One of the differences on this trip was that it was near the end of the dry season while our first trip was in the middle of the wet season.  The difference was very evident from the fact that we didn't have to carry Sam on hikes due to standing water on the trails threatening to spill over tops of his boots and the amount of dry land along the river.  The dry season seems to have yielded better landscape photos, the subject of the first slideshow.

The animals here didn't disappoint either.  There were 5 species of monkey, 4 in abundance, not only in the treetops but also down low and easily seen.  Many times we were able to see groups moving through the trees doing monkey things like swinging vine to vine or hanging by the tail.  Every morning the red howler monkeys would let loose with what sounded to me like jet engines revving.  There were caiman, capybara, long-nosed bats, lizards and a peccary that let me know who owned the territory, and it wasn't me.  The animals are the subject of the second slideshow.

Finally, the birds here didn't disappoint either.  Marnie had a near-religious experience when 2 macaws flew over the boat last year and has been disappointed in not having seen any toucans.  The problem with macaws and parrots is that they are always screaming overhead so you always know when they are around, but they never seem to land or even fly close.  This place is known for its clay licks where macaws, parrots and parakeets come to eat clay for its mineral content.  We were treated to 3 species of macaws and 6 or more of parrots/parakeets all flying in and out, landing in trees and on the clay lick.  Added bonuses were the cacophany created by hundreds of these birds at their raucous best and seeing hundreds of them wheeling overhead in flight.  Marnie also got to see three species of toucan.  We all left happy.

And, last but not least, a final photo ode to the lush and diverse flora of the rainforest...

    There are a lot of things I haven't learned about Peru, the geology and climatology, for example.  But I do know that the Andes can be quite an uninviting mountain range.  The desert coastal plain quickly heads up into the mountains, but the initial scarp garners no more moisture than the plain before it.  The result is a rocky, barren mass devoid of vegetation or more color than a drab gray.  The city of Lima also stretches on and on and the road begins to wind up and up.  Nevertheless, when given the opportunity to spend a couple of days out of Lima I quickly took it.

    A couple of hours, which is not so many miles, out of Lima we turned off the main road and headed up toward the Santa Eulalia River valley.  The paved road quickly turned into gravel and stayed gravel for the next two days as we slowly wound our way up the valley to the source of the river.
     The afternoon of the first day we stopped in Huachupampa where we would spend the night.  Like everywhere else in Peru, a little bit of water will get you some farmers.  The land is deeded by the central government to a collective of the people, title continues to be held collectively and that is how all decisions are made.  While the people are obviously not rich, the town is clean, orderly and well maintained.  You can see a sister village on the far side of the valley.

    Altitude and water are two things that make the difference.  It's the altitude that finally squeezes the moisture from the stingy clouds that have blown in from the Pacific.  The dusty gray turns to green while the sound of rushing water soothes the soul.  13,000 feet becomes llama country.  Every ridge and mountain is a different color and material--sand to granite.  Finally, around the bend comes the confrontation with the nevado (snow covered peak) that is the source of the river.  And ever since I left Huachupampa, I knew it was why I'd come.
Slideshow:

     Our first stop was at the finca of the gracious Penny Alvarez, the mother of one of Marnie's Bay Area colleagues, not far from the town of Villa de Leyva.  The finca is located in a mountainous region a couple of hours northeast of Bogota.  We are always happy to get a respite from cold, gray Lima in winter and the quiet, warm, sunny tranquility was appreciated by the whole family as was being treated to tasty meals on the outside patio.  We had been warned that Colombian fare was generally bland and nondescript, but starting at the finca and throughout our travels we found the meals to be very good. 

     The area around Villa de Leyva has several sites on its perimeter that are of interest as is the colonial charm of the town itself.  The geology/paleontology of the area make it one of those intriguing places currently lying at 7,000 feet above sea level and hundreds of miles from the coast where the soil is full of ammonites and other sea creatures.  Turns out that during the cretaceous period the valley was slowly cut off from the ocean and turned into a shallow sea that eventually dried up leaving remains of many fossils.  It's fascinating to walk into the monastery or even just walk through town and see where ammonites have been incorporated into walls and floors.  The fossil in the picture to the right is of a kronosaur that was left in situ with the museum built over it.  Other fossils of icthyosaurs can be seen at the museum, too.

