Parque Nacional los Alerces is a new destination for everyone on the trip, and proved to be the perfect place to enjoy our Christmas celebrations. The park is famous for the Alerces trees, similar to the Californian Redwoods, they are extremely slow growing but can reach thousands of years of age. Our campsite was located on the shores of the lake, surrounded by snowy peaks – Patagonia has rewarded us with some amazing and stunning scenery, and this was no exception.
Arriving on Christmas Eve, we had a relatively quiet evening before our celebrations began in earnest the next morning. Awaking to some amazing pancakes cooked by Angela (and her able assistant Duncan), with cocktails provided by Ken for those who wanted to embark upon an early morning Irish coffee, it was a couple of hours before we embarked upon the serious business of the day – Secret Santa. With Pete donning his usual Santa hat (it goes with the beard apparently…), Kirsten dressed as a reindeer and Graham as an elf, it was time to hand out the gifts to all the good Odyssey boys and girls. And of course to receive those gifts sitting on Santa’s knee…
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| Merry Christmas from the Odyssey Overland South American Explorer 2012 expedition |
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| Terry |
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| Angela |
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| Duncan |
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| Robin |
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| Lesley |
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| Steve |
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| Karen |
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| Lisa |
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| Geoff |
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| Jeanne |
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| Heather |
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| Anthony |
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| Vanessa |
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| Francois |
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| Ken, not content to just sit on Santa's knee... |
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| Sue |
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| Kirsten |
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| Tony |
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| Terry |
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| Lisa |
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| Watching secret santa unfold |
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| Vanessa's delight at receiving a watch! |
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| Heather |
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| Karen & Steve |
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| Duncan & Angela |
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| Tony |
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| Francois |
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| Jeanne |
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| Anthony |
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| Geoff |
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| Kirsten |
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| Pete |
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| Robin |
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| Ken and Pete |
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| Ken, the red-nosed reindeer (at least that's what we think he was trying to do here...) |
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| Steve modelling the rather fabulous reindeer mask courtesy of Santa's Litte Helpers, Sue & Vanessa |
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| Lesley, Lisa, Graham, Terry, Pete, Kirsten, Francois, Jeanne |
With Secret Santa gifts opened and secrets revealed, it was time to start the preparations for our epic feast – beef, lamb, pork, sausages, fish, potato salad, mashed butternut squash/pumpkin, cabbage – there was certainly more than enough food to go around! A great feast was had by all, accompanied by Lesley’s gorgeous improvised table decorations.
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| Serving up a feast |
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| Christmas lunch |
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| Table decorations |
After lunch, since we had no classic movies to watch on the sofa, thanks to Santa’s Little Helpers, Sue and Vanessa, we had an entertaining afternoon of twister, complete with penalty drinks and the challenging “head” position which almost guaranteed victory to your opponents if you drew it early on!
Ultimately Duncan was victorious with Anthony coming a close second…
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| Right hand on red, knee on blue and head on yellow! |
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| Victorious Duncan getting a congratulatory hug from his wife, while Anthony lies in the background contemplating his defeat... |
All in all, despite the ferocious competition on the twister field, it was a wonderfully relaxed day, full of fun, laughter, too much food and even a few too many drinks. Pretty much as Christmas should be!
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