La palabra argentina "Tranquillo"

It has become a personal quest to find "Argentina tranquilla". Vance does not think it exsits but Lesley remains optimistic.

examples:

1. Tranquillo in Chascomus. We have been staying with our friends Gustavo and Carina in a quiet town south of Buenos Aires. It is a friendly, sleepy town with one exception. Our first night, we go to bed early becuase we were weary from travel. In bed by 9, but at exactly 10 PM, the volunteer fire brigade test their sound equipment, I mean every night at 10. The timing is more accurate than the atomic clock in Ottawa. These sirens start the dogs bartking incessantly. See also points 2 and 3 as regards dogs.

2. Tranquillo: Camping in the small village of M. we find the lcoal camp grounds and the owner says "yes, it is a very quite town" "si moy, moy tranquillo!". We set up our tent and within a half hour, the town dogs begin to bark and bark and bark. They really do bark all night. The local karate club practiced at the camp ground while we ate our supper. Yes moy trnaquillo. Lesley gets a good night sleep none the less.

3. Tranquillo: We camp beside the river in Tilcara. we set up our tent and within a half hour the dogs begin to bark, and bark and bark. They bark all night. The highway we realize is on the other side of the river. Vance hears traffic and airbrakes of transport trucks all night. Lesley gets a good nights sleep, wakes up rested only to find a red-eyed monster ready to sacrifice all dogs within a 30 km radius.

4. Tranquillo: We camped beside a river at the entrance to Callilegua National Park, there is no one else around, not one person. The night is quiet but we are awaken at 7:00 am to the sound of heavy machinery building a bridge across the river. Even Lesley lost sleep this night but none the less gets up to watch birds.

5. Tranquillo: Tilcara and the region is a truly wonderful part of Argentina. The local word of the nightspot for traditional music is "pena". They are usually cozy places with great local talent, and in this region, especially andino trad! After a great BBQ in the tranquillo camping ground, we make it to the pena around 10 PM. This is the usual early time for a show or supper in Argentina. Not in Tilcara, we hear one song and that's it. Bar was tranquillo.

6. Tranquillo. True tranquility is possible in Argentina. You have to rent a car and specifiy only one requirement: that the CD player works. We did this in Salta. The first CD inserted was mangled and scratched by the CD player. The following 10 days driving around in the Quebrada de Humahuaca and Q. de Cafayate were simpy tranquillo.

7.tranquillo: When discussing tranquillo with a friend here in Argentina, he said with out missing a beat, "we are tranquillo in our minds." Claro!

Disclaimer

1. Although this blog is published by both Vance and Lesley, the opinions expressed here in may not reflect the opinions of both persons.

2. All facts published in this blog may not in fact be facts. Please verify all facts contained in this blog before quoting as fact.

Iguazú

Another day, another bottle of wine, another natural wonder. Ahhh life is good.

Iguazú is one of those places where the world meets. You can hear every language and you can see every type of person here. We have all come for the same thing to view the spectacular falls. I don’t know so much about the falls like how much water goes over in a day or how large they are. I have been enjoying my trip too much to read up or ask too many questions. I did ask one question though, “has anyone ever gone over the falls in a barrow or walked a tight rope over the falls?” I only got strange looks and an uncertain ‘no’.

Vance planned this part of the vacation and I was happy just to go along with what he had planned and I looked forward to seeing the birds of the area. I laughed histarically when upon entering the park the attendant said "Chuck Norris!, Pero mas gordo". It´s been a while since someone called Vance Chuck. Vance was insulted, I wonder if Chuck would be.

We walked around the park which is very well organized, the most organized area of Argentina in my experience. It has to be to handle the number of visitors to the park. We took an exciting boat ride under the falls which completely drenches everyone, we walked the trails, rode the small train, looked at the birds and lizards and coatis. Finally we walked out to the Garganta del Diablo and I was absolutely blown away! I don’t think I have ever seen such a beautiful sight as I did yesterday staring down into the falls.

The falls are horseshoe shaped and the volume of water pouring down is immense. You cannot see the bottom of the falls for the mist that rises up from below and creates a perfect rainbow below us. The Great Dusky Swifts of Iguazú are everywhere, hundreds fill the air, the mist and the water, flying in circles, then in streams, in unison then haphazardly. I imagine that entry into paradise must look like this, rainbows, mist and birds to great you, what troubled me was I was gazing down into the devil´s throat.

