We arrived Saturday evening in Buenos Aires from Santiago. Our apartment in the Palermo section of BA is a 3 level penthouse on the 19th floor. Its 3 decks overlook this lovely city of 13m people.  The floor to ceiling windows offer us some absolutely spectacular views of the city.

We quickly had several impressions of the city:  The “portenos” (natives of Buenos Aires) love their dogs.  Dogs are everywhere with presents found on every street. The language sounds more like Italian than the Spanish spoken in Chile, newsstands & flower stands are present on almost every block on major streets, restaurants are everywhere (they generally have the same hours as Spain – late dinners!) and the city seems safe.  The country is generally bankrupt and there are parts of the city were this fact is obvious.  The sidewalks all over this sprawling city are in sad shape.  It is a challenge at best to keep from spraining an ankle while walking.

Many of Buenos Aires landmarks were built in the golden era when Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, ruled by rich aristocracy that looked at Europe especially Paris for inspiration.  There is clearly a Parisian flavor in the buildings throughout the city.  There are also lots of Peugots and Renaults speeding around the city.  That being said, the comparison to Paris is a bit of an exaggeration.  Paris has beautiful places everywhere you go.  Buenos Aires has beautiful places but it also has a fair share of ugly ones, too.

On our first full day in Buenos Aires we decided to start with a “free” walking tour. We were joined by about 35 others and a guitar playing guide. We were disappointed in this tour and bailed out halfway through. We then went to the magnificent Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron, among others, is buried. This cemetery has incredible mausoleums, many with basements which we had never seen in our other cemetery tours. Many of the mausoleums were very impressive and fit for a king. Unfortunately, a number were in disrepair.

It was a good day of exploring the Palermo & Recoleta sections of BA as we walked about 8-9 miles.  Buenos Aires is a walking city with most of the streets forming a grid pattern.

We woke up to lots of clouds and occasional rain.  Our hotel is right on Lake Llanquihue in Puerto Vargas.  It is the second largest lake in Chile and is quite magnificent with the Osorno Volcano looming in the background.   We decided to drive partially around the lake to the “ski area”  which is right on the Osorno Volcano, considered one of the most active volcanoes in southern Chile!  Both the top of the volcano and its main crater are fully covered by a permanent glacier.  It was very foggy and raining on the drive up the volcano.  Volcanic ash was heavily laden on both sides of the road and the trees appeared stunted in growth.   As we approached the ski area, it felt like we were on the moon.  There were no trees with only large black “lava” boulders and volcanic ash scattered all over and dense fog.  It was very eerie.  There is only one chairlift and a very small lodge at the ski area.  We wanted to take the chairlift up and hike down; but the lift was not operating due to the heavy rain.  We have discovered that the ski areas in New Zealand and Chile are quite small and often difficult to get to by car (due to long dirt & gravel roads) compared to our US ski areas.

Our next stop was the Petrohue “waterfall”.  It is below the volcano and is actually a fast-moving, chute-type waterfall with frothy white and aquamarine crystal clear water.   The unique thing about this waterfall is that it flows through narrow volcanic canyons shooting out immense volumes of water.  Apparently, it is one of the most photographed falls in Chile.

The Puerto Varas area is our favorite area so far in South America.  The town is very quaint and has a predominant German influence due to the German immigrants who arrived in the lakes region in the mid 1800’s.  Lake Llanquihue is absolutely stunning.   The area contains a  myriad of picturesque barns, rolling green farmlands, tiny, adorable churches,  charming ” cabañas”  (cottages), and  impressive estates that are on the lake and tucked into the hills .

We drove north along the lake to Frutillar where there is a very large concert hall on the shore.  It is a small artsy community and absolutely adorable.  There are many little German cafés and restaurants on the shore and throughout this little town.   We couldn’t figure out how this enormous hall was supported until we were driving out towards the freeway.  The area has a large industrial base of research labs (Novartis, Nestle, etc.) and manufacturing facilities that must provide the support.

On Monday we made the almost 4 hour drive to our next adventure, Puyehue National Park, one of Chile’s busiest parks in the Lakes Region.   The area is also home to 4 significant volcanoes although none have erupted recently (Volcano Puyehue did erupt in 2011).  Unfortunately, the weather was stormy and the volcanoes were hidden by heavy clouds.  The evening brought an incredible swirling cloud above one of the volcanoes and a gorgeous sunset.

The next day we visited the park and hiked several trails, giving up on one long one because of significant mud – we needed our galoshes!  We drove towards the ski area on a long gravel road.  After the heavy rain continued, we turned around.  Not a great day for hiking but the area is quite beautiful with massive lakes, extraordinary glacier-topped volcanoes and beautiful farmland.

Tomorrow we head to Puerto Vargas, about 2 hours away.  After this final visit in the Lakes Region we will fly south to Torre del Pines.

We landed in Temuco, part of the Lakes Region of Patagonia,  and drove about 90 minutes to Pucon.   This town, like Queenstown in the south island of New Zealand,  is a major center of “adventure” tourism in Chile.  It is best known for thermal baths, hiking, rafting, skiing and the Villarrica Volcanco which recently erupted in March, 2015.   The eruption exceeded the height of the volcano and all surrounding towns including Pucon were evacuated during the eruption.  In March, we did not have our Patagonia plans finalized but heard about a major volcanic eruption.   At the time, we never could seem to find out exactly where the eruption occurred.  We were quite surprised to discover upon our arrival in Pucon that we were staying within miles of the Villarrica eruption of March 2015!

