February 25 - Peulla

We are leaving Puerto Varas and heading towards Bariloche on the bus / boat cruise I mentioned yesterday.

Just to prove we had to get up early here's a neat (at least I think so)  picture of the sunrise in Pto Varas.  We had to struggle out of bed at 0630.

We've done the first bus leg (I promised no more bus pix a while ago) and we're at the first lake (Lago Todos Los Santos), getting onto the catamaran.

Spanish sound of the day is "oo" (pronounced "u" as in 'boot').  This was the grunt our bus driver uttered when he had to lift my pack into the bus.  I am probably winning the 'heaviest hunk of luggage' contest.

I'll spare you another picture of Orsono, but here's one last shot of Volcan Puntiagudo  as we cruise by.

The Internet is painfully slow, so I'll finish this later.

Me again - the Internet is better now (not so many people booking hostels)









This is Volcan Tronador, on the Chile Argentine border.  The border goes along the height of land here, which puts it through this guy.  On the boat they were advertising a helicopter ride (1/2 hour, $250 US) of the area, but they specifically mentioned that they would show you the 3 glaciers on the Chilean side.  I guess you need an Argentine helicopter for the other side.

The view across the lake from Peulla.  There are various dwellings up and down the lake side.  The meadow areas across the lake appeared to have sheep grazing on them.

We've arrived in Peulla now.  I forgot to take a photo of the 'town' because I blinked as we walked through it.  There are two hotels, side by side, owned by the same company.  Here is the newer, more expensive one.  I booked us into the older, less expensive one.

And here it is.  Oh well!  We go in, but the lobby is empty and there is nobody at the front desk.  In fact there is no front desk!

To the other hotel - where there is a lobby with clerks and we are registered.  Turns out the company isn't using the old hotel, except for offices and staff, so I guess we got a free upgrade (have to look at the bill when we check out).





And, to prove we are in the nice hotel, there's my boots drying in the sun.  Just proves that you can put backpackers in a nice place, but it won't improve their behaviour.











Some short walks into the forest behind the town.  Very dense and lush, with a small waterfall behind.

The leaves for these great big guys are about 2 feet across.  I can't remember what they are, but we have them at home (they're not giant hogweed).  Any ideas?

We noticed a few other introduced species, including blackberry (I found a ripe one two days ago), broom (slightly different with a fuzzy seed), and gorsch, which is especially bad around Puerto Varas.  And they purposely introduced Douglas Fir, but they seem to be mostly contained in plantations, and are not 'being' invasive.   

It's early in the morning, which is probably why the Internet is working decently.  Looks like another nice day to continue this trip.  We are part way through the Andes - we'll be half way through when we cross the border.

We'll talk to you from Bariloche later.  Hope the snow is melting.