Heading back soon, so what about Buenos Aires?

We are heading back to Bariloche on Monday for another two months.  So, seems like I should post about our return trip back in December!

Of course the Bariloche airport was still closed so we took a 21-h bus (full cama, of course) to Buenos Aires, arriving a day early for our flight just to be sure.   We had a nice hotel in the city center and spent a couple of days wandering semi-randomly in the city.  We ended up spending a fair amount of time in the Puerto Madero area (where there are various renovated warehouses on the waterfront) and the San Telmo neighborhood where there are lots of antique shops.  We had some good meals and the big city certainly was a big change from Patagonia.  One highlight was when we spied the coach of the champion Boca Juniors football (soccer) team in our hotel lobby.  At the end of the second day we headed to the airport for the long flight home.  Full pics at LINK.

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Chile, including Chiloe Island: Penguins, rain, and more rain.

We needed to renew our Argentina visas (which only last 90 d) so we headed over to Chile for a week or so, retracing some of my steps from long ago (1983) when I first saw the Chilean lake district and fell in love with Patagonia.  Our first night was in Puerto Montt, where we visited Angelmo to sample the famous seafood “curantos” dish I remembered from my first trip.  It was good this time but in 1983 it had a giant barnacle as a centerpiece!  We had intended to go first to Pumalin Park to the southeast but learned that the ferry you need to take was fully booked and not available for another five days.

So, we changed our plans and headed to Chiloe Island (visited by Darwin during his voyage of the Beagle), taking a short car ferry.  We spent two nights at the Chepu River Ecolodge, which was really great.  The rain let up long enough for what turned out to be the highlight of the entire Chile trip, a spectacular (but muddy) hike along the coast to the small penguin colony at  Ahuenco.  Along the way we passed a shipwreck along the beach.  It began to rain at the end of the hike and continued heavily for at least another 15 hours.  (Video from this hike later, I hope)  We had hoped to do some kayaking but instead just headed out to the town of Castro where we stayed in a very cool hotel (Palafitos 1326) which is in a restored “palafitos” (house on stilts, for which Chiloe is famous but most palafitos were destroyd by a tidal wave several decades ago).   The pictures show the famous Castro church, which is kind of a wreck on the outside but hand-crafted gorgeous alerce woodwork inside.  The next day we headed to Chiloe National Park to try a hike.  It was raining so we only had a short one.

After some more seafood dinners we had a second night at 1326 and then headed back towards the mainland, stopping at the charming town of Quemchi with its colorful boats.  Our destination was Puerto Varas, on the shores of Lake Lllanquihue.  I remembered this location vividly from my previous trip as it has spectacular views of the Osorno Volcano and the Calbuco Volcano.  That is, when it’s not raining.  Clouds prevented us seeing any of the volcanoes but we had a nice walk around town including the quirky museum of Pablo Fierro, who we met and from whom we bought a painting.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with a curantos (no turkey but it did have chicken!).  The next day it was raining but we headed for a drive around the lake, reaching Lago Todos de Santos and the amazing Salto (rapids) de Osorno; the volcano peeked out of the clouds for a few minutes.  We also had a damp walk up to La Cascada.

After a final night at P Varas hoping the clouds would lift (they didn’t), we headed back to Argentina over the Samone Pass, passing close to the Puyahue Volcano and the impacts (ongoing) of the Cordon Caulle eruption.  This included a view of Lake Puyahue itself (with huge amounts of floating pumice), a waterfall with massive amounts of ash and pumice, some small lakes 100% covered with pumice, and then a good overlook of our study lake, Lake Espejo.  All in all, a nice but damp trip.  We will be through Puerto Montt/Puerto Varas several times more (coming and going from USA and coming and going to Torres del Paine) so we still have hope of seeing the beautiful scenery.

Pics HERE

Magellanic penguins on Chiloe Island

Salta (5): Down from the puna and back to the city.

(Here’s the last set of pics and narrative from our long trip to Salta.)

Following our big trip up to Socompa we headed back to Salta, following the same incredible road.  We were able to stop in the “Colorado” area and took some amazing pictures.  Along the way we saw more vicuna and then some (likely domesticated) llamas.  In the pictures you will see an ironic one depicting the “shrine” for Pachimama (goddess of safe travel in the puna) with the pick-up truck in the background getting its flat tire changed.  Back in Salta we spent two more nights at the La Selva Lodge in San Lorenzo to clean the dust off ourselves (and the final ticks?) and a little birdwatching.  Then we moved to a hotel in the city center and enjoyed Salta’s colorful churches (one of which contains a sign admonishing visitors NOT to use holy water for witchcraft) and a visit to a museum in the former home of Pajarito Velarde (one of Salta’s most famous and flashier citizens and author of various well-known salsas and tangos).  The highlight of the trip was a visit to the ‘High Altitude Anthropology Museum’ which displayed one of the mummified Inca children that was found at >20,000 feet on one of the volcanoes we had passed by two days earlier.  But no pictures were allowed.  We also had a fun evening at a “peña”, sort of a dinner theater with Argentinian folk music and dancing (I got a chance to don a gaucho hat and join in) .  We then flew to Mendoza and boarded the overnight bus back to Bariloche.    Full pics HERE.

