Ode to the Flamingo

I've never felt this way before, but I am amazed by the flamingo. I admit it's always been an eye-catching animal, in a freak-of-nature sort of way. Flamingos are pink and funny-looking, good for some amusement. But now, after visiting the Salar de Uyuni and its surrounding landscape, dotted with multicolored lagoons, I feel a newfound respect for the bird.

Up here at 4000 meters above sea level (and even higher!), three species of flamingos have their home: the flamenco andino (Andean flamingo), with a black butt; the flamenco chileno (Chilean flamingo), nice and pink; and the smallest, the flamenco de James (James' flamingo), a white variety.

I cannot understand how this silly creature balances that oblong body on scrawny little legs, especially while bent over with its long neck twisted to better shove its beak into the mud. That seems like enough of a challenge. Now, imagine this environment these three species of flamingos have....I'm telling you, it's not Disney World or the Caribbean, with warm waters and plenty of snacks to find in the water. These flamingos, at such high altitude, live in quite an inhospitable environment. The winds are fierce and temperatures drop below zero at nighttime. On land, barely a green thing grows. I saw a total of three insects while wandering around the weird rock formations and volcanic pebbled soil. It's a lonely place. For company, the flamingos have a few birds, groups of llamas-vicunas-alpacas (those fluffy, docile camelids), vizcachas (adorable rabbit-type things with long tails), and the zorro Antonio - a fox, which most likely doesn't frequent the lagoons just for a smooth cocktail.

Yet these flamingos plant their feet in the muck and ignore all the factors stacked against them. They're happy with the algae and microorganisms the lagoons offer. The shallow, salty waters, which stained my Puma sneaks red and brown and white, are the birds' sustenance.

Barren, bleak, baking by day, freezing by night, blindingly white, windswept, wide open, the flamingos' home has all the negative characteristics any animal would choose to avoid. The landscape of the salt flats, especially, is even so unsettling that sometimes you feel like it's otherworldly. Sometimes you feel like you're not on solid ground, like you're sliding off the edge of the Earth.

Somehow, impossibly, it's beautiful. Harsh and bare, but so incredible. So unique that it leaves one speechless.

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