Chilean Andes

December 28, 2012

 

Today was our Andean Condor adventure.  We boarded a bus at about 8 in the morning and headed out of Santiago into the Chilean Andes.  Most of our day was spent on “40 Bend Road”, so called because of the 40 switchbacks along the way.  I think there were more, but I guess it depended on what you call a switchback.  We climbed from close to sea level to about 9,000 feet, stopping along the way to look for birds.  We had some great views of Condors in flight, and also found striated caracara (a type of raptor), a variable hawk, and some other birds.  We were also treated to seeing a southern red fox running across the road.  We looked at lots flowers and pretty views.  I was surprised at the cacti growing along the mountain.  Our guide, who was wonderful, was hopeful of finding some blooming, and maybe we’d get to see the giant humming bird, but we failed on both of those.  Our guide was from southern Chile, where, among other things, he leads a trip to look for pumas, and so far has 100% success rate.  That would be a fun trip to do.

It was a glorious day, though the road was twisty enough I had to take a Dramamine to get through it. Janet would not have liked the drive, as there were lots of places with steep drops and no guardrail.  And several places with crosses and shrines where people didn't make it.  The road is the only road up to several major ski resorts, so in the winter it gets VERY busy and, at the same time snowy.  Not a good combination.

Rick started in on his job, and did commentary on the geomorphology of the sites. 

Another Condor!

Southern Red Wolf

Condor!

Variable Hawk

But on this trip, highs were in the mid-80's, so snow didn't seem to be a worry.  And skies were blue, though tomorrow in the Falklands it is supposed to rain.

When we came home we learned we had been at about the epicenter of a 4.2 magnitude earthquake!  Since we were on the bumpy road at the time, none of us noticed.

Home in time for some dinner (much earlier than Chileans usually eat – they were surprised to see us in the dining room at 5:30, although some other folks from our trip were there, so we weren’t the only ones.)  Rick’s cheeseburger was about as big as the plate, with cheese both above and below the meat. Then back to the room for some repacking and bed.