Sophia S.: Hello, Stoneleigh Walkers! This week we walked 213 miles in Argentina from Buenos Aires to Parana. We would like to tell you about some of the foods from Argentina we got to try during the Jungle Club meetings.

Emma R.: The empanada looks like a smaller version of a taco, but instead of cheese and lettuce, there is minced meat, cod fish, and chicken. In Argentina, it is considered the national dish. In Spain, the dish is called Galician empanadas, where as here, it is just called empanada.

Emma F.: Yerbe Mate comes from yerba which means herb and mate which is a hollow gourd used as a bowl for brewing yerba mate. Yerba Mate is a drink similar to tea and is very popular in South America.

Ariel B.: You typically use a special metal straw that has little holes at the bottom so that the chopped up leaves in the beverage aren't consumed. The Yerba Mate is made by using a gourd, as a bowl, and adding water and chopped up leaves. We hope you enjoyed listening about Yerba Mate and we encourage you to...

Keep Walking!

Animals of Patagonia!

The Patagonian Puma
by Julia C. Hello Stoneleigh!
We hope you are keeping track of when you walk on your new Walking Wednesday calendars. These are some of the animals we see as we walk through Argentina. The Patagonian Puma is from a place called Patagonia in Argentina. There are many pumas around the world, so there are different names for them in each language. You've heard of the panther before, right? Well, the puma is a type of panther, but its also called a catamount and a cougar. You won't believe how many types of pumas there are! Well, to be exact, there are 27 types, but the Patagonian Puma lives the furthest south. It's one of the largest. Pumas can cross 10 miles of rocky terrain in a few hours. Pumas have been known to live in almost any habitat.



The Patagonian Gray Fox
by Alex Z.
The Patagonian Gray Fox is truly an animal all its own. It evolved from the wolf family about six to seven million years ago. The average gray fox is about two feet tall and six to ten pounds. It eats hares (rabbits) and other small rodents. When food gets scarce, the gray fox eats berries, bird eggs, insects, and sometimes leftovers of puma's prey. When female gray foxes don't have litters, they bring food to fox families that do.






The Guanaco
by Maya M.
The Guanaco is a relative of the domesticated Illama. It is Patagonia's largest land vertebrate. Its habitat is the Plains of Torres del Paine. They live in groups consisting of a single dominant male and up to 10 females and their young.





Magellan Penguins
by Genevieve S.

Magellan Penguins are penguins that are migratory seabirds. They arrive during spring at the coasts of Patagonia Bay. During the cold months, they travel more than 3000 kilometers to warmer areas of South America. The baby penguins are born in November. The baby males weigh about 5 kilos and are bigger than females. They spend a lot of time cleaning their feathers and trying to look pretty. They are very conceited.





Magellan Penguins
by Alena B.
Many penguin families return to the exact nest that they made the year before. At the Punta Tombo colony, there are more than half a million penguins every year! Males and females share all the birth tasks: they build their nests together, they look after and defend the nest, they incubate the eggs together. The same happens at the moment of feeding – they take turns doing it.

The Inca Rose

By Genevieve S.

The Inca Rose is the national stone of Argentina and is a rare and beautiful pink quartz-like stone with wavy bands of veins. Mined in Catamarca Province in Argentina at the Northwest edge of the Andes Mountains, the Inca Rose is found in stalactites which are long icicle-like formations formed by dripping from the ceiling of the cave. The Inca Rose was discovered by the Incas in the 13th Century and mined along with silver. Incas are a native South American people that once ruled one of the largest and richest empires in the Americas. Their empire covered much of present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and parts of Columbia and Argentina. The Incas believe the Inca Rose was the blood of former kings and queens turned to stone. In the 1930s, the mine was rediscovered and an Incan tomb was unearthed. Mummies in the tomb wore amulets or funeral jewelry made of Inca Rose.

We also tasted fresh cut mango and delicious Dulce de Leche Girl Scout cookies! Thank you, Miss Becca, for today's snack!

Tierra del Fuego

by Anne Z, Emma B., and Natalie M.
While sailing for India, Magellan named an island on his route, Tierra del Fuego. In English, it means “land of fire.” The reason he called it this was because the native people lit huge fires to heat up the freezing air.

Tierra del Fuego meaning the land of fire consists of one large island, five medium sized islands, and numerous small islands that is half in Argentina and half in Chile. The Andes Mountains run through the western part of Tierra del Fuego. The mountain peaks alternate with valleys where there are rivers and glacial lakes.