Cafayate

Rain in the cloud forest cut our trip a day short. The road turned to a slick mud that caused our wee car to slip and slide. On those mountain roads with drops within inches, we were afraid for our lives! We tried to warn other drivers of the dangers but they did not understand us. They spoke only their native language. We realized that they were likely proficient in these conditions but put them on the ice and snow of Canada and watch out!

We headed south again in what turned out to be another beautiful day with clear blue skies and a plus 30 temp. We decided to head to Cafayate Argentina’s other wine region. Once again we were in awe of the spectacular scenery! Mountains mainly of a reddish mud but green with vegetation. The lush river valley below was bright green as the spring rains had refreshed the area recently. Again, every turn in the road brought something new to see. Rounding one corner we came to Casa del loros the air was full of burrowing parrots and the cliffs full of holes which the parrots use as nesting sites. Fascinating!

Cafayate was a total delight! We spent the day visiting the wineries, tasting and testing the regions best. This region is known for Torrontes a special white wine that is fruity and citrus with a delightfully refreshing aroma and taste. We sampled a lot of it. Wandering around the town we discovered a Peña (live local music) and had one of the most memorable nights of our trip.

We were a little unsure how it was going to end because it began a little unusually. We arrived late but were the only ones in the restaurant. The music was to begin at 9 pm and it was already 9:30. “yes, yes the music begins at 9!” we were assured. Finally at 10 someone puts on a CD. We had asked if there was music but not whether the music was live. We were worried.

They did not have the wine we ordered so our young waiter showed us the wine selection and we choose one. He handed the bottle to Vance and promptly disappeared. We sat at our table and looked at the sealed bottle thirstily for many many minutes. Vance finally went looking for him to ask him to open the bottle. No corkscrew could be found in the place and the young fellow left to borrow or buy one. When he finally returned he proceeded to stab at the cork (the cover intact) in a way that demonstrated he had no idea what he was doing. Could this be? Could it be that our waiter in a wine region had never opened a bottle of wine before? It was hilarious actually. Vance demonstrated how to open a bottle of wine, asked for wine glasses and finally we are able to begin our evening.

Our appetizer nver arrived, potatoes came before our meat, we had to take the plates off another table, our dishes were never cleared, our second bottle of wine was opened like the first, but the food was delicious, two other couples arrived, the live music eventually started and the evening turned out wonderfully and ended late. Two fellows on guitar and singing local traditional songs of travel and family, love and loss, it was fantastic. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but they eventually got me on stage to play and sing a Canadian folksong and we realized that we were not the only Canadians in the place. By the end of the evening we were all friends and singing and drinking wine together. It was a really fun night. As for our charming young waiter, he was singing and enjoying the evening with the rest of us, and I hope that one day he will eventually find his calling, for it surely is not waiting tables.

Calilegue National Park

After the rains of the desert we head to the cloud forest of Calilegue National Park. Our guidebook describes Calilegue as having amongst the highest biodiversity in the country. I was excited to do some serious bird watching and as we drove into the park a flock of toucans landed in a tree in front of us.


We set up camp overlooking the river surrounded by trees. Dusk brought many sounds and the biodiversity was more apparent in the dark than the light. The air was filled with a cacophony of hums, buzzes, trills, chirps, whistles, screeches, squawks, whirs, beeps, burps and farts. Well at least the last two noises I knew the origin (Vance!). I decided to go for a walk as dusk set in to see if I could spot any night jars, frog mouths, goat suckers or owls. As I walked alone down the mountain road with all those noises surrounding me, I saw two shining green eyes in the woods. Watched them intently and was surprised when only one eye began slowly moving away from the other. What type of cross-eyed animal could this be? As it moved across the road in front of me I realized it was fireflies! Vance later caught one and they are about two inches long with two large spots of light. They move slowly and brightly around the forest.

In addition to the beautiful plush-caped jays with their blue eyebrows that give them a sympathetic expression, we were visited that evening by agouti (medium sizes rodent) and a grey fox that lurked in the darkness near our camp hoping for scraps of food. Vance cooked his now famous lemon chicken on the open fire and after a bottle of delicious red wine; we slept to the sounds of the sub-tropical forest.

