day 2

On our way out to the field today we saw 3 baby foxes. On our way back we saw an armadillo. This happens a lot out here. I don´t think you can see this many animals in any US National Park. It is insane. They are everywhere, and they just don´t care too much about us.

When we see animals close to the road on our drive out to work the guys that work with us, Louigi and Pablo, screech to a halt and everyone jumps out of the truck and out of the back and runs for it. Today the baby fox ran into a little pipe running under the road, so we took pictures into the pipe and found out there were 3 babies in there. It was really cute.

On our way back with Pablo an armadillo ran off the road, and he slams on the brakes and we all jump out and chase it into some bushes. Just as we were about to give up it made a run for it, so so did we. I think Pablo was trying to pick it up for us, he was crawling into these crazy thorn bushes after it. It was hilarious. I did see it when it was running off the road, and I saw its tail in the bushes.

Animals I´ve seen:
Guanacos (they are everywhere)
Fox
Condors
Armadillo
some wierd rabbit eared mammal
a mouse the size of a softball
ibis


there are pumas and flamingos here too. And some sort of ostrich looking thing. and a tiny endangered deer called a huemul. we´re going to go hiking to try and see one sometime in the future.

We leave for the field tomorrow. We´ll be gone camping and working for 4 or 5 days. We´ll be pulling up the fences out there. So far we have spent two days removing invasive species.

Also, I took my first shower today. The sun was shining so we all took advantage. It has been too cold for anyone to want to be wet in the wind. We have 2 toilets, 2 sinks, and 2 shower stalls outside we use.

Also today we talked with Paula, the volunteer coordinator. She gave us an orientation to the park and the program. In it, she was explaining the biggest threat to the endangered deer in the park, the huemul, was hungry packs of dogs from the nearby town.

I wanted to know if the 2 pet cats who live in the administacion cause any problems with the birds, like in Ann Arbor. So I say 'Tienes problemas con los gatos y aviones?' And everyone looked at me funny, then burst out laughing because I asked if they have any problems with the cats and airplanes.