{"id":3451,"date":"2015-11-05T08:19:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T15:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/?p=3451"},"modified":"2015-11-05T08:19:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T15:19:32","slug":"the-lakes-of-northern-patagonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/?p=3451","title":{"rendered":"The Lakes of Northern Patagonia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks to Debbie<\/a> for the idea for the Google Maps screenshot to provide a reference of where we’ve been! I should have been doing this for the whole trip. Oh well, better late than never. This map leaves off at Puerto Pirihueico, because Google apparently hasn’t heard about the ferry we took across the lake to Puerto Fuy. So we made it a bit farther than is shown on the map, but this gives a good idea of where we’ve been.<\/p>\n

If the Carretera Austral reminded us of the Pacific Northwest, as we’ve gone north we feel like we are at home in Colorado. Gorgeous mountain lakes are framed by the now capped peaks of spring, and remote back roads offer stunning lakeside campsites.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of the many crystal clear rivers we crossed. This one was on the northern end of the Carretera Austral near Puerto Montt.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Puerto<\/a>

Puerto Varas was the first city we’d seen in some time. It’s set, of course, on a beautiful lake with a view of the nearby Osorno Volcano.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Lesley<\/a>

Lesley and Peter are from England, and we ran into them for the second time in the village of Petrohu\u00e9. We chatted over drinks in an upscale tourist lodge before returning to our vans to spend the night. Yes, overlanders are cheap.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The view of Volc\u00e1n Osorno from our campsite in Petrohu\u00e9. The piles of sand in the foreground are actually volcanic ash.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A different volcano erupted in April, covering the area with over two feet of ash. This is one building that hasn’t yet been dug out.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Playing<\/a>

Playing on the beach during a lunch stop at, you guessed it, another lake.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"P1250929\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We crossed into Argentina to explore Bariloche. We didn’t like the city much, but we found a great campground on the lake that let us use their kayaks.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"An<\/a>

An ibis at the campground in Bariloche.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The view of Bariloche from the top of a nearby hill.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"It's<\/a>

It’s getting warmer as we go North!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Relaxing<\/a>

Relaxing after a tough day traveling.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Not<\/a>

Not a bad spot to enjoy a cup of joe…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The drive north through Argentina’s lake district was amazing, with beautiful scenery around every turn.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Another<\/a>

Another lakeside campsite<\/p><\/div>\n

\"If<\/a>

If I had to pick one place to live that we’ve visited, this would probably be it. San Mart\u00edn de los Andes, Argentina. It’s got lots of hiking, mountain biking, and even a small ski area right out the door. Yes, I know, it looks like it could be in Colorado. Funny how that seems to happen!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"From<\/a>

From San Mart\u00edn, we found a combination of dirt roads and a ferry across a lake that we could take to re-enter Chile. Here we’re waiting at the ferry terminal in Pirihueico.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Crossing<\/a>

Crossing the lake took about an hour and a half.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"On<\/a>

On the other side we were greeted by yet more amazing scenery.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you haven’t been following along on the Sparks Tracker<\/a>, take a look at it. The points on the map are almost all places we camped or stayed for the night. If you zoom in on Southern Chile and Argentina, you’ll see that our points are very close together. The conversation goes something like, “Oh, look, we could camp on that lake! Yeah, but it’s only noon. That’s okay, we’ll just hang out here for the day.” <\/p>\n

We’ve decided that part of the reason we’re enjoying this part of the journey so much is more than just the natural beauty. We know that our trip is coming to a close (only two weeks before we ship the van back! Yikes!) and we’re trying to savor every minute that we can. It’s going to be cold in Colorado when we get back there in January!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Debbie for the idea for the Google Maps screenshot to provide a reference of where we’ve been! I should have been doing this for the whole trip. Oh well, better late than never. This map leaves off at Puerto Pirihueico, because Google apparently hasn’t heard about the ferry we took across the lake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"summary_large_image","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-argentina","category-chile"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3451"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3455,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions\/3455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}