While you were all suffering from the cold of a Canadian winter, Vance and I suffered the heat, humidity and mosquitoes of the cloud forest. It was so hot (37 degrees) that during the heat of the day we decided to explore the mountain roads via air conditioned car. As we climbed the switchback mountain roads we stopped and bird watched and simply enjoyed the astounding scenery. The forest stretched to the horizon in various green punctuated with the colours of the flowering trees of the spring. Finally we came to a rickety bridge that crosses a small mountain river. Parrots were flying overhead and a few people had gathered to talk and swim in the fresh cool pool. Vance and I stopped to join them and were soon in animated conversations about our adventures and plans. After a swim in the cold refreshing water we were invited to dinner by a local family.

Francisco and his family were very generous in their hospitality. We enjoyed a wonderful evening of conversation, asado and wine. Their house was lovely with a special room on the back for entertaining that had an asado (large grill with open fire) built in. They also showed us their horno a type of traditional outdoor clay oven used to bake bread, empanadas etc. Pamela the daughter proclaimed that her father was an expert at asado and we had to agree the food was plentiful and delicious! It was a very special evening for us. Once again Argentina hospitality is beyond compare!

Salta and Jujuy

Vance and I are now in the northern provinces of Salta and Jujuy. Wow! The scenery here is spectacular! Every turn of the road brings a different view of mountains sculpted by wind, rain, and time into rugged and remote pillars, reminiscent of pipe organs. Hillsides and cliffs are dotted with cactus and other spiny plants wherever they can get a foothold. After meager rains, the desert in bloom is a brief treat to behold and we are fortunate to experience it during our passing visit. While cactus flowers add sporadic yellows and fuchsias to the landscape, it is the layers of exposed sedimentary rock that provide magnificent colours to the area. The region is a world heritage site because of the small communities of Quechua people scattered throughout the mountains who maintain traditional ways of life and the Spanish colonial architecture of the more accessible towns.

Our destination of Iruya requires a 2 and a half our car ride along dry riverbeds and gravel switchback roads with steep mountain cliffs to a maximum of 4000 meters. The journey is a hair raising but the scenery is breathtaking, the coca we are chewing helps us with our nerves and altitude and occasionally there is a young by who seemed to walk out of nowhere to tell us we are on the right path and ask for money to by a bit of bread form where, I have no idea. We finally reach Iruya a gorgeous pre-Columbian village of narrow and steep cobblestone roads and rock and adobe buildings. We are welcomed by a spectacular full double rainbow that stretches across the mountain tops.

We spend the next day walking in the mountains and encounter people on their way to the weekend market. Some have been walking for 8 hours but all are friendly and willing to speak with us. The women in particular maintain a traditional dress with wide brim felt hats, colourful shawls and dresses. One old woman intrigued by my binoculars stopped to talk with me. I will always remember the life and depth in her eyes as we spoke. She seemed to transgress age and time. Her family has lived in this remote area for generations and centuries. They have experienced and survived the Inca and Spanish invasions, and now the Canadians!

Patagonia

The adventure continues in Patagonia. Vance and I and the Somoza´s meet up in Trelew in Patagonia. My first question was what defines Patagonia? I thought this wasn´t a hard question to answer but I had asked a number of different people and aside from inciting lively discussions on geophysical, ecoregions, tourim marketing, political boundries etc, there was no clear consensus. The most likely explanation is that Patagonia is the former territory of the Patagon people, so named for their exceptionally large feet.

Patagonia is actually a very large area covering several provinces extending from the Pampas to north of Tierra del Fuego. It conjers images of glaciers, mountains, forest and other rugged landscapes but here in Penninsula Valdes, the landscape is arid, flat, dusty, covered in prickley shrubs in a landscape that goes on and on and on.. The attraction of this particular area is the Penninsula itself which juts into the Atlantic Ocean and is a world heritage site because of the abundance of wildlife.

The coastline offers spectacular views alternating between miles of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. We went whale watching one day and were impressed by the Southern Right whales feeding just off the coast. This is the tail end of the season for whales but we werer not disappointed as only mothers and babys left to feed in the rich warm waters. Unlike the endangered Northern Right Whale of Canada's East coast who's total population is dwindling between 250 and 300, the Southern Right Whale is increasing by about 7% a year! Amazing for such a large mammal. Hunted to within about 3000 individuals the population is now aorud 15,000. Still a far cry from the historical high of 150,000 but positive non-the-less.