In pre-columbian times the area was occupied by the Muisca.  The photo on the left is of an astronomic observatory while the giant erection on the right, with smaller erections in the background, were meant to insure fertility in the area.

There is also an immaculately preserved Franciscan monastery, established to bring Catholicism to the Muisca, along with an informative museum.

Villa de Leyva is a quaint colonial town dating to 1572.  It was home to a large contingent of Spanish troops whose parade ground was turned into the central square, the largest in Colombia.

Colombian parrilla (BBQ) isn't quite as good or the beer nearly as cold as in Argentina, but it was plenty good and plentiful which is what mattered most to Spencer.

     Our next stop took us west from Bogota into the "coffee zone."  The Andes is split into 3 fingers running north-south through Colombia.  As the crow flies we didn't travel far but, due to some quirks of geography, crossing one of the mountain fingers means going from semi-arid to subtropical even though remaining at the same elevation and latitude.  From our base in Cordoba we took hikes, rode horses, learned to taste coffee and relaxed.

     The next stop was a coffee plantation with a tasting tour so well done that Finn and Sam enjoyed it even though it lasted a couple of hours.  We visited the growing and processing areas before learning how to "taste" coffee.  This process was interesting to adults and children as we used our tongues and noses to refine our sense of what we were tasting.  Bottom line, every adult in our contingent preferred low quality coffee to premium.  No wonder Juan Valdez despairs.

     After learning how bad our taste buds are, we went on what I think is one of the top 5 hikes the Curry-Smiths have taken.  The trail through the Cacora Valley wound its way up between two ridges that was cut by a roaring creek and included a nice waterfall, seven swinging bridges, lots of mud and ended in a hummingbird preserve.  What more could you ask for? The opening photo of the slideshow doesn't do justice to the palms, but the effect they created was unlike anything I've seen elsewhere.

On to CARTAGENA

     Cartagena was founded by Pedro de Heredia in 1533 and was to be a valuable link in the Spanish Empire.  It was a storage and transfer point for gold and silver from Peru and New Granada as well as the only city besides Veracruz that was authorized by the crown to trade in slaves.  Its fortunes went up and down over the next 200 years with various pirates and corsairs, including Francis Drake, looting the city.  During the 1600s the crown undertook to fortify the city by building an 11 kilometer wall around it and siting a fortress on a hill across an arm of the bay.  These features are still intact and helped Cartagena earn recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.  Today visitors find a wonderfully maintained colonial city with lots of history.

     My favorite new world Spanish fortress has always been San Juan Puerto Rico, but it no longer is. San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena now ranks as number one.  It is so big and was redesigned and added to so many times that it is difficult to make sense of the whole layout.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience and is highly recommended.

As in San Francisco, there were beautiful vistas of different parts of the city everywhere we walked and sometimes even from where we swam.

     We left Cartagena to spend our last days outside Palomino, a town on the Caribbean coast.  On the way we stopped at Volcán de Lodo El Totumo - a mud bath. We're not sure what made it a volcano, but it we enjoyed floating buoyantly in the therapeutic muck.

PALOMINO

    This part of the trip was mostly for the boys, especially for Sam who celebrated his 9th birthday during this stop. We swam in the pool and the Caribbean, collected shells on the beach, inner-tubed down a lazy river, hiked in Tayrona Park, and witnessed Tropical Storm Earl -- all of which proved a relaxing way to end of our vacation.

BOGOTA

     Bogota was founded in 1538 on a high plateau (8600 feet) in central Colombia (originally New Granada).  Its location was determined by the fact that the majority of the Muisca population was centered here.  At first ample gold was found to justify further exploration, but precious metal discovery soon waned and the area became a backwater.
     The city grew slowly until relatively recently.  Like Lima, rural populations fleeing contending rebel factions and drug cartels have pushed rapid population growth.  If you read the papers you know that the Colombian government is in negotiations with the FARC to end what may be the world's longest running insurrection which dates back to 1948.  In spite of related problems, we found a charming city with friendly people.

