I saw this sign on a bus in Argentina and had never seen it before. The bus industry in Argentina had a campaign to train drivers to recognize signs of human trafficking a number of years ago. I learned also there are companies and businesses doing this around the world within the transit industry. This made a lot of sense to me since I only otherwise see help available with postings, such as this one:
Sign inside bathroom stall
Whatever we can do, must be done! Signs, of all sorts, indicating help is available are important!
The one thing I know for sure, at this moment, is the only “Old 7 Wonders” wonder that still exists 4,000 years later is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Then I tried to make sense of the other “wonder” lists. I also wondered how many of the places I had actually visited in my lifetime! Why not make that a good reason for my going down this rabbit hole!
Apparently CNN’s “7 Wonders of Nature” includes the following:
Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Mount Everest, Northern Lights, Parícutin Volcano and Victoria Falls.
Not bad, I have seen 4 of 7.
Now there is a “New 7 Wonders of Nature” list which includes:
Iguazú Falls, Amazon rainforest, Halong Bay, Jeju Island (South Korea), Komodo Island (Indonesia), Puerto Princesa Underground River (Philippines) and Table Mountain (South Africa).
Not so good on my end, only 2 of 7.
AND there is also “New 7 Wonders of the World”. The old list was focused on the Mediterranean and only has the Great Pyramid of Giza existing. This list now includes more of the world:
Roman Colosseum (Italy), Great Wall of China (China), Taj Mahal (India), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), Machu Picchu (Peru), Chichén Itzá (Mexico) and Petra (Jordan).
Not so good on my end, 3 of 7.
In my lifetime quest to see the world, I need to keep at it! How are you doing in seeing these “wonders of nature” and the “wonders of the world”? Hopefully better than me! Let’s get going!! My good news; I have visited 6 of 7 continents! Travel on!
Mount Everest; Himalayan Mountains, Nepal
Grand Canyon with Colorado River seen from South Rim
I am amazed for a trip, not being a birding trip, I saw 61 different species of birds while visiting Argentina! No surprise then for 37 bird species to be new ones for my life list of birds! Yes!
Here are some of the birds I saw. The Patagonian mockingbird reminded me of mockingbirds at my home. They are constantly calling and changing their calls.
Patagonian mockingbird
An easy gull to identify:
Brown-hooded gull
Shovelers have a distinct bill. I just needed to learn the one I saw is a red shoveler:
Red shoveler
Arriving at a lagoon, I saw this swan and immediately knew it was a new species for me!
Coscoroba swan, the smallest of swan species
I loved looking at this bird’s eye:
Spectacled tyrant
This bird I almost didn’t capture with my camera and knew it would be a new species for me:
Look closely in center for tufted tit-tyrant
I’ve seen ibises, but here was a black-faced ibis:
Black-faced ibis
There were many other birds I photographed; however, I would have loved my larger zoom lens to truly have better photos. Yet, it was not birding trip so I think my smaller zoom did okay! A great trip with my fellow travelers sharing in the joy of seeing birds as we learned about each country we visited. What fun each day! If you missed the birds I saw in Chile, then click here.
I cannot start writing about food in Argentina without first mentioning “mate”. This is a caffeine-rich drink shared amongst friends in many of the places I was visiting in Argentina. It would be similar to me having my mug of tea each day, except I am not sharing my mug with others and not carrying around a thermos of hot water to refill my cup throughout the day.
The dried yerba mate plant leaves are put into a “gourd”-shaped cup. Hot water, not boiling, is poured into the cup, and drunk through a filtered metal straw. One person oversees the making of the mate and in being sure it is shared among others.
Yerba mate
Drinking mate
BBQ, especially out on the ranches, is very common. It was a delicious lamb BBQ at one location.
Lamb BBQ
Lamb BBQ served and with vegetables
Argentinian food includes beef, chicken and fish; however, here are a few unusual foods I tied. Isn’t that what travel is all about?
Pickled rabbit … not a favorite of mine.
Wild boar stew was tasty
Guanaco stew with potatoes and chips on top … definitely did not like this meal.
Sometimes a plate was with a variety of foods on it. Such as this one with muffins, ceviche, 3 different empanadas and passionfruit dessert in the middle. The food item with a brown, sweet block of something on top of a cube of cheese was very different.