Not all is rosy, however. Within the last 7 years due to a high kelp gull population and decreased natural food sources, some of the gulls have developed an alternative feeding strategy. They attack the backs of the whales with their bills and cause small leisons. They continue to pick at these leisons creating wounds which they feed on, literally eating the whales alive! Astounding! This parastic behaviour has caused the whales to alter their feeding habits and some have developed postures such as arched backs as they try to evade the gulls. Biologists are studing this problem intently. They have two main questions 1) Is it only a select few gulls who have developed this strategy and are causing all the problems? If they are removed from the population will this curtail the problem? 2) Are the gulls damaging healthy skin or are they attracted to exsisting skin irritations such as small leisons, blisters or other signs of diseased skin? If this is the case there may be a larger problem for the whales. It was very interesting to see and learn about the whales.

The next day we carried on and visited the giant, stinky beach slugs otherwise known as elephant seals. The males are absolutely enourmous! The females quite a bit smaller. All were loitering on the beach rocks impervious to the fierce patagonian winds and oblivious to our gauwking and squawking. We did see a couple of young males sparing as training for later matchs to win lordship over the harims of females.

More seafood and more wine was on the menu in Patageonia. I've never had such plump, tender, tasty shrimp as here. Kingclip, ratfish, squid to rival the squid of South Africa and pulpitos, mmmm, the pulpitos were supurb! I never cared much for octopus although I have optomistically tried it many times. Always too chewy and just not to my taste, but the small octopus here are amazing! I felt a bit bad about eating so many of them. They are such charming and charismatic animals when live.

Stay tuned for photos. They are difficult to post from these internet cafe computers.

Hope all is well at home.
Lesley and Vance

Since arriving in Ushuia, I have been on a few excursions. The first was a canoe trip down a serpintine river to the Beagle Channel. Each bend in the river revealed new birds, Upland Geese, Creasted Ducks,South American Terns, Spectacled ducks, Chilean Swallows ... The weather was lovely and the day was grand. It was silent and calm and wonderful to be in nature. The river ran through forest, and bogs and pasture. We landed near an outlet in to the Beagle where a boat picked us up and we passed by the pingüino colony where we saw two species nesting on the island, Magellanic and Gentoo. An interesting fact about penguins is that every single one of them is photogenic.

Our boat traveled on and we landed on Gable Island where we hiked around the island. The forest here is very interesting. There are only three species of trees yet the pant life seems quite diverse otherwise with many grasses, shrubs, ferns, epiphites, mosses and fungi. We tasted the Indian bread fungus. Small, round, appricote coloured balls protrude from the diseased bols of the trees. Mostly rubbery and tasteless, I found it quite fresh and pleasent in my mouth. The local endigenous people ate them and some local people still do, but mostly you see the wooden bols fashoned into tourist souvieniers in the local gift shops.

Another night, another crab dinner. This time in a light wine sauce. The table next to me ordered a full crab in the shell. It looks delicious but I´m not envious. I don´t have to break into mine. I was not disappointed to learn that I could only order wine by the bottle here and not by the glass. I´m having such fin in Ushuia!!

Today I hiked in the National park. I already knew that Argentina had one of the best developed park systems in the world. I was impressed by this. Today I learned that all (most?) of their parks are on the boarder with Chile and were established as a sovernety strategy and not as a means to protect their natural envoronment. Although that has been a resulting benefit, I continually grow disallusioned the more I learn about politics.

Hiking in the park today I spotted 2 Magellanic Woodpeckers. Hiking through the snow, I thought of all of you at home in the november weather. I´m sure the weather is similar here. Tomorrow I have another exciting day planned. I will take a taxis out to the garbage dump. Apperently it is one of the best birding locations in the area.

On tuesday I head North to Penninsula Valdes where I will meet up with Vance. It´s closing on three weeks since I saw him last. Some honeymoon, but it keeps the marriage fresh. We will spend the next month traveling together. From what he tells me, Vance has been working hard and is deserving of a holiday. We will travel to Salta, Jujuy and Iguaszu together before returning home for Christmas.

Fin del Mundo

Ushuia, Tierra del Fuego, el fin del mundo is a blink of civilization in a vast and literal sea of wilderness. The town is beautifully set between snow and glacier covered mountains and the Beagle Channel, protected from the wild weather of Cape Horn by a multitude of islands covered in magical forests. It really is a special place. You must come.



Last night I enjoyed some of the worlds best crab in a small resturant at the southern edge of the world. As I ate my meal and looked around at the other patrons, my mind wandered to the hitchhikers guide to the galexcy and the resturant at the end of the universe. There seemed to be many similarities. Although (mostly) of the same species, there was a lot of diversity of appreacnce, demeaner and language at the various tables. One thing in common, almost all of us were eating king crab.

