The Abominable Snowman of the Chilean Andes

While on the search I also found a direct reference to "The Abominable Snowman of the Chilean Andes", which I had heard about before but not by name:

the Carcancho Thursday November 5, 2009

The carcancho is another great characters mentioned in the central zone. Legend has it that this is a hairy man who feeds only on tubers and tirelessly walks through the snow. Many people have followed, but never been able to reach him. Of their presence are only printed huge footprints in the snow
[The artwork is not credited on the site, but it is frerom Cesar Perry on Deviant Art]
http://cesarperry.deviantart.com/art/Carcancho-Sketch-Produccion-135197213

This would appear to be another Wildman type with long shaggy head hair and a full beard. Its feet are of the Neanderthaloid type, which Ivan Sanderson mentioned but did not think was highly significant. It is neither an ape nor a Sasquatch type

Quoting from Austin Whittall's Patagonian Monsters site under the 2009 posting "Patagonian Bigfoot?"

“Mwono” the southern abominable snow man.The Yagan’s neighbors, the Alakaluf, feared Mwono, a “snow man”. Theirs was a land of jagged fjords and islands where the glaciers reach the sea calving icebergs into treacherous waters. Mwono reigned supreme inhabiting “the summits of the mountains and glaciers” where his tracks could be found.[5]

Chilean ethnolinguist Oscar Aguilera believes that this “‘snow man’ is a fabulous and mythical animal that the [Alakaluf] say lives in the glaciers and whose footprints they say that they have seen”.[6] What these prints look like, unfortunately, no one knows.

Potentially dangerous, its reclusive nature made it quite harmless; Mwono was a reclusive and peaceful being that would only hurt those who dared to enter his territory.[7]

Further north, the Mapuche believed in several gigantic beings; one was the Trauko -do not mistake with Chiloé’s Trauco dwarf which we will describe in a future post- which dwelled along the banks of Collón Curá River -stone mask in Mapuche language- in Neuquén (40°00’ S, 70°49’ W). This was a monster, a “terrible giant, man eater” described as hairy and having “a very long beard and his hair that seemed like rush stalks were fire red color”.[8]

Their myths also included the Chilludo, Carcancho and Huitanalhue.

The Chilludo is a very large and hairy creature. A bearded “bogey man”. Ape-like and covered with a long sheep-like fleece, it may be frightening, but is said to be harmless. It can be found in the isolated mountain regions of northern Patagonia in Chile and in western Neuquén province, Argentina.[9]

The Carcancho. These hairy men led a solitary existence in the mountains and meadows feeding on tubers. They could measure up to 2 m (6 ft. 7 in.) tall in the mountains, but were dwarfish (1 m – 3.3 ft.) in the lowlands, where they lived burrowing underground. This may indicate that they were two different kinds of being or that perhaps they were not men but some kind of wild animal.

They walked in the snow and their large foot-prints were the only clues of their existence (exactly like the Mwono but 2.000 km further towards the north - 1,240 mi.).[10] 

5] Emperaire, J., (1963). Los Nómades del Mar. Santiago: Ediciones de la Universidad de Chile. pp. 156.
[6] Aguilera F., Lenguas y culturas de Chile – Kawéscar. Online.
[7] Grebe, M., (1974). La música alacalufe: aculturación y cambio estilístico. Revista musical chilena. Nº 126-127 pp. 80-111.
[8] Koessler-Ilg, B., (2000). Op Cit. pp. 71.
[9] Eberhart, G., (2002). Misterious Creatures: A guide to Cryptozoology. S. Barbara: ABC Clio. pp. 82.
[10] Batic, L., (2005). Seres mitológicos argentinos. Diario 1. Patagonia. B. Aires: Ed. Albatros. pp. 119.


http://patagoniamonsters.blogspot.com/2009/10/patagonian-bigfoot.html
Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

 I find it quite instructive that the Caranchos get bigger the higher up the mountains you go. There is some Biological reason why this should be so, and it matches what is said of the Tibetan Yetis. I think in this case there are just different breeds of Neanderthals in diffeent climate zones, and I would venture the opinion that all unknown hominids in South America are related. Some may sound more like Homo erectus and others may sound more like Neanderthals, but I believe they are all variations on a common theme (except for the actual apes and bears) There good evidence that the largest ones are parallels for the "Marked Hominids" of the North, although they live in a completely different biome.
Best Wishes, Dale D.