Eva and Les

Wow! What a 2-days this has been. Pictures will need to be posted later because this internet connection does not recognize my USB key! We knew it was going to be a challenge, to walk the 18km in an estimated 5 hours with a climb of 1100m - and it was. We drove the half hour from the peaceful Hotel Tronador to Pampa Linda where we registered for the walk with the National Park, parked the car in the shade and set off with our 7kg or so packs. The track for the first 4 km or so is on a stony dirt 4 wd track through fairly open forest, so we were glad when we arrived at the Puente Rio Castano Overa log crossing. This fast flowing grey-green river is from one of the glaciers of Mt Tronador , and later we´d have a spectacular view from above it, with its ice falls and waterfalls. But for now we were happy to go into the thicker forest and less dusty track. We deviated for a bit to go down another river (because it was there)...

Hotel Tronador has been our home for 4 days now. It is about 70km from Bariloche that you get to down a timed one-way road. It sits on a emerald green lake with mountains in the background, and the 3400m Mt Tronador at the end of the valley. It is called Tronador because of the thunderous sound of ice breaking away from the glacier and floating in the lake - not OUR lake, which is a little warmer. We have spent each day walking for about 5 hours on the mountain paths to lookouts (usually very steep), over rivers and swing bridges, to other lakes, to glaciers, waterfalls and just generally in the forest. When we were at Mirador del Valle we saw two condors just above us. The forest is interesting, as it has some flowers, but lots of native bamboo that gives it a tunnel effect in places. The days have been warm (25 degrees) and very sunny. In the afternoons the sun is VERY hot and we swim in the cool lake. Everyone is very friendly, most people speak english , but som...

Well, finally got to a reliable internet connection in Bariloche, so I thought I'd better update while I can! We arrived OK, but it was over 30 hours due to a 6 hour delay in Santiago - setting the trend of things to come. On advice we packed all the electronic gear in our carry-on (Thanks Jeanette and Pat) and everythig arrived OK. We had to wait 3/4 of an hour to get our bags though, not sure why, but we were relieved when they arrived. The flight to Puerto Varas, about 900km south of Santiago was fantastic. The weather was mostly clear and we saw lots of the Andes and many lakes. Some mountains had snow, but not as many as would further north, as they are higher there. Got a taxi OK at Puerto Montt to go to Puerto Varas, and my Spanish was continuing to be useful (thanks Nancy), and I am enjoying tryong to use it. Everyone is SO friendly and helpful. We arrived late and very tired, but had dinner an a fish restaurant above a fish market (El Mercado) and w...