Penguins, penguins, everywhere . . . but not a one to touch.

We were awestruck visitors in Punta Tombo, Argentina, where Magellanic penguins filled burrows and mesas, perched on every rolling hill in sight, and frolicked like porpoises in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean.

We had come 100 miles from our cruise ship over gravel and dirt roads and through the Argentine Pampas to this penguin reserve that houses as many as 800,000 penguins from September to March.

Being with the Magellanic penguins in their habitat, the largest in South America, was a major highlight of our NCL cruise that began in Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile and ended in Buenos Aires fourteen days later. An NCL ship was our choice, but several cruise lines offer similar itineraries.

From Valparaiso, the Norwegian Dream headed into the Pacific Ocean, but within a day turned into sheltered channels. The southern coast of Chile is dotted for almost 1,000 miles with inlets and islands.

We popped into ports along the way. Puerto Montt, settled in the mid-19th century by German immigrants, leads to Chile's spectacular Lake District with the emerald green Petrohue River, turbulent falls and 9,740-foot Mount Osorno.

Puerto Chacabuco, where the Andes Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, came next. This port stop gave passengers a chance to take a bus ride into the Andes Mountains, let others absorb the quiet of the inlet.

As the ship moved farther south, the weather turned cooler. The ship's captain announced a bonus detour to the Amalia Glacier. The huge blue-white tidewater glacier spilled down to the water, where chunky icebergs stood guard. Dark clouds mixed with the early morning light that backlit the mountains at the edge of the fjord. Surely, we had drifted into another world.

The next port, Punta Arenas, Chile, the southernmost city on the South American continent, is situated at the western edge of Patagonia. It sits across the Strait of Magellan from Tierra del Fuego. The names bring forth end-of-the-earth images.

Passengers had shore trip options to explore the land around Punta Arenas. They could also experience Antarctica for a $1400 flight, or the Torres del Paine National Park, popular with trekkers, for $986. I tried to experience the two trips vicariously, but found no affluent adventurer to relate tales.

The following day, the ship docked at the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia (Ooh-schweye-a), Argentina, on the southern edge of Tierra del Fuego. An English colonist in the late 19th century called isolated, windswept, cold Ushuaia, "the uttermost part of the earth."

To reach the city, we sailed the 130-mile-long, inland Beagle Channel. Gorgeous glaciers appeared one after the other, each named for a different country.

The large island of Tierra del Fuego is part Chilean, part Argentinean. Magellan's crew called it the Land of Fire in the 16th century. In the 1830's, English Captain Fitzroy explored with his ship, the H.M.S. Beagle, and, on the second voyage, Charles Darwin was a passenger.

My husband and I climbed around hilly Ushuaia in sunny, 55-degree weather, and took a three-hour catamaran ride along the Beagle Channel. The catamaran took us past islands inhabited by wildlife: Upland geese, gulls, steamer ducks and stunning black and white cormorants. We saw huge sea lions dive deep into the channel when they weren't flaked out on a sunny rock, scratching with their front flippers. Petrels and gulls soared overhead. Untamed territory still, we thought, like in the days of Charles Darwin.

To reach the east coast of Argentina, the ship rounded the wild and desolate Cape Horn. Many passengers expected fierce seas where the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean meet, remembering historical tales of sailing ships that had floundered there. But the waves were not high, yet, so we crowded the decks and clicked cameras at the jagged rocky islands.

As the ship sailed for Port Stanley in Britain's Falkland Islands, the waves grew higher every hour and Captain Sanvik cancelled the port stop. Everyone received free drinks for an hour, but still lots of disappointed passengers.

For another day, the ship ploughed north along the Argentine coast to Puerto Madryn, but harbor officials closed the port due to winds. Oh, not again. But Captain Sandvik said he'd wait offshore for a short while. An hour later, the officials opened one dock - for the Norwegian Dream.

Puerto Madryn is a Welsh-settled town along the Atlantic Patagonian coast. The cruise staff had to cancel countryside tours because high winds fanned a pampas fire we could see from the sea. Our Punta Tombo penguin trip was not affected.

We had one hour to walk in the reserve's designated areas on the plateau by the sea. Visitors must stay three meters away from the black and white flightless birds. But, they waddled up to us on our paths, chirped and squawked, cocking their heads from side to side.

In Montevideo, Uruguay, where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic Ocean, some of us chose to visit Estancia La Rabida, a countryside ranch. Others toured the 150-year-old city, and still others spent the day at the seaside resort, Punta del Este.

The estancia, an hour's drive into the pampas, was another trip highlight. An open-air ride through ranch land to the 30-mile wide river, a family welcome in English and Spanish at the ranch house area, and a sumptuous bar-b-que dinner made a memorable day.

The next morning, the ship docked in cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, ninety miles upriver from Montevideo. The cruise had ended. We had traveled 4,000 nautical miles in14 days.

The voyage between Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina is one long mix of scenery and unforgettable impressions of "the uttermost part of the earth."

Traveling Tales this week welcomes Nell Raun-Linde, a freelance travel writer who makes her home in Benicia, California.

The photos:
1: The unique Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo.
2:Andes Mountains from Santiago, glacial lake at 8000 feet.
3: Sea lions at Beagle Channel, Ushuaia, Argentina.