There are few passes through the rugged south central Andes and the southernmost is known as the Tres Lagos, or three lakes, crossing. It's pretty much for tourists only because of the cost and the length of time it takes, but we decided on the recommendation of other travelers that it was worth it to see the dramatic scenery, not to mention that Miles was a strong advocate of seeing and riding on the three catamarans. Speaking of tourists, we haven't seen hardly any North Americans since coming to Chile. Sure, there are lots of travelers, but most of them are wither from within Chile or from other countries in South America. Of course, there are a few Europeans, Assies and Kiwis around but the North Americans have been scant. On leaving Chiloe we got our first real rains of the trip, arriving in Puerto Varas on a day with low clouds obscuring Volcan Osorno. We left early the next day on a bus headed east, traveling for about an hour to the shores of the first Lago where we boarded the first catamaran. Traveling for two hours accross the lakes the weather slowly lifted and we gazed up at the surrounding peaks, the slopes of the volcano and the cloak of verdant Valdivian Rainforest, made up of many species of evergreen broadleaf trees and the cypress-like Alerce, one of the three oldest tree species in the world. These forests are incredible, with an understory of wild fuscia and layers of lichen draped trees. At the end of the first lake we go to hike for a couple of hours on our own, so we made our way up to a waterfall and the weather had warmed up enough that we all enjoyed a refreshing splash. Another bus took us over the pass and accross the Argentine border around the massif of El Tronodor with it's seven glaciers. The border between Argentina and Chile follows a line along the peaks of the highest mountains. Another smaller catamaran accross an emerald green glacial lake, another bus ride and then the final 2 hour lake crossing which took us into Bariloche, Argentina. During the crossing we traversed Chile's first National Park, Parque Nacional Vincente Perez Rosales, and the first National Park in South America, Argentina's Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, which was founded in 1903 with through a grant of 7000 hectares and now has grown to a colassal 710,000 hectares. Together these parks protect a large swath of the spectacular southern Andean Cordillera and the watersheds of many, many large and small beautiful lakes. It was an incredible trip and it was very exciting to arrive in Argentina, the third country we will visit on this trip.
