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
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!
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!!
We drove from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Varas, Chile. We made record time because the custom line between the two countries was short. Our hyper, funny guide had us leave early enough, 20 minutes before his usual time, to beat the crowd. Yeah! If we did not take this long drive and flew instead, here would be the 3 flights: Bariloche to Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile to Puerto Varas!
Between the two countries, as we crossed the Andes Mountains from Argentina to Chile, the paved road becomes unpaved. There we entered “no man’s land” until we reached border patrol and checked in at Chile. Back on the once again paved road. Our Argentinian may be creating some of the stories versus his Chilean friends … but I do find them similar, yet different in personalities. Anyway…. Short drive to stop for lunch, sort of in the middle of nowhere, and a visit at an auto museum in Moncopulli. So many studebakers! And other vehicles and stuff!
We arrive eventually after this long day of driving at Puerto Varas, a town of 66,000 people with a fantastic view of a volcano! Look across Llanquihue Lake and see Osorno volcano. During our drive I learned: Chile is large exporter of tulips and salmon. Main industry is mining copper and lithium. Agricultural products are cherries, plums, potatoes and blueberries. The country imports gasoline and oil. There are 3,000 volcanoes with most active 14 volcanoes. They worry when the earthquake is over 8.0. Last major eruption was in 2011.
Some clouds at the volcanoWe did have clear views of the volcano.
We had a nice hike in Vincente Perez Rosales National Park. Weather was perfect for hiking as long as you dressed appropriately. Not a difficult couple of miles hike in a forested area. Loved the hike!
WaterfallOur local guide discussing the plants
We visited a music school for talented violin and other string students. The students performed for us. It was great to see these at-risk students receiving music and general education.
Our home-hosted dinner was with a lovely couple. He is a landscaper with 10 employees and she is a physical therapist. We were welcomed with a pisco sour, talked on many topics, made our own cheese empanadas and had corn stew for dinner. Delicious Carmenere wine and dessert. We were entertained with guitar playing and singing. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet local people and ask questions about any topic we wished. Always nice to hear from locals.
House constructed with freight containersHome-hosted meal with fun people!He and his wife were lovely!
Off to Chiloé Island. I’ll be back in a day or so.
Two hour flight from Buenos Aires to Bariloche, Argentina was informative as my plane neighbor was arriving in the area for a 3 day, 18 mile per day run or walk, and camp each night competition. He has been training for the past year; very excited to participate in the upcoming activity! And don’t you know, a few days later when we drove to Puerto Varas, Chile we see the runners. I knew exactly what they were up to!
Bariloche I loved! It is the “Gateway to Patagonia” or the “Gateway to the Lake District” and the “Heart of the National Park”. The national park has grown around this town… all of it beautiful! It reminds me of Park City, Utah, USA with the mountains, a walkable downtown with outdoor clothing and gear shops, restaurants and breweries. The architecture though reminds me of Swiss chalets and some refer to the town as the “Switzerland of South America”. True to what I remember of my 2013 trip in Patagonia, the wind is always blowing. Locals refer to little wind as no wind. I walked the lakeshore and did see a variety of birds!
Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest national park in Argentina, established in 1922 and reconfigured in 1934. Our guide mentioned Teddy Roosevelt encouraged people in Argentina to protect this land. Glad they did!
Bariloche on a huge lake and mountain scenery
We met with a Mapuche tribe member. Their love of the land and nature surely reminds me of many native tribes around the world. Unfortunately too are the atrocities they persevered. His message: dependent on the political system in power, then determined if they were considered human or not. Only then could some constitutional changes be made. Their fight continues; however, they also believe all native tribes are keeping the rest of the world in balance.
Mapuche tribal member and our guide translating.
Our local guide provided a demonstration of their drinking Yerba mate. The cup with metal straw in the mate and hot, not boiling water, was a refresher for me. I wondered if I had kept my cup from my past trip. What’s also fascinating is the Argentinians easily pass it from one person to another to drink the tea. Americans could never imagine sharing a drink from one cup with another person; I’m sure!
Yerba mate to drink
What fun! We had a horseback trail ride. Thankfully my horse knew where it was to go as I watched 2 European hare run off in the distance. This activity was part of a home visit. Our “home host” family was originally from Germany in 1850 and ranched 1000’s of acres of land. They were very generous with their time as we rode the horses, asked many questions about their life, and enjoyed a BBQ of lamb, beef and sausage… and delicious German-style potato salad!
Our home host wearing a “boina”
Another activity, another day, was a hike through a forested area to a viewpoint. It was wonderful to stretch our legs each day we stayed in this area. We saw a very expensive hotel as we looked down from the top of a hill. On another mountainside we took a chairlift up and down. Everywhere one looked, it was beautiful and the weather truly cooperated for us!
Simply beautiful!
