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.

We woke up in aussieland to a rainy, foggy day today.  After two days of intense sightseeing, and hiking,  we decided that we should slow down and relax a bit.  On that note, David decided to check our upcoming flights and discovered that we had a major Easter Island flight problem.  Fortunately, all of the hotel and other flights within South America were ok and we were able to change the Easter Island flights – that is the 3rd time that we have had issues with those flights.. The interesting issue is that we had previously checked and rechecked numerous times the dates to ensure flight dates and hotel reservations were in sync with each other.  To our chagrin today, they were not.   It was a very tense 2 hours as we figured out the issue.  Thank  goodness it rained today; as,  we  probably would have not uncovered being one day off on our flight to Easter Island this Sunday.  Actually, with so many flights and hotel reservations on this trip, we are quite relieved that things have been so smooth so far .  .  .

After our (almost) big  panic attack, the rains had lifted and we decided to venture out to Paddy’s Market.  It is Sydney’s biggest market with over 1,000 stalls of food, clothing, electronics, etc.  We decided to dine-in and bought some fresh tuna from the seafood vendor at Paddy’s.  We both agreed that it was the best tuna that we have ever eaten.  The tuna melted in our mouths and was utterly delicious.  What a thoroughly enjoyable treat with a bottle of wine after such a fretful day!

On Thursday, we tramped all around Sydney for 4 hours before packing for our 12 1/2 hour flight to Santiago on Friday.  On Monday , we will be leaving Santiago and will be off for a 5 hour flight to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Easter Island for 3 days.   Below are some of the highlights of our beautiful harbor city walk today.

We kept reading that no trip to Sydney would be complete without visiting the majestic Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters which is a World Heritage site and a two hour train ride from Sydney to Katoomba.   Thus, we set off today for the Blue (really?) Mountains.   Although the Blue Mountain got its name due to the blue haze that hovers over them, we just didn’t experience this phenomenom on our visit.  This national park has numerous walks and reasonably marked trails.  In the middle of this World Heritage site is a Scenic Skyway with breathtaking views revealed beneath your feet through the glass cabin floor which travels across the canyon.  There was another very steep Scenic Cableway that took us to the valley floor of the Jamison Valley, an incline railroad (world’s steepest cable-driven funicular railway) to the valley floor & a 2.4 km raised boardwalk through the valley floor of a Jurassic-type rain forest.  All these “rides” are called Scenic World essentially a tourist trap of three rides with amazing views and a “platformed” walkway through a forest.  Although we did go on every “ride” and the rain forest boardwalk, it was just too commercialized for us since it was in the middle of a World Heritage site.

We did the unthinkable (as we dislike touristy stuff) and bought a Hop On Hop Off pass for Blue Mountain based upon the recommendation of a very helpful Visitor Center Guide in Sydney.  What a big mistake!   Upon our arrival in Katoomba, we hoped on the bus and got off about 5 minutes later at Scenic World.  Once we finished the amusement rides, we hiked to the three sisters which is the Blue Mountains most spectacular landmark.  It is essentially an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to aboriginal legend were turned to stone.  We took the very, very steep stairs down to the three sisters and a bridge across to one of the rock formations.  We then continued to hike to many lookouts and cliff trails for the next three hours and finally ended up at location 18  out of 29 on the Hop On Hop Off bus route for a 15 minute ride back into town to meet the train back to Sydney.

We woke up to beautiful blue skies this morning.  It was a perfect day to take two well-known tramps around Sydney.  We started off at Coogee Beach to walk the popular four mile cliff-top coast walk between Coogee  & Bondi Beaches.  The views of Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte Beaches provided the backdrop for some amazing photos.   It happened to be the day after the annual 2- week “Sculptures on the Sea” exhibit.  The beaches are beautiful and the walk reminiscent of southern California beach walks-particularly the Manhattan to Palos Verdes esplanade walk.  The beach was certainly enhanced by this seaside art gallery filled with sculptures that hadn’t been removed yet.  The crowds were a little heavier because of the exhibit.

We were anxious to see Bondi Beach; as, Alexander spent his entire junior year at Boston College attending the University of New South Wales and living in Bondi Beach.   (With all the health issues concerning Lesley’s parents, we never got to visit Alexander during his Australian junket.  Oh, we mean studies)  After lunch on Bondi, we took the bus back to Sydney and caught another bus north to Manly to walk the 6- mile “Spit to Manly” coast walk.  The trail was quite varied between sand, wood & stone steps & some platforms along with a variety of flora and fauna.  The stone steps often looked like they had be installed by a medieval stonemason’s incompetent apprentice.   There were lots and lots of steps on this hike.  There were plenty of great vantage points to be found along the track offering spectacular views across the Sydney Harbor.  After three bus rides (There are no ferries that go to Congee due to it’s ocean front location.) and 10 miles of walking, we ferried back to Circular Quay in Sydney from Manly Bay on the big green and yellow double decker “slow boat”.  It was a glorious day.