Wednesday, 12-16 trip to Antuco and Laguna Laja

When we returned this afternoon at 5pm, I loaded over 200 pictures on the computer! What an incredible trip. Once again, with Patrick as our guide, we headed off, leaving Tia Peddie to relax with Joan, Beverly and Antonio. We drove east toward the Andes and toward the Laguna Laja, a lake situated just below two volcanic peaks. The lake provides the water to produce electricity for a good portion of Chile. The drive through the valley was pleasant and familiar with lots of farmland and forests, we finally spotted an oxcart, but it was actually drivng through a town, rather than on a farm road or something. We started climbing after we left the town of Antuco as we approached the national park that surrounds the lake. The two volcanic peaks, Antuco (2,900 meters) and Sierra Velluda (3,400 meters) are the highest in this region. The side of Antuco exploded about a million years ago and so the soil around it and all the way back to Cabrero (over 75km) is gray sandy volcanic soil.

One of the objectives today was to see Shangri La a cabin that Joan's family had owned back in the 50's. Jay had visited there often. We found it on our way east and stopped in to see if it was still a restaurant as had been reported by family members. It was, so we made a reservation for 2:30 for lunch hand headed off up the steep barren slopes surrounding the Laja. We felt like we were driving on the moon, ...the landscape was so desolate and gray. BUT the vistas were out of this world. I'm not sure how to pare down the pictures and make them manageable. When we finally reached the Laja we got out to "wet a hook" but only caught one small brown trout. We were glad we had a good lunch to look forward to.

Lunch, served in the living room that both Jay and Patrick remembered was quite good and very large. The girls did a bit of napping on the drive back down. Dinner awaited us here on the farm where Beverly had made hamburgers (and I mean made, she ground the meat and all!) She also made homemade hamburger rolls and TiaPeddie and Joan had made an apricot cobbler that was delicious. We aren't coming home thinner, that's for sure! Off to bed. The Blisses

~~~_/)~~~D&M

It didn't take long for Bliss boys to jump right in and help Patrick get an old tractor running when we reached the farm. Patrick also worked on spraying his cattle to help keep the flies off. Dan is surveying the framework for Patrick's proposed barn. Patrick is quite the farmer, with land here in Cabrero and Renaico and herds in both places.

Only four of the 107 pictures we took of the two volcanos that surround the Laguna Laja, The rugged one is called Sierra Velluda (3,400m) and the more volcanic looking one is called Antuco(2,900). The day was beautiful and the gorse (the yellow bushes) were in full bloom.

These oxcarts were everywhere in the 1950's, so far, we've only seen two.
The Laguna Laja isn't exactly a crater lake because it is beside the volcanos, but it certainly had the feel of being inside a crater, or maybe on the moon. It was calm when we arrived, so the surrounding slopes were reflected in the bluegreen water. We tried our hand at fishing with no luck.

The rivers are not as Dan and Jay remembered them because so much water is diverted to various hydroelectric plants. There still seemed to be plenty of water flowing.

We stopped for lunch at a house remembered as Shangri La, which was formerly a part of Joan's family. We were well fed by the current residents who have turned it into a restaurant. Truly a family style meal! Patrick lamented the loss of the river that ran just below the house - - - now just an empty riverbed due to the diversion of the water to the hydroelectric plants.