Pink Flamingos

Tuesday morning we did not have to be organized and ready to hit the road by 7:30 am — we were taking a slow Patagonia day! A bit of a sleep in and a quiet breakfast (as most of the other travelers were off earlier to make the 7:30 am buses/activities).




Just at the bottom of El Calafate, beside the Lago Argentina, is the Laguna Nimez Reserva Natural. After hearing from another traveler that many Chilean Flamingos were still on view, we were excited to do the 2-3km walk around the reserve and see them ourselves.

Yup! Those faint pink dots by the water are the flamingos!




With our trusty binoculars in hand, we eagerly set out, and yes, there they were, wading out in the lagoon in front of the entry point. Great views through the binoculars, but not so much for photos (we'd need a serious lens!) so we don't have any fabulous flamingo fotos to share :(

We also saw many other kinds of birds — many more than we had thought we would at this time of year: finches, wrens, sparrows, lake ducks, spoon ducks, ruddy ducks, and upland geese (plus several others we could not identify even with the help of the information centre pamphlets).













It was the flamingos however that really stole the show. We had NO idea that these birds were here and their colour alone makes them standout against the white mountainous backdrop. It was amusing watching them feed (tails in the air with their teenie spindly legs moving like paddleboat peddles on the surface) and downright fabulous to watch them fly.





The scenery is so lovely here and I don't think our photos really can convey the vast desert like space, the saturated colours and endless vistas. It is a very peaceful and grounding place and both of us are smitten with the scenery on offer.








We spend the rest of our day in several cafes, visiting the bank (the ATM has money again, yay!), stopping in at the grocery store and scoping out a place to have dinner. Tomorrow it's on to Bariloche!