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.

A-C-B: Tafi de Valle

On October 19th Joan and I grabbed a couple of pastries at 7:00, when the hotel buffet opened, and then joined guide Laura and driver Gustavo for the trip to the downtown Buenos Aires airport and a busy travel day.

Despite our early arrival the automatic check-in kiosk showed only a few unassigned seats on our flight to Tucumán, in northwestern Argentina, and no two adjacent. However, on the plane, Joan's row had plenty of empty seats! The Aerolineas Argentina software wasn't synchronized with reality.

We knew before check-in that our luggage would be overweight, and we were prepared for the modest fee; within Argentina, the limit is 15 kg / 33 lbs. per person. When the check-in agent discovered this a multi-step process began. He tore up the boarding passes that had printed out and directed us to a window across the hall to pay the fee. No, it could not be done at check-in. Joan, Laura, and I waited in line to pay the fee and have new boarding passes printed. Many were paying in cash -- perhaps Aerolineas didn't want the check-in agents handling cash? Or they wanted to create more jobs?

Theoretically we boarded in two groups -- rows 1-15 and 16-29. But that merely affected the order in which we boarded buses to drive out to the plane, so inevitably some mixing occurred.

On the plane I was in a middle seat, and a young man was sitting in the window seat. The cabin attendants offered drinks and snacks, including alfajores, which come in many varieties; mine reminded me of the moon pies of my youth in Tennessee. When the young fellow heard me speaking English he introduced himself, Pablo. He was returning to his job as a radio host after spending a month working as a volunteer at the Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. I introduced him to Joan at the baggage claim.

In the arrivals hall we met Carlos, our guide for the rest of our trip. Outside there was a light spring rain. We immediately began to drive towards Tafí del Valle, today's destination, and Carlos described his trip to meet us. He had been rear-ended in a minor collision, which left his back bumper somewhat misaligned with the rest of the car, and for several days, until he found some suitable wire, it would require periodic inspection to make sure it wasn't falling off. The loose look of the bumper made the police suspicious, and they stopped him to make certain he wasn't stuffing drugs under it. Joan and I were glad he had been able to make it to the airport!

Tucumán is at 470 meters / 1542 ft., and at 26.8° south latitude, has a warm and wet climate; annual rainfall is about 1000 mm. On the other hand, Tafí del Valle is at 2,014 meters / 6,608 ft., annual precipitation only 410 mm, and is a favorite cooling-off spot for the citizens of the plains. The drive was a long and twisty one (click on the image to enlarge).

The climate is visibly drier at the top.

This region is part of the Yungas, a transition zone between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests -- a subtropical highland climate. In Argentina the name is pronounced Zhoon-gus.

Trade winds dump moisture on the rising slopes, and today there was rain of varying intensity.

A viewpoint over the draining river.

Looking upstream.

The three of us ate lunch by the riverside further up the road, while the weather cooperated. There was also time for some casual bird watching; above, a cactus was blooming.

Carlos drove us up and on to Tafí del Valle, where we checked into the Hosteria Lunahuana. The skies were overcast, but the precipitation hadn't made it this high. The three of us went for a walk.

Our route passed through a district with lots of small shops on either side of a noisy road hosting a variety of vehicles -- bicycles, motorbikes, autos, and small trucks. We left the crowded zone at a bridge over the confluence of two streams, and I took this picture looking back.

While crossing the bridge we were adopted by several roaming dogs, who would run ahead and check out interesting aromas and contest right-of-way with the resident canines.

We traveled as far as the Jesuit Chapel Museum and took the tour, with Carlos interpreting the Spanish-speaking guide for us. This history took us through indigenous, pre-conquest times up to the revolution for Argentine independence from Spain.

On our way back we stopped at a cheese/fruit/meat shop. We tasted the owner's unaged grape wine, and a soft cheese that came in flat strips, about the size of an extra-large ribbon of lasagna. Joan and I bought two strips of the cheese.

Our room at the hosteria had a small upper level, reachable by a stairway so steep that the steps had alternating left-right cutouts. (I never went up there, although Joan did.)

The dining room opened for dinner at 8:30, reminding us that we were in the Latin culture now. We had a good meal, including a half-bottle of local wine, and returned to our room eager for more exploration of the area tomorrow.