I woke up on Friday feeling somewhat ill, but hoping it would clear up we went off for a drive to the end of Lago Lacar, the lake San Martin de los Andes is on, and to its connecting lake, Lago Nonthué. The dirt road was pretty decent and we made good time to the park ranger station at Hua Hum, only a few kilometers from the Chilean border. The park office is in a beautifully restored wooden building that was built in the early 1900s by a South African settler. The longer trail to another lake with hot springs had been closed off because they were searching for missing hikers. We never did hear what happened, but were content to explore other trails. We did a short hike to Cascada Chachin, a waterfall at the end of an interpretive trail. The trees along the trail were mostly different species of southern beech, Nothofagus and a few Saxegothaea, a tree that looks like a hemlock, but that has flowers. There was a pretty holly-like shrub with tubular red flowers as well (see photo).
After admiring the waterfall, we walked back to the road we had driven in on and down the road to the inlet of the lake. I was feeling somewhat worse at this point, so we sat by the lake and Jake had his lunch and I took a nap. We did find some ripe blackberries as a post-lunch snack (see photo)! Deciding that it was better to feel ill outdoors rather than stuck in a hotel room, we drove back along the lake and stopped at a campground further along the lake. Another nap did some good and we set off for home. After a few kilometers we stopped to pick up hitchhiking backpackers. Hector and Victor, two brothers from Buenos Aires, had camped at the furthest campground but had missed the only bus back to town. Despite being squeezed into the back of the car with their enormous packs, they were very grateful to get a ride. They invited us to visit them at the Hard Rock café in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires where they work. They are both students, one studying art and the other cinema.
After admiring the waterfall, we walked back to the road we had driven in on and down the road to the inlet of the lake. I was feeling somewhat worse at this point, so we sat by the lake and Jake had his lunch and I took a nap. We did find some ripe blackberries as a post-lunch snack (see photo)! Deciding that it was better to feel ill outdoors rather than stuck in a hotel room, we drove back along the lake and stopped at a campground further along the lake. Another nap did some good and we set off for home. After a few kilometers we stopped to pick up hitchhiking backpackers. Hector and Victor, two brothers from Buenos Aires, had camped at the furthest campground but had missed the only bus back to town. Despite being squeezed into the back of the car with their enormous packs, they were very grateful to get a ride. They invited us to visit them at the Hard Rock café in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires where they work. They are both students, one studying art and the other cinema.
I think that the bird pictured here is the tawny throated dotterel. We have seen a lot of birds, but my id skills aren't so great and the only book I have with me is a 43 page field guide to Patagonia and Antartica that includes plants and animals. I know we saw crested caracaras sitting on fenceposts along Rt. 40, upland geese on the lawn of the Llao-Llao resort and a ringed kingfisher at one of the lakes. I think there were 2 other types of caracaras as well that were fairly common, and maybe a type of phalarope along the lake shores. There was also a pair of ducks that I thought were mallards crossed with a domestic duck, but I don't think they have mallards down here.
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