This really is the last post for this trip!!

Suzanne sent this photo of me on the bus at Puerto Montt as I was headed to Santiago to catch my plane home.

Adios y Hasta luego

Opps!!!!!

I must have been really tired when I got home!  It only took me 37 1/2 hours!  I feel better already!!!  And it sure was great to see my cats last night!

OK, what will happen today?

Well, started out to Puerto Varas this morning to find an Internet cafe so I could post my last 4 blogs and Rob could get his email.  We found a great place on the lake and had lattes, juice, and blueberry tarts. Suzanne is having no problems as she got a SIM card and can use her phone.....no agenda after that.  

Off we went to a place Rob had been to years before.....it is a Petrohue Cascades near Volcano Orsorno.

We wanted to see how far up the volcano we could get.  We knew there was a ski lift at the top, but didn't know if it was running......beautiful views as we ascend

Lake Llanquihue below

And Orsorno above

Up, up, up and the ski lift was operating so after our lunch at the lodge we riode up the mountain.

Rob rode behind us...

Our shadow,,,,it looked like a desert up there

The red crater

Calbuco was still smoking across from us

I could see layer after layer of the Andes

It was cold up on the mountain and so iwe had hot chocolate and kuchen at the lodge before returning to camp!!  Another great day to remember!!!

I have been traveling since Monday evening at 5:30.  I am now at home...2am here (7 am Chile time)  that means from Puerto Montt to home was 61 1/2 hours.  I have had a wonderful trip, start to finish, but i am looking forward to getting in my bed!!

Time is getting short

Friday I stayed in camp and Suzanne and Rob went to get a SIM card for Suzanne's phone and the part to fix the trailer.  They had a successful trip and while Rob worked on the trailer, Suzanne and I went for a swim.

Rob cooked another great meal and the evening was lovely.

Saturday we head for the ferry to Chiloe, the second largest island on the South American coast.

Suzanne on the ferry.

We drive about half way down the island to the town of Castro, which was founded in 1567.  First, we visit the Iglesias San Francisco on the Plaza de Armas, a neogothic wooden church built in the early 1900's.

Then we walk to the waterfront for Curanto, a traditional dish served in a wooden bowl which is full of mussels, clams, chicken, pork, and a steamed potato dumpling with a sauce for dipping.  Our restaurant from the water....yes, we went out in a boat to see the palafitos (stilt houses)

The view of town..

Who knows what tomorrow will bring....it will be my last full day with Rob and Suzanne, so we will make it a good one.

One comment on the campgrounds......this one is full with 3 or 4 tents in each site and the camp is active until 11pm or midnight as people laugh and talk and play their music, while the children run all over playing games and having fun.  In the morning, however, people sleep late and camp is quiet until 9 or 9:30.  Chileans, including children, go to bed late and sleep late.

A new campsite and a smoking volcano!

Well, we found a lovely campsite on Lago Llanquihue between Puerto Varas and Ensenada.  It is the 3rd largest lake in South America and is not too far from Puerto Montt where Rob can find the part he needs to fix the lights.

For a special treat, at least for me, I get to see a smoking volcano!  It can be seen from the campground and is Volcan Calbuco.

It has been a day of changing plans, being flexible, and inventing a plan B!  It turned out great despite the disappointment of not being able to go farther south.

And I say goodnight and crawl into my bunk.

The best laid plans often go astray!

Yea!!!!!  Wednesday is here and Suzanne will arrive in Puerto Montt at 2 pm.  Well, because of a missed connection in Dallas, she arrives at 6:30 pm.  The three sibs together again for the first time in years!!!

We head for the market for a salmon dinner.

We arrive back at the trailer after dark, but we are up the next morning and catch the ferry at 7:30 am.

This first ferry is a short 30 minute trip.  Then we have about a 30 mile drive to our next ferry which is a 5 hour ride.  Here we are at Caleda Puelche already.  Time to drive off the ferry.

Our drive to Hornopiren is a rough, dusty drive and we lose the connection end that supplies the power to the trailer lights.  Rob says it is OK because there won't be many others on the road anyway.  Along the way we get closer to a vulture than I have ever been before.

However, we arrive in Hornopiren and find out that not only did we just miss a ferry, but all ferries are booked until Feb. 10th.  The best laid plans....... It is not meant for spontaneos travelers I guess.  Well, we haven't even had breakfast yet as we wanted to catch the early ferries, so we drive to a little seaside park to cook.  There are horses roaming in the park.

The area looks like the inland passage in Alaska.

Disappointed we retrace our journey knowing that we will have to deal with the electrics on the trailer as we will be in traffic going back this way.

Passing a ferry going the other way

Back again in Caleda La Arena

and heading north again, avoiding Ruta 5 where we know we can't go with no back lights.  The search is on for a new campsite.

Another move, Another adventure

Sunday and Monday we relax around our lovely campground where I swim in the lake both days.  Lovely!  How could anything be more wonderful???? ....swimming in a mountain lake on a sunny day in Chile, looking at the snow coved peaks of the Andes.  

We only leave for supplies in Entre Lagos where I see this lovely mural on the side of a school.

I did get a photo of a parrot in the cherry tree in our campsite, but it is a poor one.  I found out the parrots here are Choroys which are the Slender-billed Parrots (16-17 inches)

Tuesday morning we are ready to go down pass Puerto Montt, along the beginning of the Carretera Austral to find a campsite.  Then Wed. we will pick up Suzanne and be ready to start south on the Carretera Austral which 1000 kms to Patagonia.  At the beginning there is a series of three ferries we must take.  My goal is to get to Pumalin Park before we head back to Puerto Montt so that I can take an overnight bus back to Santiago to catch my plane back to the states.  Of course Rob thinks we will get much farther south.

We find a campground (?) right in Caleta La Arena from which the first ferry departs.  It is almost 1/2 mile up a narrow steep rutted gravel road where the owner keeps telling us we really will be able to turn the trailer around.  It is amazing we made it and true to his word we are able to turn around on a soccer field where we can park in a sheep field next to the dressing rooms for the soccer teams.  We get to use the visitors dressing room that does have cold showers and toilets.  We have wonderful views in several directions.

And walking across the soccer field and through a cow pasture Victor shows us a lovely little cascade, in which I later take a very quick dip.  Brrrrrrr!

We have lovely evening light and skies.

We are greeted by our campsite mates in the morning as we leave to pick up Suzanne.