Our hotel was situated in a valley. It is the larger building with a green roof a little left of center.
The view from our room was always changing. Here it is at sunrise.
Once we were checked into the hotel we went to explore the property. They were rounding up cattle to be branded a short distance from the hotel.
The property also bordered a river so we walked along it for awhile.
The next day we were driven to a different area of the Park where we crossed a suspension bridge (6 at a time)
Then walked across this large expanse of beach by the lake
And hiked up a hill (This is our Patagonian guide, Francisco, or Pancho for short)
until we reached a viewing point for the glacier which the guide said was actually 10 miles away. It looks much closer, don't you think?
When we returned to the hotel we watched the cowboys branding the calves.
The next day we set out for the east side of the park which is drier than the west. Along the way we saw beautiful lakes, rivers, waterfalls and awesome mountain peaks.
We also saw herds of guanacos.
We were very blessed to even get to see a puma near our bus. Our guide said this is only the 3rd time he has seen one on the tours he has done and never so close.
One of the most fun and memorable things we did was to experience the ferocious Patagonian wind.
Our group was told to take a knee if it got too strong to stand up, and it did! The guide estimated the wind was gusting to probably about 60-70 mph which lasted only a few minutes. He said they have up to 120 mph gusts. I can't imagine!
On the third day, as we were preparing to leave, there was a beautiful double rainbow outside our window.
More tomorrow. Santiago was our last stop.
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