The Magellan penguin named Jinjin is a resident of the Argentine and Chilean coasts, however, every year he swims to sunny Brazil to express gratitude to Joao, who saved his life. Joao is 71 years old and he works with a bricklayer in a small village near Rio de Janeiro and he found him ten years ago when Jinjin was lying on the beach. The baby penguin got into an oil slick and an oil film of fuel covered its plumage.
It would seem that nothing could save him and the end of the bird is near. But Joao took the baby penguin home and began to clean the feathers from the oil, oil film, fed with fresh fish so that Jinjin gained strength and got stronger. A few days later, he wanted to set the penguin free, but the baby became so attached to Joao that he didn’t even want to leave. He lived for almost a year with the man, after he changed his feathers, and then disappeared abruptly.
Joao did not expect to see the penguin again, however, a couple of months later, Jinjin appeared again. He swam to the boat on which his savior went fishing, escorted him home and again stayed with him for several months. And this has been going on for quite a long time, nine years. Jinjin comes to visit Joao and stays from the beginning of summer until the end of winter, and then leaves, most likely to Patagonia.
