Old MacDonald...South America style

So I mentioned before that there were a bunch of horses freely roaming on the grassland surrounding La Corona. About half of them are your standard (i.e., boring) brown color, but the others are interesting combinations of white and/or color patterns. They are pretty tame, and you can get fairly close to them before they slowly wander off.

The cows, on the other hand, are a different story. They watch you as you first approach, and then usually run away like crazy after you've actually passed by them. On foot, as soon as they see you, they scamper off like you've scared the bejeesus out of them. Apparently us humans are a major threat to a huge (and stupid) cow.

Even the bulls are skittish. They look intimidating, and it seems like they try to hold their ground, but as soon as you pause on the road to take a look they run like hell into the shelter of the woods. It's kind of hilarious since they outweigh a human by a fair margin.

Then there's this little guy. I'm not sure how old this calf is, but it's my favorite animal around La Corona. He's been bottle-fed apparently, and if you're careful, lucky, and most likely female, he (I think, but I haven't looked closely) will approach you. The first time I saw him up close, I crouched down, and without hesitation he walked right up to my outstreched hand and kissed my fingers. I may have startled him with my exclamation; I was so excited about him, but he handled himself well.

Then there's this guy. Regal, he is not. The locals call him a ñandú, and he's related to an emu or ostrich. We were lucky to come upon a herd (flock? gaggle?) of 16 of them the other day, and my side hurt from laughing so hard. There is something completely hilarious about how they run, with their legs flailing about, their feathers ruffling in the breeze, and their head staying completely still. One goal for this trip is to capture this in a movie on my camera; ideally with one of them running parallel to the field truck.

If you're ever in need of a giggle, head down to Uruguay and find a ñandú.