A misty mountain

Guess!!! Where are we??? Doesn't it look like a scene somewhere in the British Isles?
No! This is Brazil. In some places the mountains of the Serra da Mantiqueira (between the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais) look a lot like England. The woods are more dense, but as you can see the weather can be rainy....



This time we went out to have a view over the Valley of the Paraiba river. This is the Pico do Itapeva near Campos do Jordão. On a good day you can see about 7 cities. Today there were clouds.



So we stayed on the parking place.



Looking at the local products that were for sale. Sweets and honey.... and cachaça.



And look there.... in a corner behind the commerce. A snowman and a cow. Like in all countries in Latin America... concrete figures!



A happy looking cow.... could this be a reference to the chocolate they sell in Campos? Campos poses itself as a kind of German / Swiss city. Yes that means chocolate!!



For Brazilians snow is magic. Campos is a mountain resort. In winter on a very rare occasion this means snow!! So what better than to put a snowman here?



I loved the way some inventive person mended the window in this building. Don't throw out your old serving trays. One day they might come in handy!



The weather stayed as it was. Gloomy and wet.



The dog didn't mind.



On the way back home we passed the small lake again.

 

The horses were at the same spot.



The rain kept falling.



We went home. Leaving the lake for better times. A perfect place for a picnic.

Skies just skies....

In Patagonia skies manifest themselves in a lot of fascinating ways. Evening, early morning or daytime, be prepared for some fantastic shows.

Clouds like rays coming from behind the mountains.

Or piles of cotton wool hanging above the landscape.

Turning more and more golden and orange as the sun sets very slowly.

Now this looks like an airplane to me..... it was flying over the Beagle Channel.

Something falling out of the sky? 

The unobstructed views are awe inspiring.

Sunset....

 ...... or sunrise; the skies are magnificent.

 The morning sun reflecting on the mountains.

But the most fantastic show I ever saw, was a long time ago in Puerto Natales. One evening the clouds looked as if they were on fire. Imagine people being inside their homes and missing this....

  

This is where the fox lives....

The fox knows we are watching, but he doesn't care because he is safe. This is the National Park Los Alerces (south of Bariloche in the province of Chubut - Patagonia). Endlessly beautiful. All you can wish for from nature is here. Nature like an enormous piece of art. Structures, surfaces and (reflecting) light are without equal. What more to say......

I would have liked to stay much longer. The fox just wants to play, while the summer lasts; snapping at flies. Performing for us in the sunlight until he sees something else more interesting.... 

Sleeping like an elephant seal

The Peninsula Valdes is a peninsula near the Argentinian town of Puerto Madryn. The peninsula is almost an island. Just a very small isthmus connects it to the mainland. Peninsula Valdes is dry and almost barren, the domain of more than 80.000 sheep. It is the coast that is extremely beautiful and interesting. Not only because of the animals like elephant seals, penguins, sea lions and many different birds are to be seen there. But also because of it's coastal formations as such. At the Punta Delgada beach you just sit and look (to hot to move anyway). Quiet not to disturb the sleeping sea elephants... Although you hear them grunting and farting all the time. 

Rocky "pots" with seawater

An overview of the coast at Punta Delgada

Divers rock formations

The elephant seals sleep in the (hot) sun. Not much else to do now. Must be nice though to be partly in the water.  

Now and then (but not to often) moving to do a bit of neighborly barking....

We were not allowed anymore to walk freely on the beach, as we were 9 years ago. Then I saw a male elephant seal ferreting about in the dry sand.... He was BIG. So I can imagine that besides the aspect of nature conservation, there might also be an aspect of safety in keeping the tourists at a distance.

More about Peninsula Valdes

The Wikipedia about Valdes