Not a cloud in the sky!

Finally! Sunshine! Not a cloud in the sky! Guille and I sat by the lake and defrosted from another cold night while eating our breakfast. It was wonderful. It's a day not to be wasted. Lago Verde is almost ours alone and it's so still and peaceful here.

Since it's such a beautiful spot and it's summer here, the obvious question is 'Where is everyone?'. We've heard the weather is keeping people away. Yes, the rain and wind aren't fun but surely there's more to it. It turns out the Chilean volcano is having the biggest impact on people's travel plans. Flights to Bariloche and Esquel, the nearest large towns, are hit or miss depending on the direction of the wind and whether or not they can fly. Interesting! It's not really affected us yet but it sounds like we need to take the winds into account as we get closer to Bariloche in a few days' time.

The drive to Lago Puelo today wasn't long distance-wise but took a long time as a good chunk of it was on some ugly gravel roads - good thing it's a rental car! Along the way, we stopped and did a hike up to a lookout from which we saw three of the lakes and the Rio Rivadavia, plus our campground. It was a great little walk and ensured that we earned our lunch on the shores of Lago Rivadavia. I think of all of the lakes we've seen, it was my favourite. The sunshine and warmth of the day no doubt helped with that impression.

View from the mirador of our campground (see the white pier?) on Lago Verde:

Guille and I being shutter-bugs. (given the time I take fussing with pictures, I'm grateful she's interested in photography too!)

Lago Puelo is a small touristy town in a valley between the mountains. It's a lot like the Okanagan with all of the orchards. There are noticeably more backpackers here and both Guille and I remember our days in their shoes.

We both 'did our time' traveling on the cheap-cheap and now we've got the ideal situation. We're both grateful to have the car. We do feel a bit odd hauling 4-wheel suitcases into the tent though! We rough it and save when we can. We splurge when we want to. I'm already getting excited about the idea of a pedicure and a massage in Barioche. I love the range in the style of travel we are doing in this 2 1/2 week trip!!!

My journaling on my iPad needs to be done carefully now that we're around more people. When we both hauled out our iPads last night at dinner to briefly take advantage of some wi-fi and electrical sockets, the restaurant owner mentioned to Guille that we need to be very careful here. People will follow us if we take them out and flash them around. Fair enough. We need to lock them up in the car and be more vigilant about our possessions now. While I know you're not supposed to travel with anything you're not willing to lose, I'd sure be sad if this toy of mine ever disappeared!

Sunset over Lago Puelo: