Happy Holidays

I must admit it's tough getting in the Christmas spirit when the thermometer reads 95 degrees and there aren't the usual Christmas songs on the radio, but here's a try.
I walked up to the Cross above Junin today and found some interesting sculptures

I must have slept through the sermon about the conquistadors at the Crucifiction

This one about the washing of the feet really interested me for some reason

Maybe it was the facial expressions

I just thought it was pretty good stuff.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Have a Merry Christmas!

Onto Junin

I made my way to Alumine´, where the tourist offie said there was good fishing here. Lake RuciChoroi, or something like that, 25 km's off the beaten path in the Lanin National Forest. The stream that feeds the lake

I did say it was off the beaten path

The only problem here was that the Mapuche Gauchos kept riding up and trying to sell homemade bread and wool gloves and hats. Kind of like spam on a computer, but you can't turn it off.

So I moved down to Junin de los Andes, closer to the Lake district The town of Junin de Los Andes, from the Cross above town

You can still see the holdouts

This beast was loaded with 14 Germans AND the kitchen sink, www.kondor
-tours.de, if you want to go along

A Short Trip to Chile

While Landon went fishing in Argentina, Sean and I went over to the Andes into Chile. We spent the first night in San Felipe Los Andes. A mild earthquake woke us up. The locals seemed used to them. Then we headed for Viña del Mar. Here is a shot of Sean headed for the water.

We missed our turn when we were leaving Viña del Mar. A car pulled up alongside of us at the stop light, and the driver (Roberto) asked us where we wanted to go. I said Santiago. He said ¨Follow me¨. We did, and he took us through the maze of streets and highways to the capital city. He and is family brought us to a wonderful grill, where they bought us supper. They directed us to a great hotel downtown and invited us for lunch the next day at their home near Melipilla. We ended up having supper with them and spending the night in their guest house. It was a terrific experience, certainly a highlight of the trip for me. The above picture is of me relaxing with the afternoon sun in their garden.

Our hosts Roberto and Evelyn, and their two children Macarena and Fernando. They were wonderful.

Salto de Laja, east of Conception.

Vulcan Osorno at its best in the afternoon light.

We look forward to crossing back over the Andes into Argentina tomorrow and celebrating Christmas with Landon in San Carlos de Bariloche.

Some More Old Pictures from Northern Argentina

This is a close up of the sundial at the Tropic. The sun is almost straight up.

The Salinas Grandes (salt flats) on route 40 south and west of Abra Pampa, Argentina.

Landon and Sean headed south to Cache on route 40

Two more shots headed south to San Juan on route 40

Some Old Pictures

Here are some old pictures I found on the camera. This one is Landon getting on the ferry on the way to Conception, Bolivia.

This is a storm brewing over the mission in Conception.

The Feast of San Javier at the San Javier mission in Bolivia. The skies opened up just before the scheduled procession around the square.

But soon the rain stopped, and San Javier got his annual constitutional through the streets.

Here´s a picture of Landon at the Tropic. Note the sundial in the background says that the sun is about as far south as it will get this year.

Majestic Views and Fishing School

Going from Chilicito to San Juan, Ruta 40 provides some excellent scenery

Saw this in Mendoza, had to take a picture for evidence

The Inca Bridge, on the way to Chile

Sometimes the views are just too much to describe

"From a phone booth in Cheyenne,......." (name that tune, and click to enlarge)

The lake south of Paredites, on Ruta 40

Because the road was detoured for construction at the 3000 km marker, which, by the way, is the distance left to Tierra del Fuego.

When I stopped for gas in El Sosneado, I met a group on their way home to Mendoza, after a 4 day ride to Neuquen. All on BMW's

While I was taking a break at the El Sosneado station, Facundo came up and asked if I liked to fish. After a small discussion, he produced his fishing pole and some day old bread. In about 10 minutes, my trout fishing lesson was over, and I had an eight inch trout on the end of the line, from the stream behind the store. I packed $250 worth of fly fishing gear 10,000 miles to do what it took a kid with $5 worth of stuff 10 minutes to do. Kind of humbling....., hell, it was very humbling.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the fish, I was too excited.