     I was surprised to learn that Trujillo is Peru's third largest city with over 1 million inhabitants since it seemed smaller and laid back.  It has done a good job of preserving its colonial center and early architecture, most of which is occupied and part of the business community.

     The coastal city of Trujillo was founded in 1535 and named after Francisco Pizarro's birthplace in Spain.  In the early days it was surrounded by a wall to keep the pirates out and was a main stopover for Spaniards making the overland trip between Lima and Quito on an otherwise lonely and unpopulated route.  In December, 1820, it was the first city in Peru to declare independence from Spain and from here Simon de Bolivar prepared his campaign for liberating the rest of Peru.

     The main reason to visit Trujillo today is to visit the archaeological sites of the Moche and Chimu cultures.  Like the rest of the Peruvian coast, it is extremely arid in the surrounding area but, like the Nile and Indus River valleys, a source of water provided the impetus for an early, sophisticated series of civilizations.
     The first culture in the area was the Moche, dating from 100BCE to 850CE.  It's main sites are the Huacas (temples) del Sol y de la Luna, two adobe pyramids separated by a plain on which the people lived.  The larger huaca, del Sol, is currently being excavated and was the administrative center.  The smaller huaca, de la Luna, was the religious site.

     The pyramid shaped mountain was itself sacred and its power flowed down and into the adobe pyramid constructed by the Moche.  The structure is actually a series of temples superimposed on one another to form a pyramid.  Unlike other huacas along the coast, the Moche covered the temple with beautiful, brightly colored murals. 
     It also became clear to me here how the ruling priests used gold and silver, the possession of which was tightly controlled and confined to the use of only the highest castes of priests and nobles, to wow the populace.   The pyramid is about 150 feet high and overlooks the main plaza where the population came for events.  The chief priest would appear on the top level of the pyramid covered in gold and silver, including the face and a large headpiece, reflecting the sun.  He would have been quite an impressive sight in an otherwise drab setting.

A slideshow of some of the design elements...

Between Trujillo and Cajamarca we visited three other pre-columbian sites, the Huaca Arco Iris (rainbow), Huaca el Brujo and Chan Chan.  Chan Chan has the distinction of being perhaps the world's largest adobe city, laid out over 7.5 square miles and inhabited at its peak by 100,000 people.  Its seven citadels were enclosed by a massive adobe wall.  It was the capital of the Chimu empire, a successor to the Moche.  The empire lasted from 900 CE to 1470 when it was overtaken by the Inca.  The Inca left the Chimu alone, only to pay annual tributes.  The sophistication of their irrigation and metal working was so advanced that the Inca sent many of the engineers and goldsmiths back to Cusco. There is some color at El Brujo but the main draws are the size of the adobe walls at Chan Chan and the carvings in the adobe walls at all sites.

     After leaving Chan Chan we headed into the mountains to visit Cajamarca, an agricultural and dairy center of 120,000 people.  We have come to appreciate the mountains and their people immensely.  Cajamarca had the distinction of being one of the largest cities of the Inca empire, though its founding predated the Inca by a thousand years.  In also has the distinction of being where Pizarro kidnapped Atahualpa, the Inca emperor, held him for ransom and ultimately killed him.
     Something I found very interesting here, and it is also true of places like Cusco, is that in spite of being one of the largest cities of the Inca empire, there is not a single thing left in Cajamarca from the Inca time except for the room where Atahualpa was held hostage.  Everything else was razed.  For those who don't remember the story, Atahualpa told Pizarro he would fill the room twice with silver and once with gold as ransom if Pizarro would release him.  The precious metals were delivered, Atahualpa was garroted, though after he had been baptized.

There are a couple of sites outside of town that are worth seeing, too.  The first is the Ventanillas (little windows) de Otuzco.  The "windows" served as an ancient burial ground, predating the Inca by more than 500 years.