Empanadas.. 3 beef, chicken, fish, ceviche, muffins and passion fruit dessert on one plate
Someday I will visit Mendoza, Argentina’s wine country! I drank Malbec wine while in Argentina and tried some cerveza … beer!
Local beer
Malbec … my favorite of the trip!
Our guide introduced us to a liquor: Fernet-Branco. It has 39% alcohol, so we had a third of a glass with Fernet and the other 2/3’s with Coca cola. I would not run anywhere for this drink; however, it is known to be a digestif.
Fernet 39% alcohol then add coke
Snacks though I am always looking for, especially since Snicker bars, my favorite travel snack is not in the local markets. One snack, I also found on restaurant tables, was alfajors. These cornstarch sweet snacks have dulce de leche, a caramel filling, which you’ll find everywhere in Argentina.
Alfajor
Alfajor
In Calafate, Argentina there is calafate jam and ice cream often served. The calafate berry is on a thorny plant and similar to a blueberry.
Calafate ice cream
We made a dessert with chocolate cookies dipped in coffee and placed on a layer that had dulce de leche, caramel filling, spread on it. One photo shows us making it and then the finally look at it before eating a bite!
Making of this dessert
It was delicious!
Other snacks:
The same snack if you were to buy it at a store.
Snack … chocolate snacks were everywhere!
The food was delicious everywhere I went. What I loved most were the local markets where people bought their food. There we had an opportunity to watch the fish be filleted, see the giant garlic bulbs, and enjoy the interaction with local people. It was a great opportunity to be on this adventure.
This was not a birding trip. I purposely chose an adventure where I could learn about the Chilean culture, eat the food, interact with local people and learn the history of the country. Yet, I did observe 55 different bird species while in Chile; 36 of them new to me! So here are a few I saw.
I know house sparrows can be found throughout the world; however, I saw this very cute sparrow and wondered what it was. A rufous-collared sparrow … a bird I will see often.
Rufous-collared sparrow
There are some birds you have an idea of what they may be because of their sounds/calls. These two I knew immediately: Chilean mockingbird and monk parakeet.
Chilean mockingbird
Monk parakeet
One day I took a walk to a park, not really expecting to see anything new. Along a grassy edge of a pond I saw this bird and guessed it to be a rail. Yes it was! A plumbeous rail:
Plumbeous rail
While on Rapa Nui, Easter Island, there was a bird I wanted to keep my eyes open for before I left the islands. I mentioned it to a park guide and our local guide. Both said it is a difficult bird to see. However with more eyes searching, a day later a fellow traveler pointed to a bird and the guides confirmed its identification.A fellow traveler, Charlie, captured this photo of the bird for me. It is a Chilean tinamou.
Chilean tinamou, photo courtesy of Charlie G.
We have caracaras and finches flying around in southwest USA; however, here was a Chimango caracara and a diuca finch. I’ll see them often.
Chimango caracara
Diurca finch
We hopped a raft and saw birds on a rocky island offshore from the Chilean coast. My first time seeing a flightless steamer duck, 2 more types of penguins, and a kelp goose.
Flightless steamer duck
Humboldt penguins
MagellanicPenguin
Kelp goose
I already knew of 2 types of cormorants and now I was to learn of 2 more … Guanay cormorant and a red-legged cormorant.
Guanay cormorant
Red-legged cormorant
It’s interesting when you get other people noticing birds and they are sharing their observations with you. Many times it happened; however, two in particular stick out for me. A fellow traveler was eating breakfast and noticed a bird out the window. She shares the information with me so I went to look at the bird. Realizing I had never seen this bird before, I took a quick photo and we used Merlin Bird ID app to identify it as a rufous-tailed plant cutter:
Rufous-tailed plantcutter
My trip guide knew I was a birder. He would often ask about a bird as he learned with some of my identifications. One morning I got a text about his observation of a woodpecker. Off I went and found the bird in a slightly different location. This beautiful Magellanic woodpecker was an arm’s length away from me when I crept up to get this photo:
Magellanic woodpecker
Amazing bird sightings for a trip that was not a birding trip! I loved Chile. The pace of life was calming, especially on Rapa Nui and Chiloé Island. I loved the fact drivers of vehicles would stop whenever one stepped onto the road. At times they even flashed their lights ahead of the fact so you knew they were stopping. The fish and wine were delicious, even the Pisco sour! Of course the mountains in Torres del Paine were wonderful to see and I wished we could have even done more hiking … yet without a 40 plus mph wind, if that was possible. Maybe not, as it is Patagonia! Visit Chile if you ever get an opportunity!
