Pearson - 1998 16 Afternoon max 77* Drove up the Chahuaco to Refugio Neumeyer in the afternoon. The wildfire of the summer of 1996-1997 did much more damage than I remembered. Along the road in the flats, the nire scrub and retamo were killed back, but are root-sprouting back. The planted pines are dead. What I had not remembered is that hundreds of acres of lenga trees highup on the sides of the valley were killed, and even some of those along the road up the hill to the Refugio. The forest around and above the Refugio is as beautiful as ever. The amancay is almost solid, especially on the east side of the road as you approach the Refugio. The concessionaire says it doesnt bloom at that elevation until February. The lone bamboo clump is thriving, with 4 or more yearling culms. Hardly any birds. No earth cores, which means there wasnt much snow, or there were not many Chelemys, or probably both. We saw very little sign of Chelemys or Geoxus activity. We both kept thinking that there ought to be chipmunks and squirrels in abundance. Since lenga is the only tree in the forest, even if it produced nutritious seeds inmany years, a single bad year would be disastrous to birds and mammals since there are no backup species of trees like oaks or chestnuts. Chipmunks, of course, eat a lot of fungi, and these are probably abundant, but... The rich humus probably supplies grubs and worms, for Chelemys, Geoxus, and Abrothri., The overmature trees are full of larvae, so why arent there more woodpeckers> They sure werent there today. The confiteria concession is run by the Club Andino. The road was ok but not as good as last year; the bridges are scary. November 30- Bariloche. Overnight minimum 53°, max during the day 81°. Went sightseeing with Lisa. Up Cerro Otto and pickniced by the old lenga of my photo, then up to the summit. There is a new exhibit up there, a gallery of Micael Angelo works including a full-sized replica of David (it's huge), and a full- sized Pieta, both done with 80% marble dust and 20% epoxy. Plus photos of other works etc. The marble reproductions seem to me to be marvelous, and how did they ever get David up that awful road to the top? Saw one Condor, and two parafoil "gliders" near it. They both were gaining altitude on updrafts. then down the Limay valley to the Valle Encantado. and home before dark. December 1- Overnight minimum 55°. Just as we were leaving town for Neuquen Adrian Monjeau honked us down. He is still sort of commuting to Mar del Plata and is getting a divorce from Inez. He had been to the SAREM meetings in Iguazu; there were 1200 attendees!! In six hours of driving down the Limay Valley and the Rio Negro, we saw not more than a dozen each of sheep, cows, and horses. Everything