Another area we visited was Cumbemayo.  The first reason to come here is to take a great hike in a beautiful place.  The area is studded with huge rocks that have been eroded into many interesting shapes.

The last site we visited here was to see a double irrigation channel dug in solid rock 1000 years ago to supply drinking water to the city 24 kilometers away.  Sharp turns in the ditches prevent the water from moving too fast, as do slight inclines engineered into various section.

Finally, no bird pictures this entry.  Instead, there are hats.  Every community in the Andes has a variation in hats and dress, dating at least as far back as the Inca empire.  The Inca made every community dress in a distinct way for social control.  The typical hat in Cajamarca is very different from other places in the mountains but the faces are all just as interesting.  A slide show of hats...

     Ayacucho is a lovely small city located in the south-central mountains of Peru, founded in 1540 by Francisco Pizarro himself.  It is locally famous for several reasons.  It has the largest Easter (Semana Santa) celebration in Peru.  Abimael Guzman, a professor at the University of Ayacucho, was the founder of Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist terrorist organization that controlled most of central Peru and parts of Lima for much of the period between 1980 and his capture in 1992.  A few kilometers outside of town lies the cave of Pikimachay where evidence was found of the oldest habitation in Peru.  From 500 to 900 CE the region held the capital of the Wari (Huari), the first expansionist empire that controlled most of the central Andes.  Finally, it is also near the site of the last battle against Spanish forces in the quest for independence.

 SEMANA SANTA
     The celebration is a two-for-one, at least if you are young and like to drink to excess.  Our hotel was located next to the alameda you see being cleaned above.  On the other side of the street from the alameda was the Fiesta Sagrada advertised by the banner above which was basically a concert that aired from sundown to 6 a.m.   The bass was cranked up so much that our room shook, needless to say we got little sleep.  The alameda was full of young people listening to the music, drinking huge quantities of beer and urinating and vomiting pretty much wherever they were standing.  I give the city of Ayacucho credit for a quick cleanup since this crew started at sunup and had the place shipshape each day by 9 o'clock.
     The second celebration took place in the center of colonial Ayacucho which has been fairly well preserved.  The city has 35 churches, one for each year of Jesus' life.  The Plaza de Armas, or main square, was the center of activity.  On Friday night, the dead Jesus is carried around the square after sunset led by a choir, quite a solemn affair.  Leading up to this parade and continuing through the weekend there is a huge block party of families and religious organizations playing music and dancing in the streets.

The culminating event of the weekend was the Easter sunrise service where a triumphant Jesus, risen from the dead, was paraded around the square on a float carried by 250 people.  Fireworks lit up the sky before the sun finally rose behind the cathedral.

These two women were selling flowers to passersby after the celebration.

PIKIMACHAY
Vestiges of human settlements dating to 15-20,000 years ago were found at Pikimachay, located 25 kilometers north of Ayacucho, making it the oldest known inhabited site in Peru.

With over 40,000 archaeological sites scattered around Peru it's interesting to compare what one finds here with what one would expect in the US.  What we arrived there was a sign alerting us to the site.  The cave itself is 24 meters wide by 12 meters high with a rock fall almost in the center.  The site was surveyed for the first and only time by Robert MacNeisch in 1966 and all he was able to survey was a 3 by 5 meter section of the floor where he found chipped tools, choppers and projectile points along with bone artifacts of horses, camelids and giant sloths.  Because there are so many sites to develop and so little money to develop them, nothing has been done at the site since.

Other than the sign there is nothing here--no park rangers, no ADA compliant access, just a steep, rocky trail up the side of the mountain.  There are also no railings to keep visitors out so people get to walk around inside the cave which is a nice touch.

THE WARI CAPITAL
     The Wari were mentioned in others blogs, for example Pisac.  Although the empire fell sometime around 900 CE, the cities and towns continued to be inhabited.  Many of the building techniques--trapezoidal windows and doors, stonework, terraces, irrigation--for which the Inca are famous were actually pioneered by the Wari.  400 years is a long time to improve skills.  The Inca only had about 200 years of empire, cut short by Pizarro.
     The whole area encompasses 1600 hectares, of which 400 was an urban area enclosed by an 8 meter high defensive wall.  The site is only 5% excavated so there is still plenty to be discovered.  Signs of the treasures possibly concealed there were evident in the pottery shards strewn across the paths.  Along with the ruins, there is an informative museum.  Slide show follows.

