"Hola chicos" as they say here !
By the way, do you know where this "here" is? Imagine that between two news written by us, you can follow our position live from our website. The link to our position and our route is here! And today, we are writing to you from Calafate, Argentina, at the entrance to the glaciers.
A little look back and with image is essential, since our departure from Europe last February. In Brazil, at Edra (the manufacturer) near Sao Paulo, we first took possession of our new flying and floating house, and after a competition among our online community, the final design of the seaplane was chosen, between many proposals from primary school classes. So, whale, shark or clownfish? You have chosen the whale!
After leaving Edra we descended south on the Brazilian side to Florianopolis, then entered Argentina at the Iguazu Falls at sunset. From there we went to El Dorado, Posadas then Mercedes, to meet "gauchos", these farmers on horseback who roam their "estancias" (their farms) over kms of fertile steppes in order to watch their cattle grazing peacefully.
Over there, we are fully surrounded by kinds of small wild ostriches "rhea", placid mammals "capybaras", wild buffaloes and flocks of superb birds.
We then joined the big city of Rosario on the banks of the Parana river in full flood, then that of Carhue city, which collected the inhabitants of the neighboring city who were all evacuated after the engulfment of the latter by the salt lake Epecuen.
The managers of the natural park have commissioned us to carry out an aerial accounting of the pink flamingos that inhabit this famous lake, feeding on "artemia salinas", the tiny crustaceans capable of surviving in this saline environment.
On the occasion of this overflight, we were able to admire not only the flight of pink flamingos, but also this city recently emerged from the waters, whose trees and houses calcined by the salt offer a fascinating spectacle.
We then landed in the airports of St Exupéry, Trelew, Comodoro Rivadavia, Gallegos, Ushuaia, and finally in the southernmost city of the South American continent, Puerto Williams, where we met the last Yamana speaker, the indigenous language of the people of the same name.
From there we headed up the coast towards the windy Rio Grande, then headed inland towards the town of Calafate.
The winds to be faced for this whole journey were particularly trying, and we are happy to have always been able to count on the local pilots of the flying clubs, who have unparalleled expertise in dealing with the local conditions, and great hospitality: at each stage , an "asado" - a barbecue - was waiting for us!
From now on, the scientific missions will accelerate in leaps and bounds!
On the program for the next three months, projects will be related to glaciers, inaccessible snow-capped mountains, lakes in danger of pollution, dinosaur fossils, and the creation of natural parks... The rest in the next post! And for those present in Calafate at the moment, come and listen to us tomorrow evening at the Glaciarium the Ice Museum, for a conference;)
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