Just a little update we are on the road to Argentina having met up with Les and Margaret at Osorno, we drove the long way round to Valdivia which is on the coast, we went a very scenic route around Lago Ranco this was very beautiful with Mountains and Volcano all around with beautiful forests with flowers and shrubs with the lake to our left the whole time magic.
Womble did her rescue no 2. When OJ got stuck on a very nasty bendy hill, ripio of course, I was so pleased that I had pulled the guy out on the Carretera Austral this had given me a little confidence Les came along to boost my confidence whilst driving very scary BUT the girl did good we pulled up the hill as sweet as you like no prob’s, I was day leader as well such responsibility !!!
Yesterday rained 24hr low cloud miserable day we drove to Panguipulli on route to Argentina taking a ferry boat through the Andes we stayed in, the day was so awful after stopping for Tourist information and our morning coffee/tea we decided to stay in the town which is quite a nice little town, shop, internet, lunch leave around 4pm, I got myself a couple of pairs of trousers very thin, very cheap!! Also a fly swot and soap dish!! Last of the big spenders.
Les checked out the weather on the Internet and the forecast for tomorrow is good, we need clear skies for the next part of this journey, it is very beautiful.
This morning blue sky’s we can see the mountains.J Before we get to the lake Pirehueico which has the ferry, there are two things to see, 1) Volcano Mocho Choshuenco which is a double peak. 2) Huilo Huilo waterfall. The road of course is ripio fairly narrow beautiful. The trees are amazing the view of the volcano is excellent we are well pleased. Then around lunch time we come to the turning for the waterfall, this is also a big ski resort which is being developed, the walk through the forest to the waterfall is thick with very tall trees covered in moss and air plants stunning. The water fall was remarkable at the top of the fall there was a very large bed of what looked like solidified larva rock that the river had forced its way through, the gap for the river was very narrow but the amount of water falling over was huge making the whole thing very spectacular. Of course yesterdays rain had helped. We continued to the lake and the ferry the ride took 1.5 hours the whole trip had been so amazing well worth the wait for good clear weather, Chile is so very beautiful thus far.
After spending the night by the lake we continued our way into Argentina, Chile is so lush and green the trees so thick and tall once we passed through the boarder we were all surprised to find the dry arid scenery of Argentina’s steppe, having had lunch in San Martin de los Andes we drove north which would enable us to go back into Chile vie the Mamuil Malal pass, this road also takes in the Condor nesting site nr Junin de los Andes where I had that wonderful site of a Condor taking off from the ground. (We have to exit Chile then re enter so we get a new visa stamp in our passports, the visa only last 90 days)
No Condor sighting’s off we go back into ~Chile what turned out to be an awesome day.
The drive back into Chile was one of the best days. the scenery was amazing. a forest of "Pehven or Araucaria trees" we call them Monkey Puzzle Trees. we had a back drop of the Volcano Lanin and ofcourse the Andeas
It is an endemic (is that the correct word) tree that grows only in this part of the world. the tree and its seed have played a large part in the history of man in this area the pine nuts are very rich in carbohydrates, It is the same tree that we sae in the petrified forest which of course makes it pre historic. they are beautiful and seem to change as they grew older some of the trees are well over 1000 years old and look nothing like the young (which we see at home) tree. These are the most amazing trees I have ever seen. soooooooooo beautiful. we drove all day in this magnificent scenery with waterfalls and fast running rivers, we were ofcourse on ripio aand the dust was pretty bad but we all enjoyed so much what we were seeing the road was forgotton. crossing the boarder was very easy and we now have a new stamp for a further 90days, we go back into Argentina again soon. at the end of the ripio which was also the end of the day we tried to find a hot spring for a good soakthis eluded us some how instead we found a rodeo our first we only caught the last hour. it was good fun we hope we may catch a whole rodeo sometime. we camped the night in the rodeo field, there was a party going on and the others had a noisy night but I heard nothing and slept soundly.
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