BATTLE OF AYACUCHO
    The final battle of South America's war for independence from Spain was fought on the 9th of December in 1824.  The outcome of the battle was never in doubt as it was the last stand of a crumbling empire.  The site is commemorated by an obelisk dedicated to the soldiers who fought there.  Just as at Pikimachay, there is little there beside the obelisk.  But there were plenty of Peruvians there to learn about their history during Semana Santa.  Just as in much of Peru, it's also a reason to gather to eat and talk.

A couple of pictures to end with.

      We marked our one-year anniversary in Perú with a trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake (12,500 feet above sea level).  While most of our travels have been motivated by Steve’s passion for birds, William’s passion for hiking and history, or Sam’s passion for animals, this trip centered on my passion for people and their cultural traditions. Our arrival coincided with the Virgen de Candelaria festival, a two and a half week annual celebration recognized by UNESCO as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” The veneration of the Virgen (also known as Mamacha Candelaria, Mamita Canticha, and MamáCandi) is rooted in spiritual practices syncretized from local indigenous Aymara and Quechua communities and Spanish Catholicism. During the festival devotees celebrate the blessings flowing from Mother Earth during the preceding 12 months, especially the first harvest from the recent rainy season.  By celebrating Pachamama with love and gratitude, local people believe she will continue to bestow her blessings on them.  The festivities culminate in a massive parade, described by National Geographic as a “mashup of a holy procession, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Rio’s Carnival,” which involves 50 thousand elaborately costumed dancers and some 15 thousand musicians.  While viewing the parade was my main objective, we were fortunate to spend several days exploring the Lake Titicaca region prior to this grand finale. 

     We were welcomed by several families, who shared with us the process of constructing and maintaining their island. They recounted the history of the Uru people, who became island dwellers in order to flee enslavement from the Inca.  There was one child on the island – a shy, adorable girl about two years old, who staggered about the uneven terrain grasping a whole fried fish in her hands and tearing off bites whenever she paused to survey the gringo tourists, who were traipsing around her home. The women displayed their handicrafts, elaborate embroideries depicting Andean archetypes and themes, and colorful miniature reed boats and hummingbirds.  Sam spent his allowance on one tapestry that he especially liked.

     Because of the stormy weather our next excursion to the island of Taquile was cancelled, fortunately though, the boat dropped off us off near the village of Platería where we were delighted to encounter locals celebrating Pacha Anata.  Anata, which means “game” in Aymara, is a joyful carnival that celebrates the relationship between people, nature, and divinity; these rites, which involve family, dance, music, clothing, rituals, and food, focus on the theme of renewal and creation.  As we hopped out of our van, my eyes savored the scene – scattered across the fields before us were scores of musicians and vibrantly dressed dancers, women with long braided hair adorned with pompoms and young girls wearing long embroidered stocking hats with frilly brims fashioned to look like Peru’s national flower the cantuta.

     We watched them rehearse their performances before their stadium appearances.  One dance retold the story of a wayward, drunken husband, who was scolded by his wife, while others seemed more focused on choreography.  Our guide explained that each nearby village concocts its own performance and then competes to win a prize – usually a pot of money to fund community beautification projects.  From Platería we headed further up the road to a town called Acora, where an even bigger dance festival was underway.  We entered the packed stadium and watched while village after village stepped forward to display its own culture and creativity.  Each troupe had 50 to 100 people of all ages and we relished the palpable sense of community solidarity and joy that vibrated all around us.

