This is going to span two days since yesterday we transferred from Bariloche to Puerto Varas Chile and that took about 11 hours in total. Follow the green dashed line (boat) and the green solid lines (bus) to see how we transferred.
First a word about our traveling companions. We are a group of 16 and we really enjoy everyone. There are 8 Canadians (of Indian/India decent) and 8 Americans. Our main guide is from Rio in Brazil/Brasil. She is 34 years old while all of us are in 60-70 range with the exception of a couple that bought their 30 something son who we really like. One gentleman came by himself and we guessed him early 70’s due to looks and activity level. He is 79. He was a curator at University of New Mexico library in Latin America literature. Great guy and we do quite a bit with him. Plus he speaks fluent Spanish.
We started in Bariloche and took a 1 hour 40 minute bus ride to the docks for the catamaran.
We were on the first of three catamarans for 1 hour 20 minutes then took a 15 minute bus ride to the next lake.
We then got on the second boat for 15 minutes and went to Argentina border control to leave the country. At that border crossing there was a memorial of sorts to Che. Apparently he rode that motorcycle across Chile.
We then took another 1 hour 20 minute bus ride to the Chilean border where we went to immigration and then they did a baggage hand search looking for fruits, vegetables, nuts and anything that could hurt their agriculture. Oh, and also drugs of course. We then had a really nice lunch.
Now we took a 1 hour 45 minute final catamaran boat to the next stop. Dee and I were late as we walked from lunch to the dock. We were last to board and the boat manager was visibly ticked. Oh well.
Now a 1 hour 15 minute bus ride to our hotel. We’re in a Radisson Hotel in Puerto Varas.
In Argentina the money exchange rate was 190 pesos to $1 USD. In Uraguay it was 40 pesos to $1USD and here in Chile it is 800 pesos to $1 USD. I’m trying not to exchange here in Chile as we are only here today and gone tomorrow and I don’t want to exchange twice and lose twice.
I forgot to mention earlier, in Argentina the cost of living is really high. The inflation rate last year was almost 100%. And we complain about 8%.
Chile is 3000 miles long and averages about 90 miles wide. It is the second most volcanic country in the world behind Indonesia. Patagonia is named after indigenous people called the Patagonis whose primary feature was that they were the tallest people in South America at about 6 feet tall. Where we were yesterday was a rainforest area that gets about 9 feet of rain a year. It’s not jungle since it’s not tropical. Looking into the rainforest from the bus I don’t know how anyone could walk through it. One of the prominent trees is the beech tree and it is massive with a huge canopy.
March 2. Tour day of volcano and glacier. We were picked up at the hotel at 9 am and just arrived back at 5:30. What a magnificent day we had.
First we visited a river taking glacial water to one of the many many lakes. It’s a national park.
While there we walked the many trails along the river. One called enemorado was my favorite because it is the trail for lovers of who me I was with.
We then took a 30 minute boat ride out into the same lake we finished with late yesterday except this time the water was blue and the sky was clear. It was a nice relaxing short trip.
Next we went to a restaurant for what I thought would be a nice mixta e salad an until we walked in and saw pork,beef and wild boar on the spit. Dee had beef and pork while I had wild boar.
Finally we went to Asorno volcano. I told Dee that I want to remember this day forever. While there we took two chair lifts up about 3/4 of the way up. I’ll leave you with some pictures because my words are inadequate.
Okay, I’ve about run our of news from Chile so I’ll say Adios. Love to all and thanks for being interested in our adventure. Greg and Dee