Even though the Villarrica Volcano is still active, tourists continue to make the hazardous and very arduous climb to the top.  There are many days where the hiking companies cancel the hike due to weather conditions.  This volcano is one of Chile’s most active volcanoes.  The upper part of the volcano is permanently covered with snow with some 40 square kilometers of glaciers.  A gorgeous sight from our hotel.  We are staying in a charming “tree-house” type hotel.   Last night we had one of the best dinners we have had in Chile in the gourmet restaurant connected to the hotel.

Late last night, we received a message from our son Alexander requesting that we call him as soon as we wake up in the morning.  He had something very important to tell us.  We also received a message from Christopher asking us if we had heard from Alexander.  We had planned on doing a hike the next morning which was about 1 1/2 hours outside of Pucon.  We decided to delay the hike; so, we could call Alexander at 6:30 a.m. California time.  We both had an inclination that we were about to receive some wonderful news.  Lesley could not wait any longer and called Alexander at 6:00 a.m. California time.  After the second ring both Alexander and Ali answered the phone to inform us that they were engaged and will be married this fall (2016) in Kauai.  We are so thrilled!  We will have two weddings within a few months of each other.  With the remaining 4 months of our trip starting again in March, 2016 and two weddings, it should be a busy year for us.

Because we got such a late start today, we decided to forego the hike and drive to Lake Quilleihue which is about 70 kilometers south of Pucon.  On the map, it looked like we would be driving on gravel roads for the last 10 to 15 kilometers of the trip.  With a rental car, we were a concerned about the condition of the gravel road.  The scenery was absolutely spectacular, comparable to Glacier National Park.  It seemed like every corner that we rounded there was another enormous rock formation exploding from the ground.  The new road after Puesco was, to our delight, completely paved and went to to the border of Argentina.  We drove around the mountain with drop-dead views of the mountains and lake; but, without our passports with us,  we decided to turn around before we got to Argentina.  We also drove via gravel roads to beautiful Lake Caburgua.  The gravel road to Huerquehue National Park looked very rough so we opted not to take the risk in our rental car.

Tomorrow, we leave Pucon for a 3 1/2 hour drive to an another area of the lakes region of Patagonia called Puyehue.

On the second full day, we went north touring the largest group of Moai – 17 huge Moai.  In restoration, they believed that there were probably more than 30 at this site so the “ahu” (base) was designed for the larger number.  These Moai, as always, face inland protecting the people but are often near the beautiful harbors of Easter Island.  The higher-class (ruling) people lived near the ocean and the inland areas were reserved for others – things haven’t changed in 1800 years!

We then visited the volcano where the Moai were carved from the massive walls.  It was interesting that they were carved from the stone leaving a center “spine” along the back to keep the statue on the hill.  The last move was to chip away at this “spine” and once freed, the massive rock would slide down the hill to the first of a series of stops.  I was wondering how many were killed as the spine was chopped away and these 20-80 ton rocks fell on the poor guy chipping away below it.  From a different site, the pukao (aka topknots) were shaped – many of these weighed up to 12 tons and represented the hair wrapped around the head.  They were from another volcano and were transported to the burial site and then placed upon the top of the Moai.  Both of these were transported long distances once they were manufactured.  Some believe that a series of ropes were tied to the Moai and slowly rocked back & forth as they moved forward (this ties back to an ancient song that talks about the Maoi “walking”.  Other theories include the use of large tree trunks that acted as “rollers” as the Moai were moved – this ties into the complete deforestation that Easter Island experienced during this period.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui in the indigenous language) is the most remote island in the world.  It is 2500 miles from Santiago.  Around 700 AD a Polynesian king migrated to the Rapa Nui  from islands near the Cook Islands.  For 1000 years afterward their population grew to around 13-15k people.  Easter Island has become a classic example of overpopulation and overuse of the island’s resources.  By the time, the Europeans arrived in late 1700’s, the population was down to around 3000 and 120 years later due to Peruvian slave raids, European diseases, civil war between the different groups and lack of resources, the indigenous population was down to 111.

Today the island’s only industry is tourism as people come to hear the story and see the magnificent Maoi statues.  These statues were carved out of stone from one of the 3 volcanoes and transported to various sites to honor the dead (higher-class only).  The largest weighed about 80 tons.  We toured various parts of the island for 2 days learning the stories & history of these people as well as learning about their manufacturing techniques.

It is interesting that tourism only evolves around the Maoi and the history of the island.  The island only has two beaches – only one of them is significant and other water activities are limited.  I would expect that the average stay for a visitor is 2-3 days.  The twice daily planes from Santiago are generally filled and because NASA extended the only runway to stretch across the whole narrow part of the island (to serve as a space shuttle emergency landing way), the planes arriving are large Dreamliners.

Our first visit was a celebration site where the island tribe leaders met for 3-4 days annually to hold the “birdman” contest.  A leader or their surrogate would compete each spring for the title by climbing down the steep cliffs, swimming out to a local island & returning with the egg (strapped to their forehead) of a migrating bird.  It was clearly a difficult task.