The next day we drove to Iguazú National Park to see the falls from the Argentinian side. Tourists are efficiently moved from one station to another on a single gauge railroad train. We hopped out to walk the Superior Trail. Later I walked the Inferior Trail while others took the boat ride into the mist of the falls.
There are 275 waterfalls within Iguazú Falls.A small part of Iguazú Falls with rainbow!Boat ride to the fallsIn the mist!
Our early arrival at the park allowed us easy viewing of the falls. In the area were coatis that look like cute animals, but they are not! These animals jumped on bags and tables wherever they smelled a snack or saw food! Warning signs were posted. These animals really wrecked a family’s picnic lunch!
Coatis… watch out!
I saw an unusual reptile which I first thought was a Gila monster. It was not. A black-and-white tegu just happened to be at the side of the trail:
Tegu
I wish everyone a happy new year as I return to my usual twice a week blog posts and enjoy time at home! May 2026 see you with good health and happiness! Namaste!
Three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, meet at one point, the “Triple Frontier”. Here the Iguazú River and Paraná River converge forming a natural border between these countries. Iguazú Falls is nearby.
We flew from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú. First we visited an indigenous, the Guarani, community in Argentina. They maintain their traditional lifestyle. Individuals demonstrated their crafts, cooking, music and they clearly have great respect for nature!
He is showing how animals were caught.Beautiful handmade woven baskets.
Our visit to Iguazú Falls was first from the Brazilian side. The falls are twice as high as Niagara Falls and 65 feet wider. We walked a couple of trails to see the falls from different viewpoints. The thunderous water was falling at 2 million gallons a second! This was an amazing sight!
El Calafate was our base for a few days. It was easy to enjoy lamb and Malbec wine, but guanaco stew was not a favorite for me. I’ll post a food blog for this trip eventually.
We drove shy of a couple of hours to Los Glacieres National Park. I was returning here after 12 years and worried whether I would see no or less glacier field than my last visit. The glacier Perito Moreno is the 4th largest glacier in the southern Patagonian ice field and the 6th largest in South America. When I last visited the glacier, I saw it from the boat-view only. We had the unique opportunity to see it calving. The newly-formed icebergs I understand now have been known to block waterways and disrupt navigation.
Timelapse photos since 2020 show the glacier is retreating. More observations will report exactly what’s happening, I’m sure.
Years ago I only saw the glacier from the boat.
This visit we had a few different trails to walk and see the glacier from different viewpoints. The glacier is named after Francisco Pascasio Moreno (1852-1919). Perito means “specialist, expert”, thus the glacier was called Perito Moreno. He helped determine the boundary between Chile and Argentina with all the ice fields and mountains. Also was an explorer and anthropologist. He collected fossils, plant and animal species, and cultural items from Patagonian tribes. It was finally in 1988 the La Plata Natural Sciences Museum was opened to the public. Moreno would refer to it as the “first museum to follow the theory of evolution”. Moreno’s scientific generation is about 40 years after Darwin being in Patagonia.
Well-built walkways to view the glacier.Many icebergs seen here.From another walkway, a different view of the glacier.
We’re flying from El Calafate’s airport to Buenos Aires, then to Puerto Iguazú. An interesting point where 3 countries meet and there is the “8th natural wonder of the world”. I’ll be back in a few days. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season!
We left Torres del Paine National Park, Chile to drive to El Calafate, Argentina, but first I must share a photo of the view we saw when leaving the park!
Waving goodbye to park and rainbow!
It was a beautiful end to our park visit! We had quick border crossings at Chile and then Argentina and arrived along the bank of Argentina Lake at the town of Calafate. So, 12 years ago there was a population of about 5 thousand people. Now, 30 thousand! The town thrives on tourism! It looked so different to me since my last visit!
