Snow on Labor Day

....it was a first! So our time here at the remote Hosteria Lago Grey is coming to an end. We hoof it back to punta arenas tonight for our departure back to Santiago tomorrow. We are pretty happy to be getting back to civilization as we´ve been staying the past few nights in a hotel that housed 10 people, including staff, and is so remote that the no other humans are within probably 50 square miles. The scary part is that Conor has decided that he needs a cold weather drink to go with his beard and so he's now drinking whiskey as his drink of choice. Mix a couple of those with a little of his cabin fever and everyone was getting a little concerned that he might cast them in key roles alongside him (playing Jack Nicholson's character) in The Shining, part II.

Anyway, we woke up to snow yesterday, which eventually turned to ice and rain for the rest of the day. However, we were still able to muster the strength for a big hike. We hiked for about 6km along the Rio Pingo that snakes between various surrounding mountains, through vast fields of partially burned trees (a fire burned through the area in February 2005) and black and green ferns until we reached a beautiful waterfall. We enjoyed a bag lunch and numerous photo opportunities, where Conor got to test his 40-yard dash time against the 10-second delay option on the camera. All of the running after lunch ended up getting to his stomach and he barely avoided another mishap on yet another trail in yet another South American country.

This morning we embarked on a Boat tour of lake grey, where we navigated through ice chunks and out to the huge glacier, where finally, the sun came out! Wow, patagonia is much different when you're able to see the jagged peaks of the snow-capped mountains, and the sun reflecting off the snow, lake and the blue ice. We got some pretty amazing photos and of course had to take one of Lindsay leaning off the front bow like Rose in ''The Titanic.'' We're sad to leave such a beautiful place, but will be happy to go back to the world of being able to choose what you eat, since they dont have much to offer at the one restaurant here (and of course, there are no grocery stores around here). We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend.

-Conor and Lindsay