Our journey through the Americas is coming to an end and I would like to thank everyone who became friends along the way for the time we spent together. It was you who made our trip so unique.

Tschüss, good by, saludos and let’s keep in touch. Thank you.

Our last highlight in argentina was the “laguna brava”, the drive led over a dirt road up to 4305 meters to a salt lake with flamingos and an airplane wreck. On the way, the exhaust suspension broke …

The “parque talampaya” borders directly on the “parque provincial ischigualasto”, but this is in another state and therefore has its own administration and ranger station. there you are not allowed to drive with your own vehicle, but you are driven with a (small) group. Not quite to our taste, you have no chance to wait for better light, nor you can spend the night there.

Through the “parque provincial ischigualasto” you can drive with your own vehicle but only in a group and accompanied by a ranger. Perhaps too much has been trampled in the past …

A small area near mendoza is called “siete colores” and when you see the rocks, you know why. A dirt road leads through this area and it is a great place to spend the night.

Paul schäfer and his sect founded colonia dignidad in chile in 1961, where he fled to avoid prosecution in germany for child abuse. His involvement with the pinochet regime and the chilean secret service, the torture and murder of opponents of the regime, the sexual abuse of children and many other disgusting things can be read in detail in wikipedia.

Today, the former facility has been converted into a hotel called “hotel villa baviera” and is run by former victims of the colonia dignidad. We were given the opportunity to speak at length with a victim who moved to chile with her parents as a two-year-old in this group. It was very moving to hear her describe the inner workings of a cult. It was a short lecture on how brainwashing, manipulation, suppression, abuse of power, isolation from outside information works and what it does to people.

You don’t have to look far to see a volcano in chile. The park canguillo is overlooked by the active snow-covered volcano llaima, which we had already seen from the argentine side. There are several trails in this araucaria-covered national park with great views of lakes and the surrounding volcanoes.