Flight (or not) of the condors

We got up at 5am to head out to a huge farm on the Argentinian border. It is owned by Alejandro, a conservationist rancher who takes visitors to the top of a ridge early in the morning to watch condors taking off from their roosting sites.
We were expecting it to be cold and windy but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the condors seemed to be happy basking on the rocks rather than showing off their gliding skills.
We spent a very happy 4 hours sitting on top of the ridge looking at stunning wilderness getting hotter and hotter in inappropriate clothing 

We saw an Andean hummingbird, 2 eagles, swallows, finches, a Gaucho on horseback and numerous horse flies but no sign of a condor in flight.
And then finally they arrived, 8 condors flying over and around,  we could hear the wind in their wings - an utterly magical experience







Vertigoed hubby had to keep his eyes closed as we drove down off the ridge and went to an open area which was a meeting place for Stone Age people.
Lunch was an asado (barbecue) back at the farmhouse with pisco sours and local red wine

A very special day with Alejandro and Tim, an English guide, both full of fascinating information and great company.

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