April 7,

We were up and about by 0700, but it was pretty cool outside. So we set about our Javas and breakfast of French toast with that lovely Gooseberry Jam…YUM! Jeff started a load of laundry and I did some sewing, as we were waiting for the sun to warm up the temperature outside. Our place has lots of windows so we get solar and don’t have to use the wall furnaces very long.

Finally at noon, we set out as it had warmed up nicely. We planned a short driving trip, so we drove up to an overlook of Esquel, called Mirador de Ciudad. Then we drove on to switchbacks and came upon a Guanaco in the road, of course! We stopped and took pics. Finally it ran off. Not more than 50 feet was a sign ‘Curve de los Guanacos’!!!🤣😂 Jeff and I both laughed. Finally an animal that could read signs! HEE-HEE! After the curve we saw another one and then a third one! Crazy, as we haven’t seen any since we left El Calafate. Then we arrived at a ski resort area, obviously not open right now, but we saw the ski lifts and we could imagine runs for skiing.The guananos were still in the road as we went down. Really!! We now wonder if they were fed at some point and are beggar guanacos.

We drove on to Laguna La Zeta – “The Z Lagoon.” It was a nice lake. Here we were going to have a picnic lunch, but we forgot to pack a knife. Oppsey! So we drove up to a vantage point. It had four placards describing a 360° view of the area. It was great – describing all our views from four benches with a placard at each station naming the mountains, valleys and/or lakes. We finished around 1500 and headed back. It was a nice drive and fun to explore. We saw a number of bicyclists taking advantage of trails up in the area.

We made it back to our place and decided to just hold out for supper. And at 1730 we went to a local handmade pasta shop that our host had recommended. The owner did not speak English and through Google translate…and by him showing us a bag of walnuts!🤣  Google translate did not work so well that time. Sometimes patamiming is best! We bought that kind – ricotta and walnut stuffed raviolis for supper. We made a lemon cream sauce with onion and red pepper. It was very good with bread and a Malbec wine.

I did some more sewing (it has become an involved project) as Jeff read. We turned in around 2130.