Chile Day Three

OK, at three in the morning, even Adele singing I Set Fire to The Rain is not something I want to hear. Someone pulled their car up in front of our hotel this morning and was playing this song really loud and I think they liked it because they sat there until it was done.

This morning we repacked our bags and headed north - almost five hours north. We got picked up at our hotel and then went to the airport, where wouldn't you know it we added two more lesbians to our party. Two very unfriendly Brazilian women, pretty but not friendly. So sad - for them cause we are fun!!

So we drive up Route 9 and we drive and we drive. We drive past many road side shrines. And not just the little bunches of flowers with a homemade cross that we see on the sides of our highways. No... These are structures, made of glass or cement and have real flowers planted and dolls of saints or Jesus or someone inside. They were all well kept and I think someone (DD your friend?) should take picture of them all, find out about them and publish a coffee table book. If I had been driving I would have stopped at them all, but some guy, I don't know his name was driving and he pointed stuff out to me in Spanish and I nodded my head a lot.

On this ride I noticed the trees. There seems to be a certain type of tree that has been attacked by a parasite of some kind. It looks like silver moss and grows up the trees and seems to kill them. We passed a lot of trees with broken branches and fallen over trunks that reminded me of tombstones in a cemetery long forgotten.

Halfway to our destination we stopped at a little place called Rio Rubens Hotel & pasada. The best sandwiches in Patagonia. Kilometer 183 North Route 9. The sandwiches were pretty good and I felt like I had stepped back in time. And the Brazilian lesbians were still unfriendly.

Back in the van and we continued northward, past mountains, glaciers and lots of guanco's, llamas, I think I even saw a fox. The country here is beautiful. We climbed higher and higher. We went from paved surface to a rock road, to a path into a dirt parking lot in the middle of no where. And there sat a little piece of heaven on earth. This place was worth the drive and so far it has been worth the money. The rooms are so fantastic that I can't even explain them except to say we can lay in bed and look out the big window at mountains, glaciers and a beautiful lake. Just take a look at the web page, you will wish you were here. And the Brazilians are still unfriendly.

We took a walk down to the lake and I stuck my hand it in, it was cold!! It is very windy here but so beautiful. We rested a little and then went down to dinner where all the tables are set on only one side so you can look at the view while you eat. We had a woman sit at the table in front of us and Chip asked her to join us, because she was blocking my view. Well, mostly because she was alone and we felt bad for her, but she was blocking my view. And would you believe she is a travel agent from Paris! Yes, Paris. What are the chances. We had a very nice dinner talking of this place, Paris, travel, massages and guancos. We all decided we like that word very much and will use it every chance we get. And guess what? There must be a Costco here somewhere because the sweetner on the table was Kirkland. Go figure.

Tomorrow we head out to Grey Lake or Lago Grey if you want to speak Spanish. We will take a boat to the Grey Glacier. We are all very excited and the Brazilians are still unfriendly.