Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 23: Lago los Barreales and Proyecto Dino: Leaving The Andes

We were sad to leave the Andes, but we were excited about today`s destination - dinosaur country!

The drive was fairly uneventful except for 2 spots. The first stop was in the middle of nowhere as the road was following the bend of the adjacent river. Rubby spotted some interesting birds in the trees so we stopped to check them out. It turned out to be a great birding spot. We saw a whole flock of some type of parrot, a hawk, some sort of water bird, and a whole flock of turkey vultures that made for some pretty cool photos.

The second bit of excitement happened as we neared the dino site. We arrived at a police checkpoint where the officer asked us where we were going. We told him to the dino site but he didn't seem to get it. He kept talking about the road bending up ahead and we were trying to figure out if there was a detour or something cause he seemed really insistent on trying to explain something to him. We indicated that we didn't understand but he kept going and finally we figured out that he was trying to get us to take something along to the next police checkpoint for him. Not knowing what else to do we finally accepted the goods which seemed to be cleaning supplies of some kind. We left the checkpoint feeling a little rattled and hoping we hadn't just been conned into doing something bad... then again, what was the alternative, to refuse the gendarmerie? sigh. We drove ahead, unsure of where to go. We saw the turnoff for the dino site to the right but the guy had clearly indicated that the road would curve to the left. We decided to drive a little bit further and finally we saw the turn and the next police checkpoint. A non-uniformed guy came out of the tiny station and we handed him the bag. He took the bag and grunted something or other that we couldn't understand and headed back to the station. We snapped a quick picture to prove that "the goods had been delivered", turned the car around and headed back to the turnoff for the dino project hoping we wouldn't be arrested later in the day. Never a dull moment...!

At the entrance of the hotel appartments.

A little sitting corner.

An abandoned bus across the street.

Typical sights on the roads in Argentina.

Rolling hills.

A little blue sky helps to brighten up the landscape.

Beautiful flowers along the road as we head east from San Junin de los Andes.

A hawk.

A guanaco... seems like we haven't seen one of these in ages!

We pass by the condor rookery but are glad we came the night before.
fog rolling over the cliffs and blinding sunlight make it impossible to spot any birds.

Long and narrow river crossing.

Looking back at the bridge.

Another scenic drive.

More beautiful flowers.

View across the foothills of the Andes.

A "fence" of volcanic basalt columns.

Which way to go... oh yes, straight ahead!

A pair of turkey vultures in the ditch.

A whole flock of turkey vultures spreading their wings!

Unidentified bird.

Burrowing Parrot (cyanoliseus patagonus). The spanish name is loros barranqueros.

The colours of these parrots were amazing.

The burrowing Parrot (cyanoliseus patagonus) was formerly common and widespread in Argentina, generally inhabiting open grassland and burrowing in cliff sides and earth. Now these birds are only abundant patchily, and in some areas are extinct.