South America 2023

So after getting to the marina, purchasing tickets and park entrance fees, our boat is turning around due to mechanical issues. I guess better to know now than later in the evening further away.

We’ll get a refund and find a hike or something to do in our last day here.

Update: We are getting on a different boat! After a quick lunch we boarded a very crowded boat. Anyway, the views are stunning but it’s quite cold outside on the boat.

Some information I found about the port we boarded our boat - Puerto Pañuelo is a passenger port located in Llao Llao peninsula, on Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located 25 km west of the city of Bariloche, Argentina. The original port was built in 1965 by The National Park Administration, as part of the tourist infrastructure with which Nahuel Huapi National Park was endowed.

We had a great tour guide. At the Parque National park, our guide gave us a private tour in English. We learnt about the different volcanic rocks on the beach produced by earthquakes and eruptions.

Also, we learnt about the humming birds and a tiny marsupial (20cm in size) that inhabits the forest as they eat the fruit of the red flowers which are parasites that grow on these trees.

The Forrest on this peninsula are quite special as it’s the only place on the world where a type of bush grows to the size of a tree. This bush is the Luma Apiculata. When you place your hand on the trunk it is cold since you can feel the coldness of its sap due to the thinness of its bark. Luma apiculata

There is a native tree that fights off parasites by closing the area on “infestation” with a bowl shaped wound where these mushroom like spouts are eaten by a certain marsupial (like a large rat). Our guide said this mushroom are quite sweet. We saw these “bowls” up in the branches of this tree.

We also learnt about the earthquakes and volcanoes that have contributed to the different small rocks found on the beach. What a great tour and tour guide!!!Baca lagi