Thursday April 26, 2018

April 26, 2018, Thursday;  blog being written in hotel room over looking a large lake in Bariloche, Argentina.

Catch up time; Monday April 23;  today is a travel day.  We are taking a plane to Puerto Montt, Chile.  Plane ride was uneventful.  Santiago is at latitude 33 and Puerto Montt is at lat 41 so we flew south about 500 miles.  

Puerto Montfort is the capital of the southern district.  It was an important port before the Panama Canal was built.  Because of 30 foot tides it is no longer a popular port.  We visited the fish market and walked around.  

After our short stay in Puerto Montt we took a bus to Puerto Vargas.  Puerto Vargas is a small tourist town on a big lake.  It reminds me a lot of Banaff, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies.  Our small hotel was located on the banks of the lake.  The hotel was very rustic, wood floors, exposed wood beams and posts.

We had a demonstration how to make a popular Chilean drink, Pisco sour.  The drink was strong but good.  Nancy especially liked it.  We walked as a group to a local restaurant for dinner.

Tuesday April 24, still in Puerto Vargas;  first thing we had a talk given by the leader of a local Indian group.  He talked about their problems with the Chilean government.  Not unlike problems in USA.

We all got on the bus and were driven to a private museum dedicated to the early German settlers.  The Germans arrived around 1870 before Germany was united.  They established a successful farming community.  The museum was very interesting and included home furnishings and tools used by the settlers.  The displays could have been shown in any small German farming community in the USA and no one would know the difference.

After the museum we were driven to a working Chilean ranch.  We were given a demonstration of Chilean cowboys horse riding skills.  Their horses are small and agile not unlike the US quarter horse.  The cowboys use their riding skills when performing in their popular rodeos.  We had a very good lunch at the ranch.

We had dinner on our own tonight. We were tired so ate at the bar in the hotel.

Wednesday April 25,  today we cross over to Argentina.  To get to Argentina we have to cross the Andean mountains.  Our entire trip was spent in huge national park that spans both countries.  Our crossing of the Andes included a boat trip across an alpine lake followed by a bus trip and then another boat trip, followed by a bus ride and finally our third boat trip.  

The National Park is in a temperate rain forest, not unlike the forests in our Pacific Northwest.  Annually they get 100” of rain so every thing is very green.  It is fall in SA so the hardwood trees are turning colors.  

We did not get to our hotel in Bariloche, Argentina until 2030.  Once again our hotel room overlooks a large alpine lake.  The entire group had dinner at the hotel.  Long day but great scenery.

Thursday April 25, 2018.  We get to sleep in today.  No activities until 1000.  

We were going on a walking tour through the National Park but it started to rain.  The walk was canceled so we headed to our next stop a small brewery run by a third generation French family.  We were given a tour of the brewery and the brew master showed us his beer making prowess.  We had lunch at the brewery and were given samples of the beer.  

Because of the heavy rain our cable car ride to the top of a big mountain was canceled.  We took a bus tour of Bariloche.  Stopped at a chocolate factory and bought several items.  I elected to go back to the hotel.  Nancy said the rain had stopped so she walked to a shopping area.  It started to rain on her way home and she got soaked.

For dinner tonight we ate in the hotel’s bar.  Not an original idea because many folks on the tour also did not want to go out in the rain.