Summertime in Tierra del Fuego

I can´t write about Tierra del Fuego without first mentioning the weather. The weather here is crazy, like nothing I have experienced before. The Newfoundland expression " if you don´t like the weather, wait 5 minutes" comes to mind but in Tierra del Fuego you better like weather, weather of all kinds. I have determined that rather than wait for good weather to head to the beach for field work it is better to wait for the bad weather. By the time you arrive at the beach the weather will have changed. It may begin by sweltering in the bright sunshine but just as you get your clothes adjusted, and the sunsceen slathered on it will begin to snow or hail or rain or sleet. Sometimes all at once sometimes in quick succession sometimes intersperced with sunny moments. Beautiful sunny skies with pelting rain or sleet. Any combination is acceptable and expected. The only constant is the relentles wind. Each gust brings a new weather system which create wonderfully dramatic and dynamic skies.
A classic moment was looking for birds in a snowstorm with Joaquín from Uruguay. He had never seen snow before. We had been in the sleet but it was the snow he wanted to experience. "Is this snow?! Is this snow?!". "Yes, yes look at the flakes!" I said, "it´s so white!" He was facinated and extreamly cold. Amuzing for a girl from Ottawa.

But it is the birds that bring me here, the Red Knots. I briefly wrote about their plite in my last enty. The population here in the area is about half of what it was last year and has been in steady decline for a few years now. Using a cannon net we orchastrated a catch of over 600 birds. In addition to the Knots, we also captured over 30 Hudsonian Godwits and about a dozen Sanderlings which we released unbanded. We released about half of the Knots unprocessed as well. We started processing the recaptures (previously banded and marked birds) about 120 in all from various locations and years. The oldest bird was originally banded in 1995 and is estiamated to be 14 or 15 years old. Flying back and forth from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego that many times is the equivalent of flying to the moon and halfway back to earth. These birds are really amazing!

We then fully processed 205 Knots. Processing involves banding, attaching colour bands and an orange flag (which indicates it was banded in Argentina), bill measurements, weight, age, moult classification, a cloacal swab for Avian Influenza testing and a blood sample for sexing and disease scan. Birds are then relaesed at the point of capture. I spent the rest of the week counting flocks of Knots, the number of banded birds and recording band combinations and flags when possible. My favoite part of the day would be when the tide is coming in and the birds are concentrated in around the waterline. We, the observers would be in amunst them. They knew we were there and were cautious but we could get very close with large numbers all around us. The diversity was impressive, knots, sanderlings, white rumps, godwits, wimbril, two banded plovers, dolphin gulls, kelp gulls, brown-headed gulls, magellanic oystercatcers and every so often a group of terns or a giant petrel would fly over head.

It has been a great experience and I am really happy to have been part of such a wonderful and talented international team from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, USA, Canada and New Zealand(well Allan Baker is from the ROM in Toronto but originally Kiwi, so this allows us an additional country). Thanks everyone for fun, music, and especially for your patience with my limited spanish. I actually understood you, Juan Pablo, when you said "Lesley entitedan nada!". ... It was a very complicated card game!

Tomorrow I am off to Ushuia, Fin del Mundo, for my next adventure. I promise to post photos from there.

The Ultimate South

Monday morning and I am off to Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. Vance is really envious. He has to stay in Chascomus and work. I tell him that I will be working too but he doesn't seem to believe that bird watching, capturing, banding and monitoring Red Knots is real work. Ahh life is good when work and pleasure are the same thing.

Although summer is approaching, the tempurature in Rio Grnade will be around 10 degrees on nice days with the nights dipping below zero.

The Red Knot is a shorebird that nests in the Canadian Arctic and winters in Tierra del Fuego Argentina. It is a long distance migrant covering almost 20,000 kms each year on a round trip. Now classified as endangered in Canada, the Red Knot population has experienced serious decline in the last few years. While reasons for the decline are not well understood, overharvest of horseshoe crab eggs as bait for the fishery in Delaware Bay is a major contributing factor.

Our work in Tierra del Feugo will monitor adults and young returning from the Arctic breeding grounds as well as sample for diseases such as Avian Influenza.

For more information on the Red Knot project check out the following link: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/08/red_knot_report.html

Gone to the lab

While Lesley was galoping around the highlands, I was, of course, slaving away in the lab. All is going very well actually. This is thanks to Gustavo´s great team, especially Carina and Fabian who help me daily. Went out looking for frogs the other night with expert frogologist Guillermo Natale. We observed 4 different species.. from very small to leopard frog size. Some have very peculiar breeding strategies. Went out with Pedro net fishing and we harvested 4 different species for a study on pollution in the local lake. Fun, well, this is fun, as are the great meals and parties we are having. Loads of exellent wine, oh, what will I do after I leave?

