A March Field Trip

 In March we took a wonderful field trip with the other 2 couples in the office building. Our first stop was to see the waterfalls located in Salto del Itata. I am pointing to the sign that signals the turn off to the falls. We had to look really hard and we almost missed it.

In the spring and summer the falls usually fill up the whole rim, but March is considered late summer and the water is drying up, so the falls are not quite so abundant. They were still beautiful to look at.

They made a nice backdrop for our picture.

This is the top of the falls. We could walk right out on it and not get wet. In the spring and summer you would not be able to do this because it would be covered with water.

They do not have guard rails like they would in the U.S. Down here they expect everybody to use a brain cell and be cautious. You can see Sister Balden walking across the top of the falls in the background.

When we were walking across the top of the falls, we saw this hole down through the layers of rock and you could look straight down into the valley. During heavy water it would be part of the water fall.

This sign certainly made us feel at home. The area kind of reminded us of our Island Park.

From the falls we headed southeast to Antuco and then on to the Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja to see the volcanoes. The scenery was very green with mountains and trees and the weather was nice and sunny. Elder Balden and Hna Pendly are discussing the volcano in the distance. 

This was a charming little babbling brook surrounded by green grass and wildflowers. I would have expected a leprechaun to jump out at any moment if I would have been in Ireland instead of Chile.

I think Elder L must be looking for the pot 'o gold.

In the background you can see one of the volcanoes. The scenery went from green, green, green to barren black sand and desolation.

The volcanoes names are Volcano Antuco and Sierra Velluda. 

In the middle of the black sand you would, on occasion, see little spots of color as little patches of flowers would pop up through the ground. They were few and far between.

Another random waterfall on our drive up the mountain.

You can see the bareness of the mountain leading up to the volcano.

The landscape was looking pretty bare and desolate and then we rounded the corner and came upon a ski resort. We were all quite surprised, but I here there is good skiing in Chile.

We rounded another corner and came upon Laguna del Laja. The water was so blue, it reminded me of the blue water in Lake Louise in Canada. 

There was a brisk cool wind blowing the further up the mountain we went.

This road actually takes you into Argentina. We came within 13 miles of the border but did not continue on because we did not have our passports with us.

As we were driving up the mountain, we saw grave markers in little groups, usually 2 or 3 at a time. We kind of thought that it was weird to see little crosses in the middle of nowhere. In the U.S. it usually means that some kind of car accident occurred there. We were feeling a little nervous about the road until we came upon this huge monument. This monument was built to honor the soldiers of Antuco that got caught in a sudden blizzard and buried alive before they could get off of the mountain. The little crosses symbolized where each soldier was found. These boys were only about 19 years old when they died and most of them were born in 1986. 

Elder and Hna Pendly are reading the names of each soldier that was lost in the storm. The monument had a feeling of reverence hanging over it. 

After reading about the tragedy, we left a "Families are Forever" pass along card at several of the marker sites hoping to help ease the pain of the family left behind. How lucky we are to know of God's eternal plan of happiness. Elder Pendly was so good about hopping out of the van and placing the cards on the markers. Notice the desolate surroundings, it was kind of surreal with the bare landscape and all of the markers along the way.

This is another monument to the fallen soldiers.

Coming back down the mountain we stopped at the restrooms and talked to the forest ranger.

This is just a sign of were we had been. I looked at that and thought wow, I can read this,and then realized it was in English.

After a long day of sight seeing and looking around we stopped at the mall food court in Los Angeles and had a bite to eat. These are the lovely ladies who waited on us. We had a great day!