Day 8 - She said: Today, we were tired and decided to take the later bus into town even though we'd have to walk to the Puerto, which was about 2.5k from El Cruce, the centre of town. The earlier bus would've gotten us right to where we wanted to go, but we just couldn't make ourselves get up at 7 after our hike yesterday.

And why were we going to the Puerto? Why, sailing with Jorge, of course! We were taken across Lago Nahuel Huapi to Bosque de Arrayanes, and we had the boat to ourselves. Our captain was delightful, and the view was absolutely incredible throughout the trip. I don't actually think that I can put it into words, and pictures don't really do it justice, either.

About 2/3 of the way into our trip, we were served a plate of scones. I devoured the lemon ones. Andy had the others. And then we were at the forest, our destination for the day (though it was just an excuse for us to get on the boat - the journey WAS the destination for us).

We disembarked and wandered around the Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes for a bit, and then came upon some men doing work on the walkway, so we turned around and walked the other way for a bit. It's a pretty cool forest of arraign, a cinnamon-barked member of the myrtle family. It's very unique, but I think the highlight of our stop here was that we came across a cow that was just sort of wandering aimlessly as we rounded a corner.

When we got back on the boat, our delightful captain had set up some coffee, water, scones and whiskey for us. So that was awesome. Then he offered to drop us at Puerto Manzano. Yes, the port where our hotel is. How cool is that?!

We got some great shots of our resort from the water, which we would never have gotten otherwise. And we had to dock on the other side of someone else's boat and then walk across its bow.

We had a bit of an embarrassing moment when I paid in pesos and learned that the cost I was quoted was actually in DOLLARS - OOPS! I hope the captain wasn't too offended! I had thought the quote in pesos seemed QUITE low, so it actually made WAY more sense in dollars - especially given that we had a private boat trip with amazing service.

We've basically just had a pretty low key afternoon, with lunch in town and a bit of wandering. Andy finally got his super lomito, which is a steak sandwich with egg and ham. You might call it a heart attack on a bun. I just had an empanada, because MY big treat was still to come!

After lunch, we tracked down En el Bosque Chocolate for our helados. I ordered everything in Spanish (and even asked if they were out of chocolate), and chose mixed berries, raspberry and chocolate, which mixed together into a sort of frozen heaven. My trip is pretty much complete now. :)

We're just revving up for another round of shopping now, which we'll follow with our "fancy" dinner experience.

Tomorrow's our last full day here before our transfer to Santiago on Friday (still don't know what time), so that "oh no, our vacation's almost over and I don't want to go home" feeling is starting to set in.

We've had absolutely GORGEOUS weather here the last few days, which has taught me that if you've got the better part of the British Isles coursing through your veins, SPF 30 is NOT sufficient protection from the cloudless Argentine mountain sun. But on the plus side, we have been able to wander freely and really enjoy the land here, which has just made this the most incredible experience. We even looked at real estate the other day, not that we're going anywhere, but it's nice to dream.

In all seriousness, while part of me doesn't want to leave, I'm looking forward to seeing/talking to family, getting Jeremy on our first Wednesday back (and two weekends in a row), and snuggling with our pup.

Lots of love!!