Pearson - 1996 20 Then back to Bariloche to look for Jim Mills. Nadia came by to fill us in on his plans, but he didnt show up. 7 December - Fixed flat tire, skinned mice, then lunch with Jim Mills and Rachel Wells. He said that trap success was poor at El Bolson but good at Lago Puelo. He was rather non-committal about Hanta Virus. Nobody had trapped at the Nassif House in El Bolson where 4 people apparently had contracted the virus. He apparently is on his way to Buenos Aires, then to the States, but Rachel will return to Bariloche to continue epidemiological interviews. She is having trouble contacting the necessary people, and then communicating with them. Later, Christie came by, then Werner and JoAnne Flueck. Werner has been contracted to census red deer on Estancia Chacabuco. 8 December - Drizzle overnight, cloudy all day. Drove out past the airport toward Estancia Condor, then up the Nirihuaq Valley to the Buitrero cliff on Establecimiento El Desafio. Saw an Asio owl in the steppe close to the airport. [Note that we found a dead owl in the pine trees at the airport a few years ago, and Nadia Guthman and another lassie up at the University claimed they were collecting pellets from a third species at the airport]. The dirt road up the valley was quite good, relatively ungrazed, and some of it with plantations of Ponderosa pines 3 to 6 feet tall, not growing very fast. Near the turnoff to the cliffs is a brick "factory"with some stacks of fired and of unfired bricks, but no signs of firewood. There is a home and some barns etc. near the base of the condor cliff. A man at the brick works said the road connects with the road back from the Nireco in Bariloche. Home at 9 p.m. Arranged with Ramon Marful to borrow a key to the gate on the road up to the Microwave Tower. 9 December - Morning still overcast. Stopped at Patricia and Jorge's to alert her to a possible call from the epidemiologist Rachel Wells. Then to Marful's ranch beyond Arroyo Fragua. He loaned us the key to all his locked gates and the key to the gate to Microwavew Hill. He has a number of plum trees at the house that are 30 years old. He grew them from seeds (or seedlings?) that he gathered along the railroad track.