Buenas Tardes! Good afternoon!

We've seen so many different and beautiful plants and animals here that I thought I'd make a blog post about them! We haven't been able to get many pictures of the animals yet, but when we do I'll share them with you.

This tree is called the Monkey Puzzle tree and it is native to Chile and central Argentina. It is sometimes called a "living fossil" because it can live to be 1000 years old! As you might guess, it can grow to be very tall, up to 40 meters (40 meters is about 120 feet) and up to 2 meters, or 6 feet, in diameter. What I like about it is it's leaves, which are really stiff and kind of spikey. The Monkey Puzzle tree is an evergreen, which means it does not lose its leaves in the winter.

When I went for a bike ride near Bariloche I saw this lovely flower, called the Amancay. It is one of the national flowers of Argentina and many artists here create paintings, photographs, wood carvings and even jewelry inspired by this flower.

Another fun thing I have learned about Argentina is that its name comes from the Latin word for silver, argentum. Silver mining and production is a very important part of Argentina's economy and when we go to ferias, or markets, we see many artists selling the silver jewelry that they have made. Ms. Beth can hardly help herself from buying every piece she sees!