Greetings. For the Irish among us I thought you might like the above title. Yesterday I was in the Bernardo OHiggins national park. Bernardo was a Chilean independence leader (1778-1842) who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy land-owner of Spanish and Irish ancestry. So the potatoes go well with the incredible amounts of meat they eat here.
6.30 am start walk to Agunsa tour office, then we drove to Esperanza fjiord and boarded a boat to go down the Serrano Rio (river). Black and white swans and sea-birds, green peaks on one side and bare mountains on the other. We had to don life jackets to stand out the back and view the mountains looming closer and the green water churning. We docked below Serrano Glacier and walked half an hour through lovely bush track with red flowers and daisies galore, as it´s summer there is lots of flowering. The glacier was tall and narrow receding back up the cliffs, unfortunately quite a lot in 40 years. Perfect weather, blue sky, wisps of cloud, actually warm walking to the glacier on bush track tho I put all my clothes on. Chunks of ice are to be seen floating in the placid green lago.
Quite a stunning wild landscape though I´m currently seeing it in comfort, including on the boat return, a glass of Pisco sours with glacial ice !! Whoops, is that just unethical touris behaviour? I´m contributing to climate change (note to Tony Abbott – the glaciers aren´t melting, it´s the tourists drinking them!]
We went to Estacion Eberhardt (for Monte Gang it was an Agriturismo!) where we had a bbq. I can´t express how much meat they eat (Geordie would be horrified). I sat with a young Chilean journalism student from Santiago who was very nice.
Now I´m about to shoulder pack and head for Vinnhaus Hostel, and do my own thing for 4 days. Boc is leaving Bolivia for Buenos Aires today so we won´t meet. Can´t load photos as I´m on hotel computer but will put some later from phone. Adios
Frangipani Travels 