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Salta (4): To “the most remote place in Argentina”, and then further.

After a short night’s rest we packed into the pickup with Maria and the TV crew for the trip to Socompa.  Because it was early in the season, we had to take a longer road than normal but one that would take us first across Salar Grande (the second largest salt flat in the world) and then to the “ghost city” of La Casualidad, once home to more than 10,000 people and the largest sulfur mine in the world.  It was closed abruptly (the lift buckets were apparently still full of sulfur – a line of them, and their dumped ore contents, made a  yellow line from the town up the high mountain location of the sulfur ore), apparently in order to try to increase sulfur prices.  The Lonely Planet calls La Casualidad “the most remote place in Argentina”.  So, naturally we had to go further, another three hours or so over another pass that must have exceeded 4700 m and passing Mount Llullaillaco, a 22,000-foot volcano where high-elevation archeologists recovered mummified remains of three children sacrified by the Incas in the 15th Century or so. (We later saw one of the mummies in the museum in Salta.)

After a flat tire on one of the trucks, we finally reached Laguna Socompa.  It was yellow!  Maria noted that sometimes during the year it is blue, or green, or pink!  We had little time to stay so I scrambled up a nearby slope and took an 800-image Gigapan sweep.  Then back down the hill for some more pictures and interviews with Maria for the NASA virtual field trip.  Maria retrieved a spectacular sample that showed clearly the characteristic laminations of a true stromatolite.  Nearby we saw signs of the ancient Inca road and the more recent remains of a train wreck on the defunct Argentina/Chile rail line.  Since we faced another 5-6 h driving back to Tolar Grande, we headed back in haste.  Nevertheless we still needed to drive the last 2 hours on those treacherous roads in the dark, reaching town and a delicious chicken dinner a little before midnight.  The generator turned off and so did we.

Full set of pictures HERE.

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Salta (3): Up to the puna (highlands)!

Following our return from El Rey, we spent the night in Salta and then met a colleague, the amazing Dr Maria Farias, for an expedition to her study systems in the “puna” (highlands) to the west of Salta.  She studies an incredible set of ecosystems very high in the Andes, including the world’s highest stromatolites in Laguna Socompa, plus the microbes in some salty pools at Tolar Grande (our destination today).  A big group came along, including Maria’s husband, several of her students, and a pair making a TV special.  One goal of my trip was to gather video and photos and Gigapan imaging of her study sites for production of a “Virtual Field Trip” for the NASA Astrobiology program.  The drive to Tolar Grande was spectacular but long (12 hours?).  We started by stocking up on a couple of bags of coca leaves that Maria claimed would help stave off the effects of altitude sickness.  The drive followed the route of the famous Tren de las nubes (“Train of the clouds”), proceeding up the Quebrada del Toro (with its saguaro-like cacti!) over a couple of high passes (max: 4500 m, or 14,750 feet) up to the “city” of San Antonio de Los Cobres.  We then headed south, across a large salida (salt pan) and then into the incredible, Mars-like “Colorado” area.  Late in the day we finally reached Tolar Grande and were able to reach her study ponds as the sun began to set.  I managed to complete one Gigapan image (about 200 shots) and got some other really amazing pictures.  Unfortunately, while most of us were off at the pools, someone drove one of the vehicles off the road and, as you can see in the pics, mired it in the mud and salt.  This person spent the next day finding a tractor to haul it out.  After the photo/filming session, we scampered to the “town” of Tolar Grande (3510 m above sea level = 11,515 feet) and grabbed dinner before the lights went out (they turn the town generator off at midnight).  Next: onward and upward to Socompa!  Full set of pics HERE.  (There is also a lot of video but it is too much to pull together right now.)

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Trip to Salta (2): El Rey National Park where ticks are king!

