Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for February 19, 2014

Take Evie to the aquarium in Cape Town, Arnold. My daughter took me and my two little granddaughters to the aquarium about ten years ago. They were very little girls then. There is a breeding colony of penguins in the aquarium; it is very interesting to visit if you can handle the pong! My granddaughter complained loudly about the smell until I explained to her that it was natural and the penguins liked it. Baby penguins are very strange looking creatures; they are fluffy, huge and almost completely immobile; truly only something a parent could love. It is fascinating to view the adult birds waddling around on land and then viewing them, through the glass panels, swimming in their natural element. They become so graceful and acrobatic; it is like viewing a water ballet.

why is Evie all of a sudden pictured as a shrinking violet, ignorant of the most basic facts about the country she travels to? She’s worked in NGOs before, building shelters in Haiti. Is this turning into a teenage romance a la twilight, where strong men protect weak women and tell them about the world? “Oh Evie, didn’t you know…?” “Oh Arnold how amazing! Is there anything you don’t know?”

My wife would say the Evie knows perfectly well what she’s doing…

kd1sq’s comment sounds reasonable – for a younger woman. But Evie’s old enough to past that nonsense, and so is Arnold. Thus, my inner self is busy yelling, “Oh come on, Evie, even I knew there were penguins in South Africa!”I admit it might be a surprise to actually see them, though.

One generally associates penguins with COLD areas. So, yes, seeing them on the beach might seen to be hallucination.

Until now, I didn’t know there are penguins in South Africa

Please don’t judge me but I too didn’t know there are penguins in South Africa. I haven’t been living under a rock or anything. I just never learned that. I never crossed this topic at all while studying or talking to people. You learn something new everyday. Now I know. :)

Also, Jan is leading us the readers through this strange (to some of us, anyway) land.

I didn’t know there were penguins there, but considering how close to the South Pole the Cape is, it’s not surprising.

I knew there were penguins in South America, not sure I was fully aware that they were in Africa too.

Me too Evie.

I’m college educated and in a professional position and I didn’t know there were penguins in South Africa.

Note that the Cape of Good Hope is at about 34 degrees South. In the US, the NC/SC border is about the same distance north. Also, it is currently summer in South Africa. Penguins are not exclusively cold weather creatures.

Intuitively it is not obvious at all that there would be penguins in South Africa.  We are taught that penguins are creatures from the Antarctic, and contrary to what others have stated here South Africa is very far away from the South Pole. In fact, the southernmost point in South Africa is Cape Agulhas which is located at a latitude of a little less than 35º South. To put it in context, that is the same latitude as Punta del Este, Uruguay. And in the Northern Hemisphere, Los Angeles is at 34º N, and Memphis is just above 35º N. Also, Kabul, in Afghanistan, is at 34.5º N, as is Hiroshima in southern Japan. Also, Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Africa just across from Gibraltar is actually a little further north at almost 35º N. So, we can take home three lessons from this:1) Geography can be very deceiving.2) Both Africa and South America are much further North than we believe, and South Africa is actually closer to the Equator than we would have thought.3) We were completely mislead about penguins and their habitats when we went to school.

I guess I an being a spoil sort but when Evie is back home with her family, does Arnold have other friends visit?

The Cape of Good Hope is not all that far South. It is at latitude 34° – farther from the South Pole than North Texas is from the North Pole. Note that Cape Agulhas is actually the Southernost point in Africa, at just less than 35°S.

There are few things in this world that smell as bad as penguins. it’s like they convert everything they eat to ammonia.

I’m sooo glad that Jan is continuing to focus on Evie’s trip to South Africa to visit Arnold! At least I think that’s the plan! … they’re just “visiting” right?! ;)

There are penguins as far north as the Galapagos!Penguin Range