Only a landscape as vast and perceptible as those found throughout Patagonia could make the largest flying bird on Earth appear small. Nestled into a well-used communal roost site, a common behavior for this species, thirteen Andean condors sit out of the wind and prepare for a night’s rest. At daybreak, they will leave collectively to begin the search for food.
My wonder and curiosity for Patagonia is profound, and my mind has not stopped running around it since setting foot there a little over six weeks ago. It’s hard to imagine how similar an ecosystem over 6,000 miles away can be to your home. I guess it all comes back to the basic lessons that science teaches us - lessons about mountains and rain, forests and desert.
I’ve walked in many places throughout my life, places as grand as the Greater Yellowstone and pure as the Desert Southwest, but no place at all rivals the steppe of the Andes. It’s as if the world is 100 years younger there, and the people have managed to stop time. May it never tick on…
