Condors, penguins, a very large crab & starfish

Tuesday morning at 8:00am we climbed into a van with five other SASers, all lifelong learners, faculty & staff, and headed out in search of Condors, which we found in large numbers. These amazing birds are large enough to carry off a small child, “about leetle Eema’s size” according to our guide! Everyone joked about putting her on top of the van to use as bait to lure the Condors closer and closer. She was decidedly NOT amused. We were scheduled to lunch at a ski lodge in the Andes, but a snow storm caused the roads to shut down. The key word at SAS is flexibility, and none of us allowed this small snag to ruin our day. We’d promised Emma she’d be playing in the snow before lunchtime, but we thought that would be at the ski lodge. Our travel buddies weren’t about to let her down though and we pulled off the side of the road so she could make a small snow creature. One of the men even threw a few snowballs at her. Next we lunched in the small town of Los Andes at a wonderful restaurant, where we were the only tourists. Then, we headed back to the beach where we went penguin watching. A group of Humbolt Penguins inhabit a small island. As if this weren’t enough, Wade stumbled across a HUGE crab (see photo) and a tide pool full of starfish. On the way back to the ship, the Watkins trio hopped out of the van in Vina del Mar to eat dinner at Diego’s Pizza, an establishment that had been recommended to us by other voyagers. We were exhausted by the time we’d finished. We’d spent all day hopping in and out of the van. First to look at birds, later for Al Pacca, again to walk across a suspension bridge, and finally on the drive home to watch the night sky, where we saw the Southern Cross. Emma sacked out on a park bench while we waited for a cab to take us back to the ship! I think the most incredible part of the day was the sheer number of different terrain we encountered in a few short hours. We left the ocean that morning and headed for the mountains. Driving we saw tons of cacti, brush, rocks, vineyards, waterfalls and then all of a sudden we’re in the snowy mountains. An hour and a half later we’re at the beach again looking at penguins. Incredible. The diversity God planted here is truly amazing.