lady of the lake

The only disadvantage of my prime location in Lago Pehoe is the lack of public shuttles. Most of the people who stop here are either with a tour or have their own rental car. 

So I set out for a walk on the road, with vague ideas of making it back to Pudeto and catching the catamaran to Glacier Grey.

It quickly started to rain, but not before I saw this lovely shrine to Lourdes. Should I drink a cup and see if I'm cured?

 
The granite is awesome too. This is the kind of place that makes you want to study geology. Last night, one of the guides explained the layers of rock to me in Spanish. The towers are only 12,000 years old—the tall mountains nearby are 50 or 60,000. And they're unusual because the black sedimentary rock ended up on top of a thick gray layer of granite.

I headed back, dampened, and did a few hours of client work on the shaky wifi. Then I set out again as the rain let up, more determined.

 You can see how much cloudier it is than yesterday.

But eventually I spotted the falls.

They aren't tall, but they are powerful, and freezing, coming down from the glacial melt. 

It started to rain again, and I turned back, glad to have a warm hotel room and dry clothes and a bottle of organic Carmenere to look forward to. Even better, a tour bus stopped to offer me a ride—a school trip from Santiago, also staying at my hotel. They're from Colegio Los Angeles (Chile).

Here's the view from last night around 11 pm from my room. Watching the rain, listening to Astrid Gilberto, dry and contento.