MUNGO EATS Latin America

Yesterday was a “bird” day.  It all started with flamingoes feeding at Laguna Amarga.  Now, we have seen flamingoes before, many times, but they are still fun to see and I thought I would try out the “super zoom” on the camera to see what it could do. 

Not bad…not bad.

As we left Torres de Paine, we saw a bunch of birds congregated around a newly dead thing, likely a sheep.  As we drove closer, most of them flew away (actually it turns out that a cyclist had stopped and was walking towards the dead thing and scared away all the birds).  There were many hawk type birds (called Caracara), a large eagle,

and half a dozen even larger birds.  Kevin and I looked at each other and at the same moment, realized that these “even larger birds” were Andean condors.  These HUGE birds have a wingspan of 2.5 metres, and we  have been itching to see one since we got here.  In fact, just a few days ago I mentioned that I was sad that I hadn’t seen one yet.  Well, here were at least 5!!   Of course, the kids were not looking out the windows and did not see the condors.  We decided to stop at the side of the road and see if they came back to feed.  After waiting for 5 minutes, we decided that they were going to take their sweet time coming back.  They had flown to a small hill and were sunning themselves.  The kids and I decided to try walking towards them, to see if we could get a better look at them.  It turns out condors are not too afraid of people either.  The kids walked almost all the way up to them, before the silly birds decided to fly away.   I guess there is no need to be afraid of a person you can almost stare eye to eye with.

So there you have it.  Now I have seen a condor as well.  I don’t think too many people can say they have walked right up to a group of these amazing birds.  Another great experience!

We spent last night  and today in El Calafate.  This is another town that would not exist except for tourism.  It is the jumping off point  to see the famous Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park and that is where we will be heading tomorrow.  Mungo is allowed to “see” the glacier with us tomorrow.  He is not allowed in to the hiking trails at the north end of the park though, so we will be hiking alone again.  I don’t think we will have to hide him though, since I think the trails start right at the town site of El Chalte’n.  So be ready for some more amazing mountain pictures.