It happened last Monday in a field on the edge of the National Route 3 in Patagonia. At the wheel, Fernando, a Brazilian tourist guide who has lived in Argentina for eight years, first in Ushuahia (Tierra del Fuego) and for four months in El Calafatethat treasure of Santa Cruz. Co-pilot, Valdecir Tomar. Behind, her daughter Gabriela. Live in Porto Alegre, They went through the downturn of the floods and Fernando invited them to spend a few days in the south. “They treated me like a king when I went there, it was my turn to receive my friends like that,” he explains to Black river. They were advancing along the road surrounded by snow when they saw a herd of guanacos to the left. Three dared to jump over the camp fence. Fernando took his foot off the accelerator so as not to run over them if they crossed the road. They never imagined what would happen next.
«The guanacos came down from the mountain and began to cross the road»
Fernando’s plan was to go to The Ancients and cross to Chile to see the Marble Chapels. “Unfortunately, the weather conditions delayed us a lot,” he says. On Monday we left in the direction of Río Gallegos and from there we would go up the RN3 to Los Antiguos.
Soon, a movie scene surprised them: «The number of guanacos that came down the mountain and began to cross the road. I even tried to scare them away so that no accident would happen. On the other side of the mountain We were struck by the amount of snow compared to the height of the animals“, keep going.
As they advanced They observed skeletons of guanacos that found an agonizing and cruel death by getting caught in the wire fences. They chose not to take photos. “I even told Gabi and Vavá that maybe we could save some,” recalls Fernando.
Right away, Gabriela noticed to the right of the route that there was one hooked. They braked.
«First the guanaco kicked him, then I think he understood that we wanted to help him»
Gabriela and Fernando came down to help him. Since she had a motorcycle accident and has plates and nails in her collarbone, she couldn’t use any strength, it was his turn to take the lead.
The guanaco, pure wild instinct, He kicked him twice when he approached. “I didn’t have any tools so we tried to calm him down so he wouldn’t kick me a third time,” says Fernando.
Each reaction was recorded in the video. That of Fernando, that of Gabriela, that of the guanaco.
Nando, as they call him, tried calm the animalthe same as Gabi, who joked softly.
“Come on, we can do it,” he said. Gabi tried to lower a wire strand but Fernando told her that he was going to get hurt. She warned that since he was hanging He had no support for his front legs..
“Poor thing,” he said. Fernando managed to free one of the hind legs.
«After a while, I think he understood that We wanted to help so he let me take out his leg that was like it was entwined in the wire.. You could tell that he was very tired and almost without strength – he now explains.
-One already happened. “Calm down, little bug,” she said on Monday. Seconds later, he released the other one. The guanaco ran along the footprint: the one who had jumped before had made it. Seconds later they were together again.
Fernando raised his arms, happy. He heard the most beautiful word: «Congratulations«said Gaby.
«Knowing that the guanaco would not have the same fate was wonderful»
«The feeling of knowing that this guanaco would not have the same sad fate as the others we had seen before was wonderful. We shouted ‘Not today!’ In Portuguese, of course,” recalls Fernando.
«I had a friend in 2020 who had the same thing happen. And I always imagined myself going through that.«he adds.
Gabriela and her father are already in Porto Alegre. Fernando continues his outings in Santa Cruz. The three of them now have something else in common: sharing the memory of a rescue in Patagonia that they will never forget.
