Before setting foot on the Falklands, the only thing I really knew about them was that there had been a war between Argentina and England over their possession in the early eighties. Being Uruguayan, with a very similar culture to Argentina, I had been naturally inclined to support the Argentine motto "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" (Malvinas-the Spanish name of the islands- are Argentine).

I had been a child at the time and, thought I sort of rooted for my Argentine brothers, and nobody liked the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (the iron lady), I was completely unaware of how the Argentine dictatorship was using the war to divert attention from human rights violations in the country, and killing thousands of young men in the process.

Argentine director Tristan Bauer made a fantastic film about the horrors and futility of that war called Iluminados por el fuego (Blessed by fire).

When you visit a place whose sole association in your mind is a past war, you can´t help but look around and imagine how it was like when bombs were exploding and soldiers were running around aimlessly. When I descended from the tender boat that took me from a cruise ship called INFINITY to the Falkland islands, what I saw bore no traces of that violent past.

This was a quiet garden, where everyone spoke British English as well as Spanish, people lived in harmony,and the only reminder that Brits had won that terrible and bloody war were the flags set atop some of the houses, which were red and blue instead of sky blue and white.

Another thing I didn´t know about the Falklands is that they were a natural reserve of penguins of different kinds, emperors and gentoo, king penguins and Magellanic ones. Of course, I had learnt about it as I cruised around the tip of South America, visiting beautiful Tierra del Fuego and the southern coast of Chile. There was no question then that I HAD to see the penguins.

I hadn´t booked a tour, so I found out that you could actually pay something like $7 for a van that made regular trips to a penguin beach..I only had to wait for five minutes, so that worked out pretty well. When I get into this kind of vans or taxis in an unknown place, I always try to strike conversations with the local drivers, as this is one of the best ways to learn about what the places are really like.

Our driver spoke perfect Spanish and English, which reminded me of another beautiful and conetsted territory I had had the pleasure of seeing a couple of years before, namely, Gibraltar.The man was proud to be sort of British, and he seemed to think that the conflict had been a really stupid and unnecesary war. As we drove by the side of low hills, he pointed out that there had been battles there. I imagined those Argentineans, almost teenagers, scared to death, holding cheap outmoded weapons that couldn´t compete with the Brits´ armament, hiding behind the hills, cursing their fate as they watched their friends blow up in the blaze of a grenade. It was hard to imagine that, on seeing the clear blue skies and the quiet roads.

We also passed some squeletons of ships, still standing in what looked like a pond, which may have been connected to the ocean once, and there was some whispering about pirates.

When we arrived at the penguin beach, I was completely in awe of the scenery. The longest half-moon shaped beach spread before my eyes. The sands were so white that they looked like snow, the water was a perfect blue. The beach reminded me of Hawaii, only, where there should have been surfers and a swarm of tourists, there were only penguins.

We were high up, the beach lay below us, and the area was roped so that people wouldn´t get close to the penguins. I had my video camera with me, so I zoomed in on the penguins from afar and watched them for a very long time.

I had never devoted so much thought to penguins, but I have to say that they appeared to me to be these awfully clever almost human-like creatures. I watched a penguin go up to another one, with that funny endearing walk of theirs, ask him if he wanted to join him for a swim, I saw the other one agree and I then watched them both dive in in utter pleasure. Their social behavior was incredible. They were in groups, they would play together, walk together, one would be alone and seeking company, some groups would ignore him, until finally one would accept him. It was just mesmerizing to simply observe them.

I know that some people had taken tours where they could actually pet the penguins, but I liked my day just as it was. I preferred to let the penguins roam free and be themselves, unintruded, so we could watch them be, as they naturally were.

Although this was December and winter in the Falklands, the sun was shining bright and there was not one cloud in sight. I remember I sat up on a rock and let the sun shine on me for a long time as I observed the penguins. It was windy at times and it got a bit cold when a cloud finally covered the sun.

Fortunately, there was a coffe shop by the side of the beach, which was actually an old bus where regular seats had been removed to give way to small tables and checkered tablecloths. I warmed my body up with a delicious hot chocolate there, and it was just one of those moments, looking at the beauty that surrounded me, feeling how the tasty chocolate warmed up my body, I had a distinct feeling that this had been a perfect day in the Falklands, Malvinas, or whatever people wanna call them.

NOTE: Falkland Penguins are in danger due to fishing practices. IN 2002 100,000 died of starvation. You can adopt a penguin here.

This is a guest post written by Veronica Pamoukaghlian, who has a travel blog at thewanderlife.com
A blog from the heart, from a restless traveler.

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