Puyuhuapi

This was our next destination.  It is a small town at the head of a fjord, deep in the temperate rainforest.  On our way north from Cerro Castillo, we passed interesting geology…

… that kept getting greener…

… and more purple (from the lupines) –

The mountains kept growing also –

As you can see from the pictures, it was quite the rainy day…

… but when it cleared a little, we’d stop so I could get a picture of the lupine-lined riverbanks –

This was a random waterfall at a corner of a set of switchbacks, that sometime in the past, someone had built a staircase (to a trail we didn’t explore).  I thought it added a nice sense of scale.  This was one of the rare wide spots in the road that I could get out and take a proper picture.

More waterfalls on a hillside (probably coming from the glacier/ice field on top that we can’t see)…

… and the middle one up close –

One of my family members has asked how fast we’ve been able to drive on all the gravel roads you see in my pictures.  First, a little explanation about the roads (in both Chile and Argentina).  The main north-south routes are heavily traveled (by trucks), and I guess when they get so pot-holed that it’s useless to try to patch them anymore, they just tear up the asphalt, leaving a gravel road behind.  Well that soon becomes pot-holed or becomes washboard (especially on uphill stretches).  The stretch of road to Puyuhuapi was literally the worst road we encountered in our month of driving so far, and it lasted 100 km!

As the car in the above picture shows, we’d have to nearly drive on the side of the road to try and miss a few of the potholes.  So, to answer the driving speed question, it all depends!  Some gravel roads would have smooth tracks that we’d move on down at 70 kph (nearly the speed of paved roads near towns), while those above would be a jolting rock and roll at 20 kph. 

This sight was not fun to meet at the corner of a tight switchback  (and no, I didn’t get a picture of that) –

This was the road just before we met the semi –

As we neared our destination, there were random waterfalls on the rock walls next to the road…

… that fed the prolific ferns and Giant Rhubarb.  Steve was deluding himself that he needed this big of a “fig leaf”.

These plants are truly massive and grow everywhere in this climate.  They are also commonly associated with Foxglove, which are quite photogenic up close -

Our destination was Puyuhuapi Lodge, and it required a boat ride to get us over to the island and its thermal pools. This was the view from our room on arrival -

It rained our arrival afternoon and through the night, but was gradually clearing as the morning progressed. I wanted to go on a walk in the rainforest, but Steve declined because of the need of wearing rubber boots due to mud. I soldiered on, and had a very interesting outing. There was a lot of deep mud on the trail…

… and at times, the mud was over ankle deep, making it challenging to retrieve the boot after I nearly pulled my foot free from it! There were ferns everywhere…

… as was the water -

This vine had nearly taken over this trunk -

New fern fronds came out red -

Our travel agent had recommended that we stay at this lodge because of the thermal baths and spa. We had checked out all of the “hot tubs” and this was our favorite because it was so natural and was secluded -

Our second night granted us this nice reflection…

… but the morning we left blew it out of the water!