind, it takes great courage to pull up stakes and to start over but it really boggles my brain to think that people journeyed to places that were so foreign to them that even climate or industry was beyond their ken.

We have seen that time and again on this trip. There are the pockets of German peoples that still populate parts of Chile and here in the Argentinian Patagonia, there is a deep Welsh tradition. These immigrants from Wales came without knowing anything about agriculture, language, or climate. They were mostly miners from the southern part of the UK who decided that a better life was waiting for them here in this rocky and often desolate area. They weren’t fleeing persecution but rather saw advancement awaiting them in a place so different from the one in which they were raised. I think that that takes tremendous gumption and fortitude and it should serve as a reminder that all of us either are or come from a place of immigration. We should never get so far ahead of ourselves that we pretend others don’t deserve the right to the same opportunities that were afforded our grandparents.

The annual migration of the Magellanic penguins is kind of like these Welsh immigrants. Every year, they return in the spring to the shores of Punta Tomba and dig out their rookeries in order to breed. Thousands of them come back to this area to lay their eggs and tend their young. It was a sight to behold as we trekked through the barrenness of this area, only to finally come to the beaches and see these birds swimming, waddling, playing, and feeding. They were oblivious to all of us bipeds as they blissfully went about their business. We northerners are conditioned to think of penguins as cold-weather birds but these beauties were frolicking around in the surf or just hanging in their sand caves in 25℃ weather. These waddlers are a resilient lot who come here every year just to lay their two eggs. Both parents tend the chicks but often can’t move back and forth between ocean and nest fast enough to keep both babies alive. They are sometimes faced with Sophie’s Choice as to which baby earns the prize. We saw several dead chicks outside of the rookeries and it literally broke my heart. Those who do manage to make it, are now getting close to moulting their baby feathers as they begin to learn self-survival. By April, these birds will leave for sea, only to begin the migration process all over again in August.

These Magellanic penguins have gumption and fortitude. They do what they do because it is in the best interest of their species. They travel thousands of kilometres each and every year to this place because it offers them the best chances of survival and opportunity. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to commune with them for a few hours today.

I really do love a great immigrant story.