SUNDAY FEB 22

Quick note for Sunday Feb. 22.  Our weather has cooled and today, fewer shorts (and legs) are on display.    Yesterday (Saturday) we visited Puerto Madryn "on our way to the Horn".  Puerto Madryn is a predominately Welsh community in the Argentina Patagonia.  We were told that the city has grown from a "sleepy" community of 10,000 ten years ago to over 86,000 today.   According to the "on board" daily guide published by our cruise line, a new mall in he city center has helped tourism significantly making Puerto Madryn a more attractive place for both international and domestic tourists visiting Patagonia.  For cruising tourists, tours to the Punta Tombo Penguin rookery, the UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site  at Peninsula Valdes and to the sea lion colony at Punta Loma as well as drives through the countryside for a view of the Patagonia lifestyle.  For this trip, we chose to visit the town itself and thus, we confined our visit to this port to a brief look around the city which seemed growing and industrious.  The primary products of this area are aluminum, leather and alpaca wool.    There you have it for our report from another "Port of Call" of this "trek around South America".  Tomorrow we cruise "scenic Cape Horn" and excitement builds as we draw nigh to this adventure that permeates our enthusiasm with a sort of "mysticism for sea loving people".  Although Ken has "been here, done this", he is just as excited the second time around as he was the first.    Ken and Pat Burns from the road and/or the sea just as happy as can be