Condors and Rheas and Guanocos, oh my!

---

Entering Patagonia was like being on another planet. The skies were bluer, the mountains higher, the winds windier and the animals saucier and fearless.

Leaving Puerto Arenas, the southern most town in Chile, I got my first glimpse of the Straights of Magellan. It gives me chills to see things I only read about in my elementary school geography book or heard as a query on 'Jeopardy'. But there they were bluer than cobalt and throwing up whitecaps like a can-can dancer waving her skirt.

Before I go on I have to tell you about the wind in Puerto Natales. We had stopped to have lunch at a sheep ranch, known as an 'estancia'. Getting out of the bus, dressed in as many layers as I could load on, I thought I was well prepared (afterall I was used to shoveling snow in a Northeast blizzard). But trust me, you cannot be prepared for the force of this wind. Let's just say it is a good thing I pack a few extra pounds because it literally can lift you up like Dorothy( we later saw this happen to one of our tour group members). Except this isn't a tornado, it blows like this every day and all night long. I hadn't heard wind like this since I spent time in Monteverde, Costa Rica. In fact, the wind was so strong, like being inside a hurricane. it blew some of the roof off our hotel!

Let me tell you some of the animals I saw from the bus windows as I drove along: rheas- so many of them it was impossible to count. They are huge, ostrich like flightless birds that lumber along doing, well, I guess whatever rheas do. Guanacos- a cousin to the llama but said to be a bit meaner. They like to spit. A lot. But they are beautiful and graceful. It is amazing to watch them approach a 3 foot fence and just hop over it like it wasn't even there. Flamingos- huge flocks of them eating shrimp in glacial ponds in the middle of nowhere. Did you know they get their pink color from eating those shrimp? Good trivia question. eh? Swans, geese, more birds than I could possible name and list, gray foxes, and eagles- about 6 of them sitting on fence posts 25 feet from the bus. They looked at us, we looked at them. Magnificent.

But my favorites were the condors. First we saw one or two and then we hit what must have been their flight pattern for the day as five, ten, twenty and more flew only feet above our bus. SInce mostly I've only heard about condors and hummed the famous song " Condora Pasa", I was stunned to see them in their magnificence with their huge 3 -4 foot wing span soaring over head. There was a sad sigh from the bus when we had to pull away.

Wait, wait there's more!!!! We were blessed again with a gorgeous sunny day and looming directly ahead were the fantastic spires of the Torres ( two granite pillars that tower about 9,000 feet ), and Los Cuernos ( the Horns) which reach up 10,000 feet. How's this for AWESOME? These peaks were formed 12 million years ago! They soar into the air like the finger's of a giant. They are in the Torres del Paine National Park which is about 950 square miles and was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978. I like that each of the peaks has a name: Fortaleza ( strength), Escudo( shield of arms); Catedral( cathedral), and hoja( blade). Folks, I could go on and on trying to decribe this sight but this is one place you just have to experience for yourself to truly appreciate it.

It was raining as we pulled into our hotel( the weather changes very rapidly and you can have 4 seasons in a couple of hours) which was in the middle of the park. The clouds and rain obscured the view. But, oh the next morning the sun was shining and the clouds had drifted off revealing the towers in all their majesty. Some things have to be appreciated in silence so I will let you try to imagine what they looked like( or you could google the park and see a picture for yourself).

More to come... Carolyn ( gunga)

---