Sunglass Rescue

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Jan 9^th– We started today around 9. Our guide came to the hotel and told us to not wear black as it attracts the large flies they have in the National Park for 2 weeks each year. So, you know Shelly (all in black) so she changed. We had a private van and driver and guide. The guide was from Alaska (born) and New Jersey(grew up) but moved to Chile about 40 years ago. He spoke great English. It was like a history lesson the entire day with facts and interesting items. We first stopped at the green lake and did about an hour hike. It was cool and had some great views. Then we looked at the volcano, but it was still in the clouds somewhat so we chose to go visit the waterfalls. This was another great site. The falls were created when the volcano erupted in the 1830s and the lava filled the small valley between the volcano and the mountain beside it. It damned the river but over time, channels have created fast moving water falls. We hike around here for another hour. We found a large set of rocks on the water and sat on them to get some pictures. I took my hat off and oops my sunglasses fell off. Shelly finally spotted them in the water to the side of the rock. Now this was a major undertaking to retrieve them but Shelly did good and rescued my glasses.



As we left, we could see that the clouds had left the volcano so we decided that is where we would head there next. This means we will be having a late lunch but we didn’t want to chance the clouds coming back. The drive to near the snow line was slow since a good part of the road was switchbacks. Once we got there, we had more hiking. This was on crushed volcanic rock which was a bit slippery. The views of the lake(Lake llanquihue) and city(Puerto varas) and volcano peak(Osono) were amazing. Shelly summited the last of the hike. I stopped a bit before as my back was really aching. We then hiked down. I think the hike down was just about as hard as the hike up.



After heading back down thru the switchbacks, we got to the town of Ensenada and had lunch with the view of the volcano right outside the window. The lunch was good. I had salmon which this area is known for. After lunch, we were taken back to the hotel. Shelly napped and I blog’d.







Tomorrow we leave for Southern Patagonia. I’m told we will probably not have internet access and if that is the case, you will not hear from me for 3-4 days. I’m sure I’ll have lots to write about and we’ve been told this area is grand.

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Photos

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the falls

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the volcano

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one minute before I took off the hat and therefore lost the glasses

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Shelly working on recovering my glasses. If she had fallen in, she would have been swept away

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shelly at the top