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!
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!!
After an hour’s drive from Puerto Varas, we took a ferry to Chiloé Island. It actually is an archipelago of 40 islands many miles south on the west coast of Chile. We headed to Castro, the major town in the middle of the 19 mile long island. The controversial bridge being built, since the 1970’s, is still not completely built. Locals seem to not want the bridge as they fear it will change the island vibe.
Everything operates on “island time” here, meaning nothing is rushed. Whether waiting for service or talking with a local, all will be accomplished eventually. It was a change of pace I enjoyed.
It was great seeing birds at Puñihuil Wildlife Reserve. To get closer to the reserve, were carted off to a boat in the water. Never got our feet wet! From there we boated near some rocky islands to view Humboldt and Magellanic penguins! We saw many other birds, plus a sea lion and 3 otters!
Notice the stand they pushed us out to the boat on!Humboldt penguinsSleepy sea lion!
We stopped at a market and saw some HUGE, truly huge garlic … size of my 2 fists! Eventually we got to the town of Castro and our hotel. Beautiful view of the bay, part of the Pacific Ocean, and in the distance we can see some houses on stilts.
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!
Santiago can be walked if you are a patient person. I decided to walk to the Costanera Center, the tallest building in the city and maybe in South America. Next door was a five floor shopping mall. I had no interest in going to the sky deck bar at the very top of the center to see the entire city. I continued my walk to a Japanese Garden, an area of the huge city park.
Tallest building from Japanese Garden
The uphill walk to the Japanese Garden was worth it. Long and hot weather today. Soon it will be summer here. At the Japanese Garden you walk along paths passing quiet pools of water with lily pads, waterwheels, streams and sculptured trees.
More of the Japanese Garden
Very pleasant place as I also listened for birds. Another new bird: white-crested elaenia.
A new bird for me!
On my way down the hill, I interacted with employees putting up insect traps in fruit trees. Not knowing any Spanish on my part, my apologies to them, I photoed an information sheet so I could know what fly they are trying to capture.
So many places to eat in the city! I settled on my tour guide’s recommendation for a meal: pastel de jaiba… a crab cake … and as I write this, the electricity went out in one-third of the restaurant. I have my water, bread with butter and salsa, wine and meal so I am set… and then the electricity was back on! Unfortunately the chocolate cake has strawberry layer within, so glad I mentioned no strawberry please, so I’ll finish my wine with flan. Ah yes, I now remember that dessert is a South American staple!
Quite the crab cake meal!
I walked to Parque Bicentenario where hundreds of start-up tech and other companies had displays. Further along I spent time at a pond. Much to my surprise, I saw a plumbeous rail walking along the pond’s edge onto grass. Rails are typically hidden from sight. To see this one so easily was amazing!
Plumbeous rail
Two other birds were new to me: yellow-billed pintail and yellow-winged blackbird … a male and a female. I was happy to have my camera available for these observations.
Then I was looking at this next bird wondering is that a mockingbird? Yup.
Chilean mockingbird
Finally, I had been hearing the rufous-collared sparrow and the noisy monk parakeets. Now I had photos! My bird life list has grown by 8 new birds. Soon off to Easter Island in the mid-Pacific Ocean!
Rufous-collared sparrowMonk parakeet landed on the ground. Usually in the trees.
I’ll be back in a few days after I discover Easter Island!
Chile is a new country for me to visit! Argentina is smack-dab right next door to Chile, just look at the map below:
Argentina hugs Chile, or is the other way around!?!
My last adventure to this area of the world was a hiking trip in Argentina where I fell in love with the mountains near El Chalten. This trip I’ll be in the Andes again with an opportunity to visit more of the area: Easter Island, Chiloé Island, Torres del Paine and Iguassu (Iguazu) Falls from the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. When I was in Buenos Aires, so many years ago, Pope Francis was selected Pope … and the people of his church celebrated here! I also remember seeing tango dancing and on this trip I may even get a tango lesson!
Plenty of history to be learned, wildlife to view, UNESCO sites to visit, hikes to enjoy, wines, craft beer and food to taste, local and indigenous people to meet, and new birds for me to discover! Now for the adventure to begin!
I went for a walk to bird watch, stretch my legs, and see if any other interesting animals were at Agua Caliente Park this month. As I approached my usual walking path, I decided to change things up. Often walking the same direction, why not change it; I’ll walk in the reverse direction in the park.
My brain is wired in a particular way, no doubt reinforcing my habits. So I got thinking about myself as a right-handed person and how different it feels when I use my left hand for simple tasks. Now how would I feel to walk in the direction opposite from my usual path?
Birds seen!
Walking in the opposite direction on the paths I have walked a hundred times at this park was at first strange. My brain prompted me to stop every so often and determine where exactly I was on the trail and to assess some of my usual birding opportunities from the different angle. It was an interesting time to realize how simply changing the direction of my walk offered me a different perspective on my outing. I enjoyed the walk and will continue to change things up as my walks continue here in the coming months.
Have you ever changed things up? Were there any advantages or disadvantages to the change up? Maybe you were forced to do things differently from your normal routine, share if you wish.
Nature abounds in our backyard as I watch almost 100 Western honeybees at one of 2 Baja fairy duster plants! Look closely to see a bee:
So many Western honey bees!
We are also very excited when we see hummingbirds stopping at our desert willow trees and Baja fairy duster plants. Especially when they rest on a tree branch since one rarely sees a hummingbird not moving. The javelina continue to walk past my bedroom window and coyotes are in the neighborhood, as are bobcats. I’m soon off on another adventure so I will return with backyard 2026 nature journals.
