Tuesday 24th July

We set off early for the two hour journey by minibus to the Argentinian border. Thankfully this was uneventful, apart from seeing winter wonderland as we drove the last hour through the mountain pass - the one we got stuck in 2 days before! The most snow Susan had ever seen! We arrived at the border in brilliant sunlight in clear view of the snow covered volcano. We then had to dig the truck out with the aid of a snow plough before we could cross the border. Leaving the Chilean Lake District we now follow the Seven Lakes drive in the Argentinian Lake District. Pine trees, lakes, snowy mountains and occasional small farms and lodges. We arrived in Bariloche, the premier ski resort of South America, at about 4.30 pm The town has an alpine feel. Situated on the lake with lots of chocolate shops and fondu restaurants as well as Parilla - grill restaurants for the famous steaks!

Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th July

We spent the next two days on the ski slopes of Catedral, Alta Patagonia. We have a few good skiers and one Level 1 instructor with us, so they gave us some instruction. We thoroughly enjoyed the two days in this very busy ski resort. It's the Argentinian's winter holiday so the slopes were packed with families. I think we'll be going skiing again and hopefully progress beyond the nursery slopes. Some of the keen skiers amongst us have opted to stay here longer and then fly to Buenos Aires to meet us. So there are only 13 of us on the truck now.