Day: October 19, 2025

We woke this morning to a beautiful clear day. The lake outside the window of our room was like glass and the snow covered mountains around the lake were reflected on the surface of the water.

We drove a few miles up the road from our lodge almost to the border with Chile, then parked and hiked two miles up the mountain towards the lake inside a volcanic crater. We didn’t go all the way to the crater. Instead we stopped at a ski hill and snow park two miles in and just over 500 feet up.

We could see forever and we even saw some of the volcanoes in the Chilean Lake District that we saw when we were in Chile last year. It was a beautiful hike and a perfect day.

We hiked back to the car, came back to our lodge, and played cards. Then we did a bit more exploring and eventually went out to dinner at Los Radales Restaurant. I don’t know if I will ever get used to being the first people in a restaurant when it opens at eight. Usually by the time we leave around ten the restaurant is really filling up.

When we left Neuquén Saturday morning it was windy with blowing dust. We headed west towards the mountains. After a couple of hours the terrain changed from the flat, scrubby desert that we have been driving through for the last several days, to foothills as we started to go up into the Andes. Eventually our road turned to gravel and we could see the snow covered peaks.

We are staying for the next two nights in Villa Pehuenia. Our hotel, Posada La Escondida is a beautiful lodge on a mountain lake. We have a room right on the lake with wonderful views of the mountains and the lake.

For dinner we went just a little ways down the shore to El Marino Amarrado. We had a great view of the sunset and a delicious meal. Duke and Brian had empanadas and salad and Jo Ann and I had lamb.