SeniorTrippin: January 2016

Puerto Montt

Today (Sarurday) we are driving down to Puerto Montt where we will pick up Suzanne on Wednesday.

We have great views of Volcan Osorno as we drive along.

That is Lago Llanquihue, the third largest lake in Chile.

We are hungry so we go down to the market to get a salmon lunch

A view from the little place where we had a terrific salmon lunch (4 tables)

More of the waterfront

And walking to find an LAN office, tourist info. place, ferry schedules ...

Much of this port city was destroyed in the 1960 earthquake so not as much of the German influence is seen now. I will end with this, but the trees in the Plaza de Armas have crocheted or knitted pieces around their trunks. I have no idea what this is for.

And back to our little trailer, stopping for supplies on the way.....bought a hunk of beef cooking over a big BBQ. Yumm......fresh salmon and beef all in one day!

Eating our dinner at the picnic table a flock of at least 50 parrots flew over. They are everywhere, but they don't stay in one place for long.

Volcan Casablana and another try for the border

This morning we headed east and up a road to the Antilanca Ski Resort on Volcan Casablanca..lots of beautiful lakes and waterfalls. We saw a Megellanic Woodpecker and a Chilean Pigeon, but didn't get photos.

We got to the ski lodge and could see steam coming out of the mountain.

For 10,000 pesos they let us through the gate that loops back and forth under the ski lift and up to the crater.

It is a lot colder up here!

But the ground is warm so walking around in sandles is fine.

Lots of alpine flowers growing around the crater

We head down the mountain.....I love the giant ferns along the road!

There is Volcan Casablanca with its head in the clouds.

Let's try going to the border again. This crossing is open at least.....maybe I can walk across.

I tried...there were long lines as people had to get off the buses to be checked and I didn't want to stand in line just to turn around and walk back. I cut through to the shed where they were checking cars....no luck, the man said "no" and more that I couldn't understand. I walked back across the river to the car where the Chilean flag was waving.

And we drove back to camp, past more beauty.

Moving on south

Saying goodbye to Lago Calafguen..

Lots of dairy ranches as we head south. Our plan was to go down to Lago Ranco and find a campground along the lake, but no luck and we got the trailer in a couple of tight spots that we were lucky to get out of. So back to Ruta Cinco and then east again to Lago Puyehue hoping to find a campground there. It was a long day and we wanted to find a good place before dark.....and after looking at several places we found the BEST campground.....No Me Olvidod (don't forget me)

It is beautiful and has a restaurant if we want to go

And a lovely road in with hydrangeas everywhere

Right next to the lake with a view

Wonderful campsites with hedges and fruit trees as deviders

A lovely place after a long, hard day

Ho Hum, no I mean Hua Hum

Today, the 28th, we set out to find out where we missed the turn yesterday to Puerto Fuy which is on Lago Pirehuico. This lake is long and narrow and comes to within 11 km of the Argentinian border. Rob read that there is a ferry on the lake that takes people and cars to the other end and we thought if we were lucky perhaps we could catch a ride over and back. Of course, we had no idea of the schedule or cost, but what the heck, we'd go and see. That is what is so fun about traveling with Rob, he will stop any time for photos, to explore another road, or just go to see if we can do something that is unplanned and might not work. Like he says, "The destination is just an excuse for the journey."

So off we go

And there is the ferry and it is almost time for it to leave...we rush to get a ticket and it full. We watch it depart. But, there is a 6:00 pm ferry so we buy tickets......300 pesos for each senior, each way. That is less than 50 cents US each one way!!!! It takes 1 1/2 hours each way with 1/2 hour to unload and reload so we will be back at 9:30 pm which is just when it gets dark.

So we have several hours to kill so we can go back and explore the town of Neltume which is down stream from Puerto Fuy and get some food. There are some high end hotels in the area as there are Class IV and V Rapids for people to shoot. Good food here!