Day 126 - Exploring the west coast

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Even though the weather was foul and the warm bed very enticing, we dragged our sorry selves out of bed and caught the 9.30am bus to Parque Nacional Chiloé on the west coast of the island.

This 43,000-hectare national park protects a number of animal species and evergreen forests, as well as the tallest conifers in the southern hemisphere. We had a very fun 5 hours exploring the very diverse and incredibly thick (impenetrable came to mind) forest of the Tapu tree and the sand dune beaches - where we looked out to sea and realised that you would not see anything until you came to New Zealand, a long way away, if you decided to don a wetsuit. The urge passed us both quickly. They are very proud of this strange Tapu tree, a local tree that only thrives on the environmental climate and soil configuration in this part of the island, possibly country, maybe even world (but we are not completely sure about this!).

During the whole 5