Our group visited a local estancia/Patagonian ranch to learn about the gaucho lifestyle. Our host talked of his family’s history on this ranch where he grew up, demonstrated the sheep herding routine with his dog and hand-shearing of sheep. While this happened, the BBQ fire was cooking the lamb we would eat a couple of hours later.
As he talked, he drank mate, from a gourd with a filtered, metal straw. Mate contains antioxidants and is a social ritual in this country.Lamb BBQ cookingLamb with vegetables served at our lunch at the ranch.We learned and tried to throw the bola. It is a weapon to entangle the legs of the animal you need to get. Quite a challenge throwing the bola with any accuracy and distance.At the ranch sheep area.
Back at Calafate, a couple of my fellow travelers joined me on a birding hike. The wind was constantly blowing so it was impossible to use Merlin ID for sound recordings. Fortunately I had my camera to photograph many. Of the 22 birds species we saw at Laguna Nimez Reserve, 11 were new birds for my life list. I’ll have a blog posts simply on birds another time.
Entrance to trail. A NGO has helped protect this lake frontage from wild dogs for the last 12 years. As we looked beyond the fencing, 2 dogs were wanting to get at the birds within.Important protecting this area for birds!
The mountain-lover in me was thrilled to see these mountains Torres del Paine National Park with its 3 granite peaks, “blue towers”, was fantastic! So many travelers do not see the towers because clouds stop their view. All of our days at the national parks we skirted away from rain and were so fortunate. The wind however was another story!
Torres del Paine National Park
I remember Patagonia with wind. While hiking on 3 different trails, we experienced many levels of wind in our face and at our back, pushing us every which way at times. One day we had a hike and it was beautiful scenery with wind. The next day we had a hike to Salto Grande, a glacier-blue green waterfall, and we had less wind, but still wind.
Another hike we saw Grey Glacier and the wind was a monster!! We hiked down to the beach, yes with wind. Hiked across the beach with wind at our back and pushing me sideways at times. A fellow traveler grabbed me at one moment while I was going sideways. We then hiked a rocky trail to its end. Now to hike back, the beach part was the worst! Forty-one mph winds slamming our body! Even when without those gusts, the wind was constant and at us. My body was warm and air temperature was okay, but the wind made it cooler. It was then I doubled up on my hat as the wind made the air colder on my head. My mountain windbreaker jacket was perfect and we got nice, varied views of the glacier. Between the 2 days with 3 hikes, I think we did about 12 miles total. As I sit and write this, the wind is still blowing and I think it gets stronger as the day goes on.
Grey Glacier in the distance. Guide measured 41 mph wind speed.
Torres del Paine National Park was established in 1959 and is an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. We did see guanacos and on our way to the park we saw Andean condors. We stayed at Grey Hotel which has comfortable rooms, nice dining area, bar and small gift shop. WiFi is at the reception area and not consistent in rooms. But rooms do have nice hot showers!
There are hikes and the “W” and “O” were most talked about as they are multi-day hikes to huts or tenting along the way. The “O” circuit was the trail where people lost their lives. They were in backcountry and were hit with sudden snow storm and winds at 70mph at least from what I understand. It was hard enough on a good weather day for me to maneuver in 40 mph wind. I cannot imagine how disorienting it would be with higher winds and snow!
I saw a beautiful bird here. It was within an arm’s length of me.
Magellanic woodpecker
I am so happy to have finally visited this national park. We had flown from Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas and drove hours to get here, but worth it! Why have I not thought ahead and continued this trip to Antarctica? I guess it will be Mendoza, Argentina, Atacama Desert in Chile and onto Antarctica the next time I head to South America. Although a fellow traveler told be of a place to visit in Bolivia … wow! So many places to experience and people to interact with as I learn about their culture.
Next we drive from Chile to Argentina across the Patagonian steppe. I am visiting El Calafate, Argentina again. I wonder how it has changed since I was last there in 2013? Will write again in a couple of days.
I love mountains!
Update: I just heard 2 of three trails our group hiked have been closed by the national park because winds are over 60 mph. We truly are weather-fortunate!!