We spend a good amount of time in Bariloche to enjoy meals… I did try wild boar which was tender meat, … chocolate and craft beer. We also had a speaker tell us about the Nazi war criminals caught decades later in Argentina. One was caught at the speaker’s school when she was just a young teacher. It was interesting to see the magazine and newspaper headlines as she told us the facts.
There are many universities in Bariloche. Universities provide free education for all. Brazilians come here to see the snow in winter. Argentinians go to Brazil for their beaches. Many Chilean school groups were visiting now on their summer vacation. Don’t come mid-May to mid-June as that is the rainy season. Also, look both ways when crossing the road, make eye contact with driver, as they don’t slow down otherwise!
Some of my fellow travelers floated the Limay River. I did not. My time was instead walking along the lakeshore. Many yellow-billed teal, 2 ashy-headed geese and a Patagonian tyrant were now new birds to my life list. How wonderful to also see some birds again: chimango caracara, neotropic cormorant, and black-faced ibis.
I’ll write again in a few days as we travel by land from Bariloche, Argentina over the Andes Mountains to Puerto Varas, Chile.
There are many places to stop and visit in Buenos Aires. It’s a large city. Of course I was always looking for birds. I did see a couple of new birds, but I’ll create a post regarding birds another time.
We visited the first public cemetery, 1822, which comprised only of mausoleums. There was no required style so it was interesting to look at them. Each mausoleum had steps down to where shelves held the individual caskets. Our local guide shared background info about a few of the inhabitants of some mausoleums and the “keepers” paid by families to maintain the mausoleum.
They all are deep into the ground, like this one being built.
There is a huge stadium in Buenos Aires! It seats 86,000 people and holds 100,000 people. Amazing! People from around South America come here for concerts. Popular musicians may perform for 4 -8 nights to many thousands in the audience.
Bookstore: a theater was transformed to a bookstore. Absolutely great use of a beautiful space!
Paraná Delta- is as large an area as metropolitan Buenos Aires! We took a boat ride and saw the houses built on stilts, with rocks or concrete wall in front,electrical lines, septic tank, gas tanks and Direct tv satellites. There is no drinking water, but if people put out their huge water containers, water is delivered. I noticed some places had multiple filters on water they were pumping to their property. There is a mail boat, supermarket boat and many people kayaking from place to place besides the tourist boats on the water. The delta is a huge, muddy area from what I can see, yet solid enough to have all these homes, church, schools, etc. Amazing!
In 2013, I saw the tango show, so I skipped it this time. But we had a tango lesson! The professional dancers were convincing as they said, “ If you can walk, you can do the traditional tango.” That statement may be debatable, but we had a good time!
My visit to Rapa Nui, Easter Island, was filled with so much history! No doubt, I will research more about this island, in the middle of the Pacific, when I return home.
Stones
Moai are carved stones to honor a leader or an important ancestor. The amazing info to me was where carvers started their work and transported the stone to the burial site, an ahu. We visited the quarry on the island. Some stones are still attached to the quarry wall. Others were beginning their transport … maybe with 5-6 men using ropes or a rocking motion to move the stone…. some fell over, broke and still remain in place. Many others were successful in the move; yet I’d really love to see how they moved such huge stones since we all can only speculate! Let me share some photos from the quarry site:
Looking closely where moai were carved from and closer are moai that were being moved.A closer look.A moai looking up; unrestored, weathering away.
Volcanoes
The quarry was a huge site to walk around. So was our visit to another part of the island, the rim of the Rano Kau volcano. As we stood at the crater’s edge, we look down onto a freshwater lake with reeds. A part of the crater has collapsed and you can see the Pacific Ocean.
Rano Kau volcano
The island resulted from much volcanic action. There were 3 major volcanic sites and also smaller volcanoes adding to this island’s creation. The freshwater lake in Rano Kao is only 18 feet deep. In the 1980’s, a plant was found to be of great medicinal importance with transplant healing.
Birdman
At the crater’s edge, Orongo, is the starting location for the annual Birdman competition. You will see stone houses and carvings here. For a couple of hundred years, the tribes competed till the introduction of Catholicism in 1867.
Restored houses for teams in Birdman competition.
All 12 tribes of the island may each send their tribal leader, a young man, who will compete, and their families Hereford the start of the competition. The young man will run down the crater’s side, swim in the ocean about a mile to collect a sooty tern’s egg, place it in their headband, swim and climb back. They had to time their effort with the nesting and egg-laying time so as to be successful and not have a broken egg! The winners are three: the tribe, the leader and the young man; however, the “Birdman” for a year is the leader. Please research more, if you are interested, as it is all quite fascinating!
Human form with bird head… see petroglyph below:Each a different Birdman? Maybe.
We are off to Buenos Aires, so I will write in a week. Adios!