    The next day we undertook a 17 km bike ride that allowed us to explore local communities and drink in vistas of vast blue skies, abundant green fields, and local people heading to the market, farming, herding, and socializing in small plazas.  Despite the muddy road, we felt liberated and exhilarated to be immersed in the scene rather than watching through the windows of a tourist van.  Sam likened the experience to being on an Andean safari – where instead of lions, giraffes, and elephants, we were treated to glimpses of every sort of domesticated animal; sometimes, in fact, we rode through small herds being taken out to graze. The ride ended with a picnic on the lake’s edge where our weary bodies welcomed the sun, the wind, and the serenity of eating alongside grazing cows and sheep.

     We were fortunate enough to score VIP seats for the parade.  While I had worried that our 1:00pm arrival might make us miss much of the action (the parade started at 7:00am), this fear was quickly allayed when we realized that there were 83 troupes and we had only missed 23.  We marveled at the steady sea of dancers clad in intricately beaded and embroidered costumes with bells on their boots, interspersed with fleets of hairy black gorillas with orange spiders crawling on their backs, comical lawyers toting thick legal books, men masked with garishly long noses, and more traditional groups wearing ponchos, playing flutes and sporting hats crowned with feathers.  Then there were endless streams of demonic dancers sporting headdresses from which diabolic dragons with popping eyes and curling horns sprung skyward.  This dance allegedly references a group of trapped miners in a collapsed mine who feared for their lives and saw an army of demons pressing in on them; in desperation, they prayed for deliverance to the Virgen and were rescued.  Needless to say, we were stunned by the scope of the celebration and, when at 4:30pm, the sky split open and sent lightning, rain, and sleet from the heavens, we trudged through streets of rushing water getting soaked and eagerly boarded our van to escape to the airport.  All in all, Mamacha Candelaria and her lake made this pilgrimage among the most memorable of our Peruvian adventures.

     Expectations frequently get in the way here in Peru.  Having been raised on national parks in the US, I always expect things to be similar in other places.  When I hear of the Sacred Valley or Colca Canyon my mind's eye sees Utah, Colorado or Arizona:  Wide-open spaces unadulterated with much in the way of human settlement,  just lots of natural beauty.  Peru is not like that.  The dry western slope of the Andes is unpopulated but, other than that, we've only found one area in Peru, between Colca and Juliaca, to be without human settlements, too.  If there is a river coming down out of the Andes, even the dry western slope has people, as do many stretches of the god-forsaken desert between Lima and Paracas.  Anywhere there is water, there are people here.  Sometimes when there is no water there are still people.

     When I hear, "Colca Canyon, at a depth of 10,725 feet, is one of the deepest canyons in the world, more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon," I'm expecting a big national park with a plateau cut insanely deeply by a river.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  As you can see from the pictures, it's plenty steep and deep and it is, "a deep gorge, typically one with a river flowing through it," by definition a canyon.  It just didn't meet my expectations.
     Once that feeling was expressed and I starting looking around at what was there, it turned out to be an interesting place, one of Marnie's favorites in all of the parts of Peru we've seen.  While we did visit the Mirador Cruz del Condor for which the canyon is most renown and were able to witness the condors take their morning flight, this spectacle was mundane compared to the landscapes and people we encountered elsewhere.

      The hotel we stayed in (above), the Colca Lodge, was fantastic.  It is situated on a bend in the Colca River with a good view over and up the river.  We had a nice room with a loft for the boys to sleep in.  The lodge also had a llama farm for Sam and a series of large, outdoor natural thermal pools of varying temperatures overlooking the river for all of us.  In addition, the canyon is home to Wari ruins, terraces that are still heavily farmed, colonial churches and communities full of interesting people.

     Our first afternoon there we walked down and across the valley to visit the Wari ruin of Uyo-Uyo.  The Wari culture was ascendant from 500-1000 AD through most of the central sierra and much of the coast.  Although the empire declined after 1000, the cities and towns remained and Uyo-Uyo, still a vibrant community, allied with the Inca after 1300.  The Spaniard Gonzalo Pizarro arrived in 1540 and shortly thereafter burned what would burn of Uyo-Uyo and forcibly moved the populace across the river where it could be more easily controlled and available for forced labor on Spanish landholdings.  What has been excavated is worth seeing.