Last night we went to see a documentary produced by the students of the Universidad de San Martin. It was about the start of the major troubles between ther military junta of the mid-sixties and the many hundreds of university students and profs that were beaten, chased out of the country or ¨disapeared¨. This was the beginning of a very dark and violent period in Argentinain history. It was hard to understand the dialog (spanish) of people who lived through that period, but the film footage of the time was very graphic. Can you imagine a gang of fully armed soldiers walking into a Canadian university class and beating the prof nearly to death in front of the students? Can you imagine soldiers beating 20 year old female students to death? Again in plain view of hundreds. This is what happened. The following military government in the mid-seventies was the worse in history. More on that when I learn more about it.

The national, provincial and municipal elections were on Sunday. Christina Kirchner, senator and wife of the outgoing president, along with many of her colleagues were elected in a clear majority. This raises some controversies for sure. However, it was peaceful, and Argentina´s economy is for the moment stable. This is not the same country of the sixties and seventies decribed above. Some things can change for the better and we are happy to be here at this time.

Gone Gaucho

Mendoza is Argentina’s most beautiful province or so we have been told by many Mendozans. It is hard to dispute. The desert in bloom meets the Mendoza River flowing with the spring melt waters of the Andean snows. The hot desert air is refreshed by the cool breezes that drift down from the stunning snow covered peaks in the distance. Soaking in the views, breathing the fresh mountain air with a belly full of asado while drinking some of the worlds best red wines with good friends, well what could be better? I’ll tell you....

Gauchas Karen M. and Christine E. finally arrived and we headed of to the Andes for four days of riding Creole horses lead by authentic gauchos argentinos. It was a lesson in minimalism as we were told only to take what we were wearing and a warm jacket and sleeping bag. Diego repeated the phase "too much! too much! you don’t need it." After the initial shock that we would spend the next four days in the same socks and underwear, (sorry if this is too much information for you), we trekked our horses through the desert to the base of the pre-cordilleras, through very rough terrain covered with cactus and prickly shrubs. We made our way up the hills to our camping spot. The horses were unsaddled and released untethered to forage on what eatable plant matter they could find, while we disassembled our saddles made of layers of sheepskin and transformed them into warm and comfortable beds.

Before falling asleep under the Southern Cross, we built a huge fire and Daniel our guide prepared an asado feast (meat cooked over wood coals) of chorizo (sausage), bife de lomo (beef tenderloin) and chancho (pork). In this land of meat we try our best to get at least three servings of fruit a day, Malbec, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon.... That first night, a few extra copas were served up and drank by us thirsty trail-weary gauchas.

Mornings began with a refreshing drink from the cold mountain spring and a quick wash up in the stream while our hosts brought out their lassos and rounded up the horses. The terrain was unbelievably rough with steep ups and downs over stones, through rock fields, around boulders finally to reach an open Alpine meadow where we could gallop and play with our horses, then relax and enjoy the breathtaking views. The scenery was truly unbelievable, indescribable really. Should I even try? These few photos are an attempt to capture the astounding beauty of the area (coming soon).

Andean condors swooping low over us to satisfy their curiosity. Guanacos (llama-like animal), golden on the hill sides oblivious to our presence, a rare and elusive red fox bolts when he sees us round a corner.

After our final night in an Alpine hostel, singing and playing guitar and drinking the house dry and I mean we emptied every bottle and considered how the toilet bowl cleaner might go down, we went to bed at 5 am to rise at 8 and begin our final days ride. We directed our horses to a height of over 4000 m through snow and spring melt waters to the most spectacular 360 view yet. We could see Mendoza city in the distance.

Finally we made our decent and headed for home. Our group from Canada, Ireland, Australia, Israel and our course our Argentine guides shared a very special four days and created memories that will stay with us forever. I hope we will meet again someday to share more stories, songs and vino tinto!

