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Journey from Torres Del Paine
Where shall I start....yesterday we had another incredible journey...started at 7am, travelled through the National Park on bumpy unmade roads as usual for 4 hours through the most incredible scenery. We were lucky again because it was an absolutely clear day. There are only around 6 of these each summer and we have had 2 of them. Our guide was so excited that he stripped off and swam in one of the lakes because he had never seen it so calm and with no wind!!! By the way as I type this every word comes up underlined in red because tjhe machine is set for Spanish...hola...is the only non underlined word. talking of Spanish mine is improving cos nobody in Chile speaks English.
Obviouslyh we had the obligatory stop for refreshments and then continued to the penguin colony before reaching the airport for our evening flight to Puerto Varas. The penguins were the Megallanic Penguins again, but this time they looked like stuffed toys as they stood with their backs to the wind in a group. The wind was howling in off ther Megallanic Straits.
Our evening flight over the Southern Icefields was wonderful. We were able to see the mountain tops and the enormity of the snow fields. What a wonder to see. As we landed in Puerto Varas it was 20 to 10pm and the sun was setting in the horizon...hmmm, how lucky we are eh?
Our pick up from thr airport at Puerto Montt was in a very smart 4x 4 with driver and guide . It was the first vehicle we had ridden in in Chile that did not have a cracked windscreen. Then we realised why....we drove out onto the Pan American Highway which is a fully tarmaced road leading to Puerto varas! !!!
Arrival at Peurto Varas
What a surprise we had in Puerto Varas...there were no corregated iron and tin houses. They were all made from the little wooden shaped tiles like in parts of Austria and Germany. oh surprise, this community was a German community in the 1850´s given their land for free. All I can say is that the present community are certainly Chilean Indian looking now and speak only Spanish but they have beautiful wooden houses and make wonderful cakes and pastries like you would find in the Black Forest!!! Flour is sold by the sack full in the supermarket. Alex, I was forced to have a piece of lemon meringue tart for breakfast after my oh so healthy bowl of fruit...it was even better than our Saturday morning lemon meringues after swimming when we were 15!!!!
Today was a free day, and we have been upgraded to a ´junior suite´for some reason. We have enjoyed a lazy day, walking through the village to the lake to admire the volcanoes and the scenery. I managed to order a sexos del los playos during ´happy hour´at a lakeside cafe/bar and we watched the locals swimming, sailing, playing their intruments and generally enjoying Sunday afternoon.... by the way we are still wearing our fleeces though for these people it is the last weekend of their summer hols!
Thisevening we will eat in the village. There is a festival of music going on so we will be entertained.
Tomorrow we have an early start as we are crossing Lake Llanquihue by boat, passing volcanoes Osorno and Calbuco. We then travel by bus from Ensenada to Petrohue where we board a boat to take us the length of Lake Todos Los Santos before taking the Andean crossing to the Argentinian Lake district centre of Bariloche...hope the weather is good to us !!! We´ve been so lucky so far, the sun has followed us.
- comments
Alex I can feel your excitement as if I am listening to you telling me your story. Wonderful!! The photos are fantastic and the whole holiday sounds amazing. Don't know if I will ever have a holiday like this. At the moment I'm looking forward to a weekend in Bristol next month!! Love to you both xxx