     Every small community in the canyon that dates to the Spanish conquest has a church dating back to the second half of the 1500's since the church was extensively used to pacify the Andean people.  Their appearance is similar to the missions in California.  A Catholic fraternal society in Spain is paying to have them renovated, a good way to preserve history. (A note here:  Peru is awash in sites that need to be excavated and preserved, so much so that there is not enough money to go around.  We recently visited the Wari capital city outside Ayacucho which was home to 50,000 people.  It's only 3% excavated.  A nearby cave was found to have human artifacts dating back 20,000.  Only a 3 meter by 5 meter area has been investigated.)

      We were also lucky enough to be in the area during the Wititi festival, which celebrates the legend of a young man, who disguised himself in a skirt and hat in order to dance near a young woman whose father opposed their relationship. Much to our delight every village we passed was celebrating.  The colors, decorations, dancing, cross-dressing and beer drinking were sights to behold and the bands played with a lot of gusto.

As usual, a few animal and bird pictures.

     Not much to write about this place.  We arrived via an overnight bus at 4:30am in a town called Mercedes where we were amused to see unbridled horses ambling down the side walks as the sun began its ascent. It was about a 3-hour drive on a dirt road to our lodge, which often becomes impassable if it's raining.  Fortunately for us it wasn't.  Marnie picked the place for animal watching and it provided plenty of that.  During the drive in we were regaled with an unfathomable number of birds of prey perched on fence posts.  Marnie tried to count how many seconds it took between spotting these creatures and never made it past 7 seconds.  Ibera is home to 350 species of birds, as well as pampas and swamp deer, caiman, and howler monkeys.  The latter proved difficult to spot, but their menacing, low-pitched shrieks reverberated in the forest and left us spooked.  Then too, a caiman that launched itself up at us while we were gazing down on it from a boardwalk also made us jump.  Mostly though, the fauna was peaceful and cooperative with our observation efforts. Sam especially appreciated the capybara family that lived on the grounds and the giant toads that joined us for dinner.  The owner of the place had 3 kids around the boys' ages and a swimming pool.  With those items, Finn and Sam were almost guaranteed a good time.

     The Ibera Wetlands are a mix of swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes and lagoons located in the province of Corrientes, Argentina.  It's one of the most important fresh water reservoirs on the continent and the second-largest wetland in the world, with a total area of 15-20,000 square kilometers.
     Part of the wetland is included in a provincial protected area.  Douglas Tompkins, the deceased co-founder of North Face, had also acquired thousands of hectares in the area which will now become government property and along with the provincial protected area become a national park.  Area locals hope that the government will be as good a steward of the land as Tompkins was since tourism is a major source of income.

All that's left is the pictures.
FLORA

DRAGONFLIES

ASSORTED FAUNA

And, of course, BIRDS

     The last stop on the vacation was Iguazu Falls which lies between Ibera and Buenos Aires. Upon seeing Iguazu, Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed, "Poor Niagra!" (which, at 50 m or 165 feet, are a third shorter). Often Iguazu is also compared to Victoria Falls in Southern Africa.  Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into approximately 275 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria has the largest curtain of water in the world.  Iguazu is classified as a cataract with the highest drop of 269 feet and a total width of 1.7 miles.
     The Argentine government has done a great job of providing a series of walkways around very impressive falls.  This is another time I wish I were a better photographer since I really haven't done the place justice but I hope you enjoy the following photographs.  The roar of falling water, definitely a big part of the experience, you'll have to add for yourself.

2 Things Argentinians know about food:  Parrilla (grilling) and cold beer.

     The first terrain we entered was the Argentinian steppes, an arid landscape lying in the rain shadow of the Andes.  Much of it looked familiar, an amalgam of the sagebrush desert of Nevada along with aspects of Wyoming and Utah.