Lesley´s bird list (up dated November 19, 2007)

Gentoo Penguin
Magellanic Penguin
Greater Rhea
Lesser Rhea
Spotted Nothura
White-Tufted Grebe
Pied-Billed Grebe
Great Grebe
Black-browed Albatros
Southern Giant Petrel
White-Chinned Petrel
Common Diving-Petrel
Neotropical Cormorant
Rock Cormorant
Kink Cormorant
Blue-eyed Cormorant
White-Necked Heron
Whistling Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Maguari Stork
Black-faced Ibis
Bare-faced Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoobill
Chilean Flamingo
Southern Screamer
Fulvous Whistling Duck
Coscoroba Swan
Black-Necked Swan
Kelp Goose
Upland Goose
Ashy-headed Goose
Creasted Duck
Spectacled Duck
Southern Wigeon
Yellow-Billed Pintail
Speckled Teal
Red Shovler
Silver Teal
Flightless Steamer Duck
Flying Steamer Duck
Brazilian Duck
Lake Duck
Masked Duck
Andean Condor
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle
White-tailed Kite
Bay-Winged hawk
Long-Winged Harrier
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Red-Backed Hawk (on nest)
Mountain Caracara
White-throated Caracara
Southern Crested-Caracara
Chimango Caracara
Apolmodo Falcon
American Kestral
Limpkin
Giant Wood-Rail
Red-Gartered Coot
White-winged Coot
Red-Fronted Coot
Common Gallinule
Spot-flanked Gallinule
Wattled Jacana
American Oystercatcher
Magellanic Oystercatcher
Blackish Oystercatcher
South American Stilt
Southern Lapwing
Two-Banded Plover
Collared Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Red Knot
Baird´s Sandpiper
Wihte-rumped Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Hudsonian Godwit
Common Snipe
Least Seedsnipe
Gray-Breasted Seedsnipe
Antarctic Skua
Dolphin Gull
Kelp Gull
Gray-Hooded Gull
Brown-hooded Gull
Franklin's Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Snowy-Crowned Tern (Sterna trudeaui)
Common Tern
South American Tern
Antarctic Tern
Large-billed Tern
Yellow-Billed Tern
Royal Tern
Picazuro Pigeon
Spot-Winged Pigeon
Rock Dove
Eared Dove
Picui Dove
White-tipped Dove
Monk Parakeet
Guira Cuckoo
Burrowing Owl
Scissor-tailed Nightjar
Andean Swift
Red-tailed Comet
Glittering-Bellied Emerard
Ringed Kingfisher
Field Flicker
Golden-Breasted Woodpecker
Magellanic Woodpecker
Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper
Narrow-billed Woodcreeper
Common Miner
Blackish Cinclodes
Dark-bellied Cinclodes
Bar-winged Cinclodes
Rufous Hornero
Thorn-tailed Rayadito
Chicli Spinetail
Tufted Tit-Spinetail
Freckle-Breasted Thornbird
White-throated Treerunner
Andean Tapaculo
Black-and-White Monjita
Gray Monjita
White Monjita
Fire-eyed Diucon
Ochre-naped Ground-tyrant
Dark-faced Groud-tyrant
Rufous-backed Negrito
Spectacled Tyrant
Cattle Tyrant
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Vermillion Flycatcher
Tufted Tit-tyrant
White-creasted Elania
Southern Martin
Gray-Breasted Martin
Brown-Chested martin
White-Rumped Swallow
Chilean Swallow
Blue and White Swallow
House Wren
Chalk-Browed Mockingbird
Patagonian Mockingbird
Creamy-Bellied thrush
Rufous-Bellied Thrush
Austral Thrush
Chiguango Thrush
Masked Gnatcatcher
Masked Yellowthroat
Red-Creasted Cardinal
Band-Tailed Seedeater
Yellow-bridled Finch
Grassland Yellow-Finch
Saffron Yellow-Finch
Greater Yellow-Finch
Band-tailed Sierra-finch
Gray-Hooded Sierra-finch
Patagonian Sierra-finch
Rufous-Collard Sparrow
Great Pampa-Finch
Hooded Siskin
Blach-chinned Siskin
Austral Blackbird
Screaming Cowbird
Shiny Cowbird
Bay-Winged Cowbird
Yellow-Winged Blackbird
Brown and Yellow Marshbird
Long-Tailed Meadowlark
White-Browed Blackbird
House Sparrow
Common Starling

¿Hables Español?

Getting by in Spanish is an interesting challange. I’m surprised by the number of people who speak very good English and by the many more who speak what they call “Spanglish” which is a mixture of the Spanish and English enough to be understood. This is my goal but I am not quite there yet. I speak more of what I have come to call Manglish – mangled Spanish with English. For example I went into the fruit and veg store early in my trip intending to buy some fruit for breakfast. I asked the shop keeper for “perros” (dogs) and he started barking and growling at me. Realising my error, I immediately said “¡No perros! ¡No perros!” “mi gustaria peras.. ¡peras¡” and pointed to the pears I wanted to buy.

