Blog | DawnelleSalantPhotos

Dawnelle Salant
- Apr 6, 2020
- 1 min read

Guanacos and Armadillos

The next morning, our last day in Calafate, we go 4x4ing up the mountain. The goal is to see condors, but alas, there isn’t enough wind. This makes me even happier that I saw the two at the glacier. We are blessed with countless guanacos, a member of the llama/alpaca family and we even see two Loica’s - the emblem bird of the area. The male is a powerful red that beckons to the female. As we are driving along, I notice something unusual scrambling through the grass. STOP! There’s an armadillo! I didn’t even know they were found here so I was pretty excited! We ended up seeing two - our guide said it was unusual to see them out in the day. Armadillo wasn’t even on my list and now I can cross it off! I also see a hawk sitting on a branch overlooking the valley, the photo ops here are endless!

We can see so much of Lago Argentina from the top - the blue of the lake still gets me. It’s so beautiful here. Something else I love about this place is that there are lots of Argentinians here. I often feel guilty that I have seen more of the world than I have of my own country, and it makes me happy to see that they are enjoying the beauty of their own country. Tomorrow we leave for our last stop in Argentina, Iguazu Falls, and although I'm excited to get to Brazil, I am loving everything we have seen and done in Argentina.

Dawnelle Salant
- Apr 5, 2020
- 3 min read

Meet Mt. Fitz Roy - My New Favourite Mountain

The next morning we get up early and catch a bus to El Chalten, the hiking capital of Argentina. The star attraction is Mt. Fitz Roy and as we drive in, I see its jagged peaks through the high clouds. This is the most dramatic mountain I think I have ever seen and I’m enthralled. We have only come for the day, but there are 3 shorter hikes that we can do that will give us spectacular views. We start our first trail, Mirador de los Condores, with all our layers on. Within minutes I am down to my tank top - it’s all uphill and it’s straggly warm here. As we climb, I look back every few minutes for a different view of Mt. Fitz Roy. This is the mountain that inspired the Patagonia clothing line. It’s stunning. We can’t see the whole thing, but I had been warned that most people don’t see any of it at all due to the clouds that surround it. At 3405 m high, its jagged peaks punch through the clouds and reach for the heavens. It’s like there are huge chunks missing - it reminds me of when my students draw a mountain and they draw three or four triangles straight up and down. Fitz Roy is like that - but the triangles are thin with huge spaces between them. I can see a glacier on the face of one part of the mountain, but it’s the spiky peaks that steal the show. We get up to the viewpoint and I take my usual 1000 photos from every angle. There are lots of people, but it’s so windy that no one sticks around long. I actually thought I might be blown off the mountain at one point; I had to sit down.

Our next trail starts halfway down the first, and leads to a view of the lake in the distance. It’s nice, but I miss Fitz Roy. On our way back we get yet another view, with fields of flowers and low lying hills leading up to the mountain. After lunch, we don’t have time to do the last trail but we learn that we can take a taxi to a nearby waterfall. Again, it’s nice, but everything here pales in comparison to Mt. Fitz Roy. It’s my new favourite mountain. El Chalten is a hiker’s paradise, I would have loved to do some of the bigger trails but we didn’t have time on this trip. I have a feeling I’ll be back one day.

On the way home, we have a bit of a scare. We had laughed at a sign on the bus that said Mr. Passenger: You must travel with your passport on your hand. Thanks. We made jokes about balancing our passports on our hands while we tried to stay awake on the bus. We have friends whose passports were stolen off of them in Argentina so we always leave them locked in the safe. However, it was not so funny when we stopped at a police checkpoint and they came on and asked for our passports. I told the officer that they were in a safe in our hotel and he was horrified! Your passports are in the hotel? I generally don’t hike with my passport, but perhaps I will from now on! We have photos of them on our phone and that seemed to suffice, but I’m not going to lie, I had images of us sleeping in Argentinian jail.

#dawnellessabbaticaladventures #igdaily #elchalten #mtfitzroy

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Dawnelle Salant
- Apr 3, 2020
- 3 min read

The One Where I Cry Over a Condor

The main attraction in El Calafate is the Perito Moreno Glacier, and though I am interested in seeing it, I feared it would pale in comparison to Antarctica. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen and the sheer size and power it holds takes my breath away. Located in Los Glaciares National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, Perito Moreno is only one of 48 major glaciers here. The southern Andes are home to the largest ice covered area in the hemisphere after Antarctica. Perito Moreno is larger than Buenos Aires. The glacier is famous for its calving - it is the most active glacier in the world. At about 135 km long, it sprawls out as far as the eye can see. The ice closest to us is the deep dark blue we got so accustomed to seeing in Antarctica, while the rest of the glacier is snow capped and icy white. A set of metal stairs lead us to various viewpoints and I stop to take photos at every level. We hear loud creaks and groans and know that something is about to happen. Just as I get to a balcony, an entire portion of the glacier’s face calves off - I am talking chunks of ice 40 metres tall falling through the air into the water. The boom is deafening and even though it’s unusually warm here today, I get chills all over my body. After the ice has fallen, the lake continues to move for several minutes. Small icebergs bob up and down and large waves pound the shoreline.

I expected to be really far from the glacier so I brought my wildlife camera and zoom lens. After waiting for some more action, I give up and take out my other camera to take some close-ups; we are much closer to the glacier than I thought we would be. What happens next astounds me more than 40 metre high pieces of ice falling from the glacier. Out of the corner of my eye I see a huge, black bird with white on its wing soar in front of the glacier. Naturally I turn and start shooting, unaware at the time that this is one of the top birds on my life list of birds I want to see in the wild. I knew it had to be special, it was gigantic and it glided on the wind like it owned the place. And it kind of did - it was a condor. This was the bird that had actually drawn me to Calafate - the glacier was just a bonus. To see a condor in the wild is not an easy task, and to see one with this spectacular background was almost more than I could handle. Yes, I get that excited about birds.

I confirm with an Argentinian couple next to me that this is in fact a condor and I start shaking and have to wipe tears from my eyes. The gods are smiling on me today. In the distance, two condors soar high on the winds and one circles back in front of the glacier again. It is one of the highlights of my life. I don’t think I have ever seen anything so spectacular.

A few more small pieces calve off the glacier and I can’t believe how loud even the smallest pieces are. We go on a small boat cruise closer to the other end of the glacier and cruise by icebergs, bringing me right back to Antarctica. Except I am sweating, I am sunburned and the scenery behind the iceberg is lush green hills. Just as we turn back, another big piece calves off and a huge wave starts towards the boat. It looks dangerous, but it turns to nothing before it reaches us. I am more than impressed by Perito Moreno. If you are a traveller, you must add this to your list.