By Nina Ferrari (University of Vermont)
Once settled back at base camp from our overnight in Tamango we were excited by Gilberto’s offer to show us around the campo. After filling up on a breakfast consisting mainly of homemade bread, courtsey of John, we were ready to wrangle some cattle. The campo is about an hour drive north on the Carretera Austral. When we arrived Gilberto showed us the male sheep used as the main breeding gene pool for local merino wool. Because of their genetic superiority each sheep is worth about $3000. Next, we helped Gilberto and the other gauchos to guide the cattle into a corral for tagging; laughing meanwhile at the few escapees that ran off, up a nearby hill. We watched a quick demonstration and then some of the students tried their hand at lassoing the cattle and tagging their ears. After many unsuccessful attempts, we let the gauchos take over and we headed back to base camp.
Max and John attempting to lasso cattle.
We woke up the next morning to our fifth and final instructor, Fernando (Feña), who had arrived in the middle of the night. He is from Pirque, a vineyard town to the south of Santiago. He arrived just in time to join us on our first day trip into the Chacabuco Valley. After a 45-minute drive on the Carretera Austral, heading north, we arrived at the long awaited Valle Chacabuco. We drove through the rolling hills covered with mosaic of yellow grasses, pale green shrubs, and rocky outcrops. The hillsides were dotted with guanaco, a close relative of the llama, looking innately awkward as they ran with their heads hanging low and grunting.
We pulled up to Conservación Patagonica’s (CP) administrative buildings. The juxtaposition between CP’s freshly groomed lawn and stone and copper architecture with the rest of the valley was noticeable from afar. We continued further east into the valley stopping at some lakes to look for waterfowl along the way. We stopped for lunch at Lago Cisnes (Swan Lake), where we appropriately saw a pair of Black-necked Swans amongst the reeds. After lunch we did some pacing and GPS exercises to prep for our fieldwork in the valley.
Two vizcacha we saw on our hike up the boulder-covered hill. (photo courtesy of Rachel Ross)
Memo led us to a boulder-covered hill that he used to observe during his vizcacha surveys for his senior thesis. As soon as we got out of the trucks he spotted two from the road, sunning on a rock. We hiked closer and got a better look at them and then continued up the hill to see four more. We then headed back to CP’s administrative buildings for a tour of the property. We viewed the restaurant and the lodge, where we had to take our shoes off upon entrance, as to not damage the floors. We were all a little nervous to touch anything or sit on their white linen cushions because we were dirty from our time in the field. Next we walked to the organic garden and got a brief tour from the ruggedly handsome CP gardener, Francisco. Overall, it was a great introductory day in the Chacabuco; we headed back to basecamp excited to start our research for the upcoming weeks.
A day and a half at basecamp had passed, filled with a nice balance of academics and relaxation. A few of us were playing the push-up game outside when we looked up and, to our surprise, saw three gringos in the driveway. One of them was a friend of Feña’s, who founded a river rafting exchange program between students in the United States and Chile. He was in Cochrane to prep for another program. Two older men, Jib and Forest, accompanied him. Jib conducted a similar exchange program during the Cold War between Russia and the United States, and Forest is a donor for CP. It was interesting to hear their stories and familiarize ourselves with different types of conservation efforts.
Later that afternoon we headed out to Tamango to participate in part two of our beautification. The group spent the day painting a storage barn and cutting down invasive pine trees. That evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of homemade black bean burgers and fries with a carrot cake for dessert to Celebrate Devan’s 20th birthday. After dinner we watched the documentary DamNation as extension of our discussion earlier in the day about the downstream environmental impacts of dams.
Our beautification efforts at work in Tamango.
The next afternoon we went back to the Chacabuco Valley because we had arrangements with the CP. The students wandered around a nearby campsite while the instructors had a meeting. We met back up for a quick game of soccer on a field behind the administrative buildings. In the evening we attended a presentation about wildlife conservation efforts in the valley presented Cristian Saucedo, CP’s Wildlife Manager. We took off our hiking shoes, as instructed by the sign, and instantly stunk up the room with the stench of our sweaty feet, beyond any level of tolerance. A few other attendees of the presentation, including some of CP’s volunteers and one of their donors (our buddy, Forest) were polite enough not to say anything but didn’t hesitate to open all the doors and windows. We were the dirty, smelly, hippy conservationists among the polished CP groupies with their official “Parque Patagonia” hats atop their clean hair. Needless to say it was awkward, but it was important to show them what the other side of conservation smells like.
Top photo: A view of Lago Cisne from our lunch spot.