Vance and I were having breakfast at our hotel in Capo Palonio recently. We wanted to ask for more jam and so we tried to think about what the word could be. I thought maybe it a variation of the word “preserves” maybe it is “preservativo” which I thought I had heard before. Vance stoped me before I asked the waiter for “condoms” for my toast!

The accents in Spanish are also very important. We frequently see signs at tourist destinations that say “Bienvenido todo los años” which basically means “open all year”. Without the tilde on the “n” visitors with my level of Spanish might interpret it to read “welcome to all assholes”!

Encounters with Darwin

Darwin passed through Uruguay on his famous travels and there lingers some evidence of his presence. Sapito de Darwin (Darwin´s toad) Melanophyniscus montevidensis is a local endemic with a dwindleing population due to urbanization and land use conversion. Because we arrived in Uruguay in the rainy spring weather we were delighted by their songs and plentiful numbers in the dune pools of Cabo Polonio where we spent a few days on the coast.

I made another interesting connection to Darwin in while in Uruguay. I sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of Darwin! Vance has been try to sit on me ever since but I so far have refused. I just don´t like the idea of the chain being perpetuated through his lap.

Two local biologists Joaquín and Paulo from Aves Uruguay took me bird watching at Laguna La Roche an impressive brackish water lagoon that empties into the Atlantic. The area is rich in bird and other wildlife as a number of ecosystems intersect here including a huge dune system, wetlands, shrublands, fresh water lagoon, native grasslands in addition to the brackish lagoon, ocean and sea coast. We walked the grasslands which are the most important known wintering habitat of the Buff-Breasted Sandpiper a species that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and migrates to this very spot each year. Unfortunatley we did not see any that day. However, we were excited to spot a couple of juvenile Red Knots. The Red Knot also breeds in the Canadian Arctic and has been experiencing a stunning decline in the last decade. Aves Uruguay will begin monitoring the Red Knot in this location beginning next year with the help of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). I will meet Joaquín again next month in Tierra del Fuego where we will work with an international team surveying and monitoring the Red Knot on it´s wintering grounds.

Wonderful hospitality!

Life is busy in Chascomus. Vance is busy with his research and Lesley busy with Spanish lessons, bird watching and generally taking life easy. The generous hospitality of Carina, Catalina and Gustavo is enhancing our visit tremendously.

Gustavo cooked us a wonderful traditional meal in a tripod vessel made from a disk of the type that is used to plough the fields. A small fire is placed under and the meat slowly cooks. He prepared a dish of pork ribs with onions, beer and sugar which gave it a rich sweet sauce. Delicious!

This past weekend we all travelled to the sea coast to Mar del Plata. This seaside city is one of Argentina’s most popular beach destinations in the summer. Even on this early spring day there were lots of beach goers. However, only the hardiest would venture into the 10 degree South Atlantic Ocean.

On Sunday we went deep sea fishing. The sea was quite rough and I spent much of the day in the cabin trying to keep my breakfast down while Vance and Gustavo reeled in fish after fish. We caught 5 different species of fish and will feast for weeks on our days catch. Vance prepared us a wonderful fish dish last night that was so delicious it earned him a standing ovation from the diners.

From now on our schedule gets very busy. We travel to Buenos Aires for October 3-5, then home to Chacomus for the weekend before going to Uruguay for a week. When we return from Uruguay, I will meet my friend Christine in BA and we will then travel to Mendoza (the wine region) and meet Karen for a week of horseback riding, wine tasting and other fun and mischief.

Hello to everyone at home. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Love Lesley and Vance

First day!

Vance and I arrived safely in Argentina yesterday and are settling in with our hosts Gustavo, Carina and Catalina Somoza. Catalina, a charming six year old, has agreed to teach us Spanish in her free time.

We are staying is Chascomus which is a town of about 40,000 on a large lake about 1 ½ hours south west of Buenos Aries. http://www.chascomus.gov.ar/. The weather is very spring like with the leaves just starting to bud.

Nearly in Argentina

We are getting ready for 3 months in Argentina. Lesley will be busy birding in Tierra del Fuego and winetasting in Mendoza. Vance will be ion sabbatical in Chascomus working with El mono Somoza on fish reproduction research. More later.