Post #12

After going to the glacier, I reminded Jason that we did not know if Tristan ever gave his penguin a name. “Would you like to give him one?”

Jason thought for a moment and then said, “Perito, after the glacier.”

I liked that. Perito Penguin.

I wondered how the glacier got its name, and found this website: https://www.swoop-patagonia.com/blog/perito-moreno-the-father-of-modern-patagonia/

I learned that Patagonia was explored by Francisco Pascaio Moreno, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1852. In 1897, the Argentinian government gave Moreno the honorific title ‘Perito’, that roughly translates as ‘expert’.

Moreno and his party gave the name of Lago Argentino to a huge lake at the base of the Andes and raised the Argentinian flag at a place they called Punta Banderas. This docking area is now where boat trips depart to visit the huge glacier, which is just around the bend, south and west of Punta Banderas. Ironically, despite all Moreno’s years of exploring Patagonia, he never even saw the glacier that now bears his name.

Fittingly, while Tristan never got to visit Patagonia, his penguin now bears the name of the glacier, a beautiful gift from his brother Jason.