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Again, big apologies for the delay, I guess I am not destined to be a blogger.
After heading back "into the wild" of Tierra del Fuego since the last update, I started working full-time on the groundcover project. Every day we would rise in the morning, put the kettle on the kitchen stove for tea or coffee, and eat some home-made bread with jam. Then, after gathering our packs, we were off into the hills for 30-45 minutes following a semi-marked trail that would lead us to the castoreras (beaver dams). Each site required laying o
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They had satellite TV at the main house (but no internet...) so at n
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One day I was woken by my roommate saying that there was a carpintero outside. I grabbed my camera and was able to find the bird, a Magellanic Woodpecker, in amongst the Lenga trees. I was lucky because the trees around the house are all relatively short, so the woodpeckers could not climb up to the point where they appeared as little red and black dots. I spent like 2 hours following the birds (turned out to be 3 of them, one juvenile an
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Another was going fishing in the late afternoons at one of the rivers that flows near the house. I only caught one fish (a salmon) the right size to eat, but with it we made fresh ceviche! I went out other times too but without much luck. Still, for me it was more the chance to be outside in Patagonia that was attractive. Walking through the grassland I would often encounter some new lichen or moss to photograph, and often these little long-billed birds called snipes that scurried and flew off when I got too close. There were curious Guanacos that would pace towards me to see what I was doing by the river. As long as I did not make any sudden movements, they remained calm.
We got a visit from the Wildlife Conservation Society (that run Karukinka) staff back in Punta Arenas and Santiago. They came down to do some trekking and exploring possible new routes in the park. They were pretty friendly and eventually invited me to go with them on one of their trips, to an "unexplored" valley connecting a huge lake (Lag
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The end felt like it came very soon (surprisingly, the days went by very fast!), but I looked forward to getting back in touch with the world. I rode down with some of the staff and got to see the toninas again in the water at the crossing of the Strait of Magellan. I also got some photos of flamingoes in dried up lakes along the side of the road. Never seen so many in my life, and in the wild at that. Finally, before arriving in Punta Arenas, we saw some Ñandús on the side of the road and got to stop to see the close. There was an adult and 3 large chicks, browsing in the grass. Such strange-looking creatures–really reminded me of dinosaurs.
So the return was pretty eventful. I stayed a few days in Punta Arenas, figuring out flight logistics and plans for the remainder of my time in South America and meeting people at the hostal I stayed at. Then, almost directly from Punta Arenas (with a stop in Santiago, but all within a day at least) I flew to Quito, Ecuador. I got set up with my old hostal and then grabbed an opportunity to visit a cloudforest eco-lodge with volunteers for 3 days, before heading to my next planned activity. This place was called Santa Lucía; it is a lodge completely run by a commun
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Unfortunately, it was overcast and rainy
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I am currently at Yanayacu Research Station in the Napo Province of Ecuador. I'm working as a volunteer or assistant to a project tracking caterpillar and parasitoid diversity in this region. It's a huge project, spanning many years of collecting and rearing caterpillars. I help collect in the field and then bag and feed the caterpillars. The reason
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3 comentarios:
This looks like an AWESOME experience. The pictures are fantastic - makes me wish I wasn't living in the desert.
I want to go! All the photos are fantastic. I've never even heard of most of those animals. have a good time with the caterpillars and hopefully I'll see you when you're back in dirty boring old new jersey. Wanna go jersey devil hunting in the pine barrens? not as exciting as flamingoes... but it's what we've got.
WOW!!! the picture of the earthworms had me with my mouth wide open, awesome!
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