Eva and I have just come back from a trip to Argentina and Chile. I had been in Argentina twice before, for conferences. The country made a positive impression on me but I did not have time to see very much. At that time I thought I should come back to see more. Now I have finally got around to doing so. The trip could have ended almost before it started since we almost missed our flight. I usually leave plenty of time when travelling to the airport and this was no exception. The ICE which we intended to take to travel from Mainz to Frankfurt airport was cancelled, without a explanation being offered. We then got into the regional train which was the next possibility. It just sat there instead of leaving. Then there was an announcement to say that because of a problem with points it would take a different route and, in particular, would not stop at Frankfurt airport. Our only hope was to travel to the main station in Frankfurt and then back to the airport. The situation seemed chaotic due the problem with the points already mentioned and the fact that there were people on the tracks somewhere. Even the ticket collector on the train did not seem to be able to give us a reasonable suggestion. Eventually we got to the airport and after running throught the airport and jumping a few queues we did get to our flight. We would have preferred a less stressful start to our journey. We flew via Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires and joined the group there. (This was an organized group trip).
The first time I visited Argentina I also flew to Buenos Aires but I saw almost nothing of the city. I just took a taxi from the international airport to the domestic one and my memory was that it drove around the periphery. Looking at how the airports lie this impression was probably mistaken. During my first trip I had a few hours to wait for my continuing flight to Cordoba and I was able to watch the for me exotic gulls, since the airport is close to the water. This time we were warned on arrival about the dangers of the city and how to behave so as to avoid them. We actually had no problems although we did not pay that much attention to security issues. One member of the group was attacked in the middle of the day close to our hotel. A man jumped on his back and tried to steal his watch. I do not think the watch was of particular value but the thief could not know that. Two brave women came and intervened and the thief ran away without the watch. The victim was left with some nasty-looking bruises on his arm but there was no further damage.
Our impression of Buenos Aires was of a beautiful city with a very pleasant atmosphere. It must be said that the days we were there were holidays, so that we experienced the city in a much more relaxed mode than it would be in on a working day. We discovered that there is a very nice nature reserve within easy walking distance of the city. My experience travelling with groups which are not specialised on birds is that if you go anywhere which might be good for birds you see so little that it is frustrating. The present trip was an exception to this rule. In the reserve area near Buenos Aires one of the most prominent species was the Jacana, whch was numerous. Some other prominent sightings were Roseate Spoonbill, Black-Necked Swan (which we later also saw in many other places), Red-Crested Cardinal and a Hummingbird of an undetermined species. From our guides we learned a bit about the complicated subject of Argentinian politics. One story which stuck in my mind and which I reproduce here without further comment is the following. There was a time when many Argentinians were protesting about the meat prices being too high. The Kirchners banned the export of beef. The result was a situation of overproduction which did lead to a decrease in the prices. This led in turn to many producers going out of business or drastically cutting their stocks. The final results were then shortages (beef had to be imported to Argentina from Uruguay!) and that a key national industry had been damaged in a major and probably irreparable way.
After a couple of days in Buenos Aires we flew to Trelew and spent some time exploring the Valdes peninsula, staying in Puerto Madryn. We learned what dry pampa looks like, a brown very dry landscape which in that area forms huge monotone expanses. At that stage I did not find the landscape attractive although other variants we saw in other areas later looked better. We were able to see some of the standard wildlife: sea elephants, sea lions and a huge colony of Magellanic Penguins. The temperature was around 30 degrees (I mean Celcius, not Fahrenheit) and the penguins were suffering a lot from the heat. I was pleasantly suprised to get a close view of an armadillo. The towns in this area was established by settlers from Wales, which explains the curious names. I would be interested to read about the adventures of these pioneers.
After this we flew to the town mentioned in the title of this post, Ushuaia. Before the trip I felt that Ushuaia was more like a mythical place than a real one. But now I have been there. Because of a last-minute change of plane schedule we had less time in Ushuaia than planned. Despite this we were able to take a trip on the Beagle channel with a catamaran in the late afternoon. The weather was excellent. For me this was the highlight of the whole trip. In the town itself we saw Dolphin Gulls and the first Giant Petrels. We visited some seabird islands with breeding colonies of terns and cormorants. We even landed on one island where there were Great Skuas flying around. In one place I saw a couple of Sheathbills on the beach. What was special is that we came to one place where there was a big concentration of fish. There was a corresponding concentration of seabirds, including several Albatrosses. Afterwards one Black-Browed Albatross followed the ship for quite a long time. At 22.00 we caught a flight to El Calafate.
Hydrobates 
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