(pics and video below)  Our trip to El Rey was great, except…

We left the Selva Montana Lodge with our guide Mario in his cool Land Rover.  The drive took a few hours and on the dirt road to park we saw a toucan.  Cool!  After arriving at the park campground (some kind of old, abandoned resort for the elite of Salta but originally the whole area was for raising horses and mules for the silver and gold mines of the mountains), we set out to a pond and saw lots of ducks and geese etc.  We told the guide we really wanted to see a tapir and so that night we went out spotlighting from the car and indeed saw a tapir (and some foxes).  We had a great dinner (asado of course) and were enchanted by the most amazing bird of the trip, the red-legged seriema.  This bird was featured in David Attenborough’s special “The Life of Birds” and, on the road, we watched as one smashed a snail onto a rock to eat.  The campground version was keenly interested in our scraps, as were the jays who win the prize as the most beautiful “trash birds” on the planet.  The next AM was some beautiful bird-watching (and we saw another tapir!) and then we hiked to a stream through the higher forest and saw a (large!) herd of peccaries.  In the mid-afternoon we headed back to Salta, with a few extra passengers.  That is, the ticks.  Back in Salta we removed at least a couple of dozen off of ourselves in the hotel and spent the next couple of days continuing to discover them on our clothes etc.  Yikes!  VIDEO  HERE.  Full set of pictures HERE.

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The Trip to Salta (part 1): the backstory

(Almost ready with the first round of pictures and videos.)
Because of the ashes, the airport in Bariloche of course was still closed. So, we needed to take a bus, 16 h overnight to Mendoza and then fly from there. Fortunately, Argentina buses are really nice – reclining seats (“semi-cama”), movies, meals, wine, even bingo. We had a decent sleep on the bus and then flew (2.5 h) to Salta. We were met by our guide Mario (but not by our luggage, which took a special side trip to Buenos Aires and came later…) and spent the first night in the Selva Montana Lodge in the pleasant small town of San Lorenzo. Early the next morning we set off for El Rey National Park, about 3-4 h driving. We were there two days (full report coming soon). Then we headed back to Salta and met microbiologist Maria Farias, her husband Aldo, a big gang from her lab, and a film crew. We then headed up to “the puna”, to Tolar Grande, about 12 h driving through spectacular scenery (another full report on this day will come later). After a night at Tolar Grande, we headed even further into the puna, to the laguna at Socompa, reaching 4700 m above sea level along the way. (another full report on this day will come later). We spent that night at Tolar Grande again and then returned to Salta. We were three more days there, bird-watching and touring the city. Then, back to Mendoza on the plane and then the 16 h bus (“full cama” seats this time!) to Bariloche. A great trip as you will see as I get the stuff posted.

Hotel Selva Montana in San Lorenzo.

Back from Salta! Buried under Gigabytes of movies and pictures.

Our 10-d trip to Salta was so incredible and mind-bending that it’s taking a long time to get caught up! But watch for an update with the first installment (about El Rey National Park) soon.

Ticks AND Tapirs AND Toucans!

Mendoza 4: Back to Bariloche, but first some birds

We’re about to leave on a new adventure so here’s a quick post to finish the story line from last month’s trip to Mendoza.  We left Mendoza and drove 14 h south, pretty much non-stop.  This was not enough to reach Bariloche; we ended up near Neuquen and spent the night.  The following day we took a slight detour to travel via Laguna Blanca National Park.  This park is known for its waterfowl (see the pics).  The Lonely Planet reports that the lake has no fish; this is actually probably why the ducks and flamingos would like this lake, as there would be many plankton for them to eat.  So, we were a bit surprised to see various fishermen along the shores, as well as, well, FISH swimming in the shallow waters.  This discrepancy was later explained by our friends Esteban and Beatriz, who report that fish were introduced some years ago into a small bay that was in private hands.  The owner’s claim was that the fish would stay in the bay.  Silly.  Of course, they went everywhere in the lake and are at great abundance.  Good for fishermen but not for flamingos and ducks, who would certainly prefer a lake full of big copepods and Daphnia.    Anyway, enjoy the pictures, which include a gratuitous shot of a grasshopper (that refused to hop; I think it didn’t want to be suspended in the 40 mph wind), just for Arianne.

OK, off to Salta today!

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In Cuatro Ciénegas, Mexico, the water is everything

Posted by Jess:  Jorge and I are back from another adventure in Cuatro Ciénegas! Unfortunately, all was not well during this trip… Over the summer, we watched as the Churince System, one of the largest springs in the valley, steadily decreased in size. June rains rejuvenated the waters and gave us hope that the spring-fed lakes might return to their former grandeur. When we arrived in early October, what we saw was dismal: the lake had become several disconnected ponds, surrounded by the footprints of turtles knowing the waters were too low for them. This system of ponds once fed an even larger lake, “Laguna Grande”, which now resembles more the famous Gypsum Dunes than an aquatic habitat. What can you do? Sign the petition to tell José Luis Luege, Director General of Mexico’s National Water Commission, and Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico, to uphold their promise to rescue and protect the waters of Cuatro Ciénegas.

From left to right, this time series beginning in 2010 and ending with October 2011 depicts the loss of surface water in the Churince System. Photos by Ana Gutierrez.