A-C-B: Circumnavigating Lake Angostura

Carlos, our guide, started October 20 with another round of birding. We descended from Tafí del Valle back into the wetter climate of the Yungas. The lower we went the harder it rained, so Carlos turned around and parked in a pull-out spot located above today's rain line but still in the forest. A platform and memorial stone commemorated a 1975 airplane crash that killed two Argentine generals and eleven other officers. This was our view of the road after pulling in.

We slowly walked up and across a small creek flowing down from a side valley, keeping our eyes and ears alert for birds, but our first discovery was bovine. (click on the image to enlarge).

Ownership was claimed by earmarks, and this one was particularly eye-catching.

This side of the road proved otherwise uninteresting, and we hopped over the guard wall on the other side of the road and scrambled, carefully, down to a large creek to which the first was a tributary. There were several birds Carlos hoped we would see, and I got pictures of two of them.

First, a rufous-throated dipper.

Carlos was fetching something from the car when Joan and I spotted a male torrent duck, #1 on Carlos' wish list for today.

Quite a handsome fellow.

Next we drove back up to Lake Angostura, an artificial body of water created by a dam,

but instead of proceeding north to Tafí, Carlos took us west to the town of El Mollar. There we walked a couple of blocks to the Los Menhires Museum of Archaeology.

 A menhir is man-made standing stone, typically associated with the Old World, but also created by original peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

These stones were, unfortunately, uprooted by the Spanish and their descendants and brought to this spot from far-flung locations and cultures without documentation. In that era they were curiosities and not items of scientific inquiry. Still, we were glad to have an opportunity to see the many dozens protected here.

After visiting the menhires we drove back to the east side of the lake, where Carlos found a spot to pull off, and we walked down to the shore to eat lunch and observe the birds.

El Mollar is visible across the lake. 

Many more avian species flew by than I could photograph! Here, a slate-colored coot is gathering nesting material.

Possibly a snowy egret in the foreground of this image, and a great egret in the back.

In the foreground, the South American (white-backed) variant of the black-necked stilt.

A blue-beaked bird is just left of the offshore egg.

After lunch Carlos drove us back to Tafí, where we turned off on an unpaved road to explore the west side of Lake Angostura. At different spots we got out of the car to wander and observe.

The reddest flower I've ever seen crept across a rock.

This cactus blossom wasn't shabby either!

This mockingbird kept hiding from us in the sparse trees.

A duck or two in the nearby creek.

We drove further down, and parked next to a broad meadow that led us towards the lakeside. There we saw various birds, including Andean lapwings driving away a dog, and aquatic horses.

In one drainage there was enough moisture support a luxurious old tree.

Welcome shade in the summer.

The remainder of the meadow was grasses, for forage, and petite flowers.

Then we passed through El Mollar once again, and completed our loop by returning to Tafí and our hotel, the Lunahuana. This trail of yellow dots shows some of today's peregrinations.

Joan, Carlos, and I again had dinner at the Lunahuana, with a surprise for Joan. The 20th was our anniversary, and I had emailed Trogon ahead of time requesting something with which to observe it -- perhaps a special dessert featuring dulce de leche? At the end of the meal the waiter brought out a cake made of alternating layers of dulce de leche and thin, crispy flour tortillas, or something similar. With a candle on top. The rest of the dining room sang "Happy Birthday" in Spanish. The treat was a big hit, and Joan and I ate as much as we possibly could.

Tomorrow, on to Cafayate.