Argentina & Ecuador 2024

  We came up to El Chalten on a bus this morning.  It was very relaxing and the views from the upstairs windows were excellent.  There was a half-way stop at Hotel la Leona where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are rumoured to have stayed on their way to Chile. On the journey we saw a lot of rheas and guanacos.  Sadly the guanacos don't always make it over the farmers' fences and we saw quite a lot of dead ones hanging over the barbed wire.  We also saw quite a few condors. El Chalten is a trekking town with lookouts, mountains, lakes and glaciers to walk to.  We did a walk to a lookout this afternoon and with bright sunshine were able to get excellent views of Mt Fitz Roy and a few of the glaciers. The river that runs through the town is also Fitz Roy River.  We're looking forward to doing some more trekking tomorrow provided the weather is not too wet.  Today was dry but SO windy! This is the Hotel de Leona next to the Leona River. The landsc...

  Today we visited the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares NP.  It was spectacular!  It sounded like a rifle shot when a piece fell off the front of the ice.  The colour in the icebergs was unbelievable.  The crevices were a really deep pure blue. All the walking tracks are metal boardwalks to protect the vulnerable landscapes and to keep people safe.  There were lots of people but everyone could get a good look.  We also saw a condor soaring overhead.  Not many birds but hey, you can't always have everything! The original national park's office and the new one below.   The red flower is a close relative of our Australian Waratah. The blue in the icebergs was stunning.

  We flew this morning north west from Ushuaia to El Calafate and have spent this afternoon at Laguna Nimez, a lagoon next to Lago Argentina - the largest lake in Argentina.  The list of species and lifers is growing.  We are walking our feet off! We have a new taxi driver friend, Ruben, who has offered to take us wherever we desire.  We'll miss Ermindo, our taxi driver in Ushuaia.  Yesterday, when he couldn't come and get us from Lago Esmeralda, he sent our picture to his friend and organised for him to come and get us.  All our negotiations are done in Spanish either spoken or written in my note book.  It's going well so far. If you look closely you'll see flamingos Many other birds here including two different blue billed ducks Lago Argentina - very big!

  Today we did the trek up to Lago Esmeralda (Emerald Lake).  It is about 9 km return, steep and rocky in places and quite muddy.  The forest stretches were very quiet - we hardly saw a bird - and there was no understorey plants.  The open stretches were much more interesting and the views of rocky mountains, snow and glaciers were again spectacular. Some old infrastructure on the walk.  There were newer boardwalks as well over some vulnerable areas. Introduced beavers are wrecking habitats by building dams and flooding areas that shouldn't be flooded so trees are dying.  The government can't seem to decide whether to make them a tourist attraction or treat them as a pest and get rid of them., The water in the river coming down from the lake was COLD. I wouldn't call the lake emerald coloured, more pale turquoise. Still working on the selfie taking.  That's the end of the glacier that fills the lake behind us. Probably a Patagonian fox ( Zorro sp ), cl...

  Sunday we went on a cruise along the Beagle Channel so that we would see the penguins.  We saw lots of other interesting things too including a pod of Sei whales and huge numbers of Black-browed Albatross. The first stop on the 5 hour cruise is this lighthouse which is billed as the most southerly in the world or the lighthouse at the end of the world. The penguins were Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins.  Unfortunately we didn't see King Penguins though they are often seen on this little island.  Steve has better pics - I'll add them later. Today we were able to see the many glaciers around Ushuaia.  Most of Thursday's snow has melted and we could see the rivers of ice. There are so many cruise ships in el Puerto de Ushuaia, mostly heading for Antarctica.  This huge Princess line ship would have done a cruise down the east coast of South America There are also quite a few ocean going yachts. This is Steve's pic of Magellanic penguins. We saw South American S...

  On Saturday we went trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park.  It was a fairly arduous 8 km walk along the shore of a little bay that runs into the Beagle Channel and through fairly steep and heavily wooded areas.  The walk starts at Fin del Mundo - the End of the World - post office.  There was so much to see - it took about 6 hours including stops for a morning snack and lunch.  There was no chance of a siesta!  The lake is stocked with trout.  There were many people fishing. Not a lot of fungus but I liked the few we saw. The shellfish were numerous in each of the little stony beaches along the shoreline Patches of blue sky and still a bit of snow on the hills This rock shows the energy in glaciers Too many great views to capture - this is looking back to the post office at the End of the World. The forests are quite different from ours - no eucalypts!! - but lots of beech ( Nothofagus sp )  just like in Tasmania. A few different edible be...

  Yellow-billed Teal Upland Goose Thorn-tailed Rayodito Southern Lapwing South American Tern Rufous-collared Sparrow Rufous-chested Dotterel Red Shoveller Patagonian Sierra Finch Monk Parrot Kelp Goose Grey-flanked Cinclodes Dolphin Gull Crested Duck Crested Duck Cattle Tyrant Brown-headed Gull Brown-headed Gull Austral Thrush American Mink (introduced pest)