Birds of a Feather...

Greetings, Stuffie Fans! It’s Scottie again, with more news of our trip south of the equator. We sure lucked out on the weather as we headed to Torres Del Paine - a huge National Park at the southern tip of the Andes Mountains. We got a little lost on the way ot the park. Thank goodness we had Amelia with us. Her sense of direction never leads her astray. Guess that’s what happens when you migrate many times in your life!

We learned that luck indeed was on our side at the park. The guide said it was very unusual to be able to see all the peaks with no clouds! We learned that the reason the mountains looked so big is that there are no foothills- it goes straight up. The views were just plain fantastic! The only bad part of the trip is it was long … we got up at 5 am and didn’t get back until 9:30!

We were thankful to have Ferdinand along. He translated lots of the guide’s stories and information. He was also helpful when we looked at the displays. Surprisingly, Ferdinand’s personal highlight wasn’t acting as our translator, It was finding this awesome statue in one of the parks.

They had a great conversation. And, then Amelia found a long lost distant relative living in the park, also. Her cousin migrated here a long time ago and then stayed because all the visitors feed her. If I had unlimited snacks, I sure wouldn’t go any where else! 

Next, we were off to Terra Del Fuego. That trip required us to leave at 8 am to catch a 2 hour ferry across the Straits. The ferry was much more relaxing than sitting in a van for hours on end. We could run around and visit all the windows and eat any snacks people were willing to share. (Quick note: when you’re adorable, people are usually willing to share!)

As we were looking at park, all of sudden a new Stuffie appeared. Of course, we didn’t immediately recognize what she was doing here. We decided maybe she was the whole reason we came to this island.

We still don’t have a name for our newest stuffie. Anyhow we thought maybe there should be a naming contest! We think every Stuffie should come up with a name and then we can vote on it! What do you think? 

Our new friend say we simply had to travel to a nearby location. We found out why when we got there. She had a bunch of friends in the area, and she was happy to introduce us to them. This is the only place in the world where penguins live on the land that you can walk to. They are King Penguins and are really, really big. We learned from the naturalist (person who know a lot about nature and especially the penguins) that the babies stay together as the parents go off and chat. More interesting is the parents will swim like a 100 miles to find and bring back a specific kind of food.. We wondered if it’s always the same kind of food or if it’s like a penguin restaurant.

Speaking of food, we learned there are non-native grey foxes that like to eat the babies- yikes! Luckily, they only hunt at night under certain atmospheric conditions (low pressure, phases of the moon, no rain, etc). When that happens, the naturalists are waiting for them with traps and then move them far away. Whew!

One one of our last days we needed to relax so we went hiking in a nearby park. I was in change of finding the way. No one got lost this time!

All great things come to an end. We had a blast trying out lots of different foods at all the airports on the way home.

Till next time!

-Scottie and Friends