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weather in Buenos Aires!

After we had taken in all there was at Puerto Alegre, we were given the option of walking the 3 kilometers back to the hotel at Puerto Blest, or riding back in the minivan.

A lot of people took off walking, but I headed for the van. I wasn't up for the exercise, even though it was mostly down hill. I was hungry, and I wanted to get back to the hotel for the lunch that was waiting for us. And what a fantastic lunch it was.

The special was Smoked Salmon Crepes, and we both opted for that. I wasn't sure what to expect, because the restaurant looked more like a diner than a first rate restaurant. We were certainly not disappointed. The crepes were excellent, so much so that I was sorely tempted to order the dish a second time. It was a totally satisfying meal. When we were half way through, the walkers started drifting into the restaurant and found tables. After we had finished our meal we went outside and saw that our boat was still tied up at the dock. We had a bit of time to kill, so we walked along the edge of the lake. But before we did that, I wanted to photograph the beautiful flowers that were in abundance on the grounds of the hotel.

As you might have guessed by now, I'm a real pushover when it comes to flowers. I view them as God's smiles.

Everything from fire engine red, to various colors of Lupin, and even the lonely daisy, all smiling brightly.

I had Pete stand next to this boulder for size comparison. It would look nice in your rock garden. ;o)

We are now back on board the boat and headed across the inlet to a dock which is the jumping off point to see the
Cascada de los Cántaros. What I didn't remember from our last visit was that there are 700 steps go get to the top.

The falls were very impressive. I still can't fathom where all the water is coming from.
It has to be snow melt, but the mountains seemed pretty bare to me. That's a lot of H₂2O.

We begin our climb to the top, and I'm counting the steps as we go to see if there really are 700. Looking DOWN . . .

. . . and then looking UP! I got up to a count of 435, and we got off the trail
for a vista spot, and at that point I lost count. It was getting boring anyway.

My Spanish is really lame, but essentially this sign is talking about a 1,500 year old tree up ahead. WOW! That's
the time that Geneva, Switzerland was hit by a tsunami. Honest! A rockfall triggered the tsunami which swept
across Lake Geneva, engulfing its shores with a wall of water up to 13 meters high. This tree would have been
about 51 years old at the time of that Swiss tsunami. When you consider all the other events that have occurred
in the ensuing years, this tree has witnessed quite a lot, and yet it is still growing strong. It's a Sequoia, of course.

We have reached the top, and viola, there it is, the 1500 year old Sequoia tree.

It is a pretty magnificent old tree at that. The Sequoia is the oldest living thing on the planet.

Located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California, is the General Sherman Tree, and I couldn't pass this by without making mention of it.

The only thing I can say about this tree is AWESOME!

The "General Sherman" tree may be the biggest and the tallest tree on earth, but it is not the oldest. It is estimated to be only 2,000 years old. In the past Sequoias have been cut down and based on counting the tree rings, one was found to be 3,220 years old. It is believed that there might be giant Sequoias up to 4,000 years old out there, because the biggest are not always the oldest.

I don't think you can't believe everything you read in the National Parks. I remember from one of my classes in college that the Bristlecone Pine is actually the oldest tree, up to 5,000 years old. One such tree located in the White Mountain Bristlecone Pine Forest of eastern California is named Methuselah (after the longest-lived person in the Bible). It's precise location is undisclosed by the U.S. Forest Service to protect the tree from vandalism. The age of Methuselah was measured by core samples in 1957 to be 4,789 years old. This was about the time that the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt started building pyramids to house their earthly remains as they journeyed on to paradise, or so it is said.

The Bristlecone Pine may not look as magnificent as the Sequoia, but it IS the oldest living thing on earth.

Well, now back to our trip. There were several viewing platforms along the long trail, and the wood bath made the climb a lot easier than it would have been without it. Unfortunately I've just noticed that I have reached over 5 MB so I will stop for now, and resume with more photos in Part 3.