El Chaltén
     El Chaltén is the northern end of Glacier National Park and is the Tehuelche name for Cerro Fitz Roy, named after the captain of the Beagle of Charles Darwin fame.  It has the distinction of dating only to 1985 when settlers were encouraged by the Argentine government to move in as a way of buttressing territorial claims with Chile.  Today it is a town of 4000 dependent exclusively on tourism.  Fortunately, it has Cerro Fitz Roy, popular with climbers around the world; additionally, it is considered Argentina's trekking capital.  We found it to be quite friendly with a good pub and a great place to stay.  Beautiful hikes to various destinations were plentiful and trails originated right in town.  Our biggest regret was that we didn't schedule enough time to thoroughly appreciate the area.

Sam can always find something of interest...

 ...but Monte Fitz Roy is the star of the show.  At just over 11,000 feet, it isn't really that high but it attracts climbers from all over the world due to its sheer granite faces and weather that is exceptionally inclement and treacherous.  Photographers are also drawn to the mountain thanks to its unique shape. We hiked to Laguna Capri, where the boys impressed us with their hardiness and took a swim in the cold, glacial waters.

     El Calafate lies near the southern end of Glacier National Park and is the location from which tourists go to see Perito Moreno, the area's largest and most accessible glacier.  It has a longer history than El Chaltén, having been established 100 years ago as a gathering spot for sheep ranchers both to set off with their flocks to market and to purchase supplies and meet neighbors.
     It's still a very pleasant little town, full of tourists of all sorts and situated on a beautiful lake.  Just walking along the lake or ambling through the bird sanctuary would be a worthwhile trip, but the pizza and burgers were both great and Perito Moreno didn't disappoint.  Unfortunately, our skills as photographers are not adequate to do Perito Moreno justice, but we hope you'll get a good idea of its spectacle.

     Argentinians drink a lot of mate, an herbal tea made from the leaves of the local yerba maté plant and considered medicinally potent given its antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties, as well as its dose of vitamins C, B1, and B2.  The tea culture comes with lots of paraphernalia – tall double thermos cases with shoulder straps that look like they might contain giant binoculars, as well as a range of drinking devices.  Mate is the Quechuan word for "gourd” and so many Argentinians drink the tea from a gourd with a metal straw called a bombilla.  We saw taxi drivers, tour guides, and day-trippers sipping all day long to relax and restore.  Sam and Finn were game to be like the locals.  Sam, by the way, is wearing his new Chilean baqueano (cowboy) beret.

Birds
     Of course we end with some photos of birds.  Many of the birds proved to be quite willing to stick around and give me good photo ops.  The first two are of the black chested buzzard eagle which may be the most elegant bird I've ever seen.  It was perched on a fence post on the side of the road and didn't mind at all that I'd stopped to take its picture.  Many of the others were about as cooperative.

    Torres del Paine National Park is a national park made up of mountains, glaciers, lakes and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia.  It is a beautiful place and ranks as Marnie's favorite of our summer trips.  We caught a bus from Punta Arenas to the park and the trip got off to a great start with an unexpected stop at Estancia Cerro Negro.

    Liability issues must be very different in South America.  We signed up for a horseback ride that was billed as easy.  Before we knew it, the horses were blazing new trails up the side of a steep slope and on through forests replete with low hanging branches, which snagged on our clothing, slapped and slashed faces, and demanded agile body contortions to avoid injury.  One teen-aged boy actually fell off his horse, 2 other novice riders offered that they were scared witless, while Finn and Sam, having no expectations, took it all in stride and begged the guide to trot the horses. Needless to say, they looked like real baqueanos--Chilean horsemen -- and they received lucky horseshoes to remember their ride.

     We did several hikes around the mountain.  Our hike to Salto Grande, an impressive cascade, transpired on a tempestuously windy day. We cinched our hoods tightly, chased runaway baseball hats carried by the wind, and leaned into the gusts as we tried to walk forward, but were caught in limbo between the force of the gales and our body weight.  Sam amused himself by unzipping his jacket and making himself into a sail, while Marnie was blown over once when she focused too earnestly on taking a picture.  The howling winds produced a magical display over the surrounding lakes, where water spouts swirled up like tornadoes into the sky and white caps spilled onto the shores. The following slide show will give you a flavor of the terrain.

As usual we have a few birds, but this time we also have some mammals of note in the following slide show.

Next stops:  El Calafate and El Chelten