- Made a second trip to the Barrio Bellavista district. This time though my destination was Cementerio General. The cemetery houses the remains of all but two deceased presidents, and is also the final resting place for some notable politicians, poets, musicians. Despite being a city of graves (the place is huge), I felt surprisingly peaceful walking around the cemetry. Simple tombs can be seen, but a fairly good number are lavish ornate mausoleums, a piece of magnificant art/architecture in itself, surrounded by leaf trees and beautiful sculptures. At the end of each lane/aisle stood a signboard indicating memorial locations of the notables. Monuments comemorating heroes of the various wars were erected at the entrance and the center. I read somewhere that there is a tour (of the cemetry) available, but there was no 'Information Center' in sight. Not knowing if it was true, I was reluctant to approach the workers/guards at the cemetry asking for tour information - it would be such a huge disrespect to the dead.
- One great thing about staying at hostels is that you get constant feedback from fellow travellers. Alex, a fellow resident at the hostel, just came back from the Lake District and highly recommended it. As I discussed my itineray with Scott (manager of the hostel), he mentioned this off-the-beaten-track escape farm village at the Lake District I should check out. Together, we googled the weather at the Lake and sun appears to be shining bright and clear till Saturday. Scott made a comment that such long stretch of sunshine is pretty unusual at this time of the year. So off the Lake District I am going - it wasn´t part of my plan, but it was meant to be. Ferries don´t operate on Tue, so I get to do a daytrip at Valpariso tomorrow, take an overbus bus to Osorno, in time to catch the local bus to El Poncho and finally the ferry to Los Gavialtos (that is the name of the village). Contingent upon the weather, I have the option to cross the Chile/Argentina border (from Osorno) at Bariloche, and from there I can do whale-watching at Puerto Madryn. Isn´t it amazing how things can change in 2 hours?
