<$BlogRSDURL$>
Sarah's Travel Blog
Sunday, February 15, 2009
 
In search of the Maca Tobiano

I have decided that in addition to doing the normal trekking circuits that everyone else is doing here in Patagonia, I am going to seek out one of the world´s rarest birds, the Hooded Greebe. Many people have spent a significant amount of time trying to find this bird, and many have failed. Here is an account of my attempt so far:

Day One
I agreed to meet my new friends from France, Switzerland, Canada, and Northern Ireland for breakfast at the hostel. Funny enough, it was raining and the three women solo travelers (including me) were all camping and the two men had wimped out and were staying in the hostel. We went for a luxurious breakfast at the gas station which makes eggs and REAL coffee and we had so much fun chatting, that the morning slipped away from us. By the time we hit the road, it was afternoon and we walked out of town along the highway to try and hitchike. No one wants to pick up hitchikers here, and I don´t think four people with packs stood a chance together. After a few hours, the Swiss girl decided to go on ahead and look for a ride by herself, the French girl decided to go to a different city and the Irish guy and I went to look for a bus. I was informed at the bus station that no bus would dare to drop me off in the middle of nowhere to look for a rare bird because of liability issues with leaving tourists in the middle of nowhere. The Irish guy was told that there were no buses until Tuesday, and the French girl had purchased a ticket for the next morning. The French girl and I headed off to the nature preserve which was flooded but filled with geese and flamingos and ducks. On the way back, we found a tiny museum about the history of Patagonia, and I decided that I wanted to stop there for awhile. The man at the museum had lived in the area for some time, knew of this rare bird, and advised me that I do not dare travel to find it without taking a 3-4 day supply of water, food, and full camping gear. He gave me better directions to get to the exact spot. That night, we met up with the Irish guy and made a pasta dinner in the campground. They both went to bed early, and I decided to go to the free rock concert at the other end of town. I never made it to the rock concert as I was stopped by the ice cream store that has the extra dark chocolate yuminess. As I ate my tiny cone and watched the amazing firework show, I chatted with my campground neighbors the hippy troupe of jewelry vendors who schooled me on the art of hitchking in Argentina. One of them has been hitchiking for almost 20 years here and never takes buses. She takes her daughter with her who is around 4 years old and assures me she has never had any issues. We learn later that the swiss girl has been picked up by a trucker and has arrived safely in Rio Gallegos.

Day Two
I meant to wake up early, pack camp and head out on the road to find a ride, but the weather is awful. The idea of heading out into the middle of nowhere during a giant storm just seems stupid, so I´m hanging out at the internet cafe and spending all my money on coffees. As much as I´m enjoying the camp with the bathroom that I share with 500 people, I was seriously happy to receive an e-mail from my new friend Mario the high school teacher who I met on a fishing trip down south. He lives here in town, and I´m hoping that there might be storm free lodging somehow involved. Tomorrow, I will try and figure out the best way to get to nowhere with the help of a local!

Powered by Blogger