By Travis Goodin from Westminster College Life is brought into the camp with an early sunrise and the soothing calls of the camp owners’ roosters and the native southern lapwing. As the breakfast crew makes their way out of their…
There were many goals for this trip. For us as RRCS students the main goal was to learn a little about the local culture and kids and possibly pass some of our knowledge, the little we may have, on. Round River´s were to build a relationship with the local community and to help to ensure future protection for BNP El Mosco. The local students goals hopefully mirrored the RRCS students goals in coming to Patagonia: to get exposed to something new and possibly further their knowledge of the natural world and help to conserve it.
Instead of asking how are you, our escort guides would ask, where are you? Are you here? Le teng? And in the bush, re teng. We are here. I think that phrase encapsulates our time at Mopane Camp. We are here, present in the moment, just us in the bush.
Our goal (team 4) for the day was to survey the Los Coigues trail and the remainder of the Los Carpinteros trail. We hiked along quickly, taking many data points, and only stopping to eat lunch at a lakeside beach, finishing the 12k day at 2:30pm. As we drove back to basecamp to return to the other 3 teams, I was left feeling grateful that I was able to spend the past days in beautiful Tamango, surrounded by wildflowers and songbirds, doing research I enjoyed.
The stories told by these pans, I realized, would soon include our story; the 9 sets of sandal-tracks or bare footprints running through the open pan, stopping occasionally for photos or to look at an interesting animal track, reveling in the beauty of being surrounded by so little. We spent our time on the pan, reflecting, before loading into our trusty land cruisers and heading off to our next adventure.