Sadly, in the final hours of our trip, my camera was stolen, and with it about 200 pictures of our adventures. So now, I am also a thief. I stole most of this post's pictures from other vacationers who posted their pictures in Google Earth.
If you recognize a picture here as yours, I will remove it if you ask. But I ask for your sympathy with this. (BTW: OUR weather was MUCH nicer, MY pictures were MUCH better, and I fixed your tilted horizons!)
Happily, Chispa took a few excellent shots. Enjoy!
THE BIG PICTURE
Here's a satellite's-eye view of the area we toured...
HORNOPIREN
Where the Rio Negro meets the ocean, on a bay within a bay within a bay, and deeply sheltered by islands and mist-shrouded mountains of rain-forests, is Hornopiren. It's a cool and serene sanctuary for man and beast.
The fastest way to Hornopiren is by ferry. We drove the road to it 3 times! (We had to return to Puerto Montt for more gas.)
The ferry ride was beautiful!
We had amazing views from our cabin! It's typically rainy here, but we had only 1 day of it ... all day. But it was a glorious day!
(Photo by Chispa!)
Usually, it looked more like this...
The Rio Negro rushes noisily into the bay for much of the day, except when the incoming tides almost halted it.
We saw a couple of Andean condors on a huge rock near this place. One of them posed for us, with his great wings opening (while he took a shit!)
We toured a private park at the edge of town that was still being built.
This water wheel rests within the park's jungle, with no apparent source to make it turn.
(Photo by Chispa!)
Our guide led us up a trail through the ferns, along railings of rope stretched between mossy trees, to this lookout.
(Photos by Chispa!)
Hornopiren's central plaza...
...it's a short walk to this little park on the shore
See the horses? Animals roamed freely all around the town: horses, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats. Outside, we all shared the streets, sidewalks, parks, beaches, and especially the plains of lush grass where the ocean's tides met the river.
It's fun to dream!
(Vende = for sale)
FRUTILLAR ALTO
We returned to Temuco from Hornopiren via scenic overland roads, bordered by blackberry vines and seaside salmon farms. We arrived in Frutillar Alto for Valentine's Day. ("El dia de los enamorados"/"The day of the Lovers")
QUEULE
Before I arrived, I had already admired the view . . .
It is a very quiet town...
...except on Saturday night, with music and dance at that college down there
We enjoyed lots of fresh fish - right off the boats...
...and some perfectly delicious meals by family in town!
We walked the hot sand and icy water of this beautiful beach
To get to the other, very secluded beach, you must take a 2-car ferry...
...to this!
VALDIVIA
On the way back to Temuco from Queule, we lunched in Valdivia, and walked around a bit. The market was quite amazing.
These sea lions waited for hand-outs. Sometimes they competed with the sea gulls for food.
There is a nice little park near the bridge to the island
ICALMA
By a fluke, we again found a perfect place in Icalma ... with clear views of mountain forests, Lake Icalma's beach, and the moon! (Its full eclipse happened there - on Chispa's birthday!)
Happily, Chispa took a few beautiful pictures here
We rode horses into the mountains, up to the border with Argentina (the yellow line on the satellite photo)
The mountains were covered with magnificent araucaria trees. Here's one on the road into town...
This road led to a peninsula on the lake
Sunset from Icalma's beach
