Animals

Hey Guys!

My friend Kale asked me what my favourite animals in Argentina have been. We actually just left a place called Esteros del Ibera, a really important wetland nature reserve in Argentina.

It was a little crazy trying to get to this reserve. First we took an overnight bus for 12 hours and then we got to this little town called Mercedes where we needed to catch a different bus but it was on a Sunday so everything was completely closed. We met a nice couple from France who also wanted to go to the nature reserve. We were standing on the street trying to figure out what to do when a nice local man from Mercedes walked by and we stopped him to try to get directions. Pretty soon this man introduced us to his whole family (the D'Angelo family) and they called some of their friends and then before we knew it a man came and picked us up in a 4-wheel drive pick up truck and drove us all the way to the reserve. I was in the back of the truck with my Dad and my sister and the French couple. It was a very bumpy 3 hour ride but it was fun. When we had to stop to go to the washroom the driver warned us that there can be snakes in the ditch on one side of the road and there can be alligators in the water on the other side of the road. I never heard that before in Canada. We went to the washroom quickly.

We finally got to the wildlife reserve and we stayed there a couple of days. My family went on an awesome boat ride with the French couple. On the floating marshland islands we saw hundreds of capybaras, they look just like giant guinea pigs. They are as big as you. Even their poop looked like giant guinea pig poop. These are the largest rodents in the world. We saw about 40 alligators on our boat ride too. We would drive the little boat along the floating wetland islands and we were only about 1 meter away from the animals. When our boat pulled up beside the first alligator I thought our boat driver was going to kill it but fortunately he didn't. Then we started to see all kinds of alligators, they were everywhere! Sometimes the alligators went into the water when our boat got close. This was really creepy because we didn't know where they were in the water. Sometimes we could see just their eyes floating above the water.

There were hundreds and hundreds of birds. Over 350 species in the park. We saw an alligator trying to eat a crane but the crane got away.

At the little hotel we stayed at we saw a dead snake and a bunch of huge frogs the size of small pumpkins just outside our door.

We also went on a tiring night walk there with a guide from the Park who had a flashlight and we saw all kinds of other animals in the forest. We saw bats, coates (tiny raccoon-like creatures), armadillos, lizards, swamp deer, and a small cat from the jaguar family. We really wanted to see the howler monkeys. They are officially the loudest animals on earth. We heard them but we didn't see any.

Our guide told us about the emus there. They look just like ostriches. Apparently they mate for life. So if one of the birds in the couple dies, the other bird will just stop eating and then it dies too.

So I have seen lots of interesting animals here in South America Kale but I think my favourite one is the capybara.

See you later alligator!

Please send me any questions.

Levi

DANIEL SCOTT: LA GRAN HAZANA ( The Great Feat )

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

He wasn't just a shop keeper, he was also a famous swimmer. He swam from Uruguay to Argentina two times. He swam 104 km in total. The first time it was 1983 and the second time it was 2008. 

He even has his own plaque at the ferry terminal.

His swim was two times further than the channel between England and France. I was so surprised the night when I met him in his tiny shop that has been in his family for four generations. 

Here is a video of Mr. Scott. >> video

That's it for now from Levi's blog. And next it's Tuby and Binno on tree house.

;)

Surf and Saddle

Our tiny hostel on the beach.

Hey guys we just got to a hotel on the beach that has no electricity. 
The shower was heated by a little metal bowl under the water. You have to light a fire under the bowl so the metal gets burning hot. Then the water runs through it, gets hot, then falls on you.

My Dad and I went on a long walk down the beach and found four dead seals and three dead penguins. Then we walked towards the lighthouse and saw a lot if sea lions on a huge rock. The sea lions ride giant waves up to the rocks where they lay in the sun.

We also walked to some giant sand dunes in a little desert. We climbed a giant hill and rode down on sand boards. They look just like snowboards.

Dulce de Leche

Filing a hoof with Santi.

After the beach we went to a horse ranch where we stayed for two days. We learned how to ride horses. My horse's name was Dulce de la Leche. She was the oldest and best trained horse on the farm. I really enjoyed the horses more than I expected.

Around the farm we saw giant hawks, lots of smaller birds and a really nice wild skunk.       

Today we are on a bus for 8 hours. We are going to Colonia Del Sacramento. We stay here two nights before taking a ferry to Beunos Aries in Argentina. 

Our windswept Inukshuk.

Hey Class, I made it to Uruguay!

Colby, Quinn and Levi hiking the coast of Uruguay.

We got out of Montivideo. Now we are going to Punta del Diablo. We have been on a bus for four hours 1 more to go. We have seen lots of cows, they really creap me out. Oooohhh oooooohhhh my gosh this is amazing you will not believe this, I just saw another cow. 

Did you know that more people drink tea (called Mate) here more than coffee. We have only seen 2 people that speak English they all speak Spanish but I have not heard any songs that where Spanish they were all English. 

At our hostel there is a pair of owls. Most owls are nocturanal but not these ones. They sit on a railing in the sun. When it is not sunny they stay in their den in a hole in the ground. When you get really close they don´t attack or fly away. They just stay on their perch and stare back at you.

After a long hike yesterday a guy came over and said he saw whales. We had a look and saw some whales playing in the waves. 

Please write me comments or questions.

See you later. Oops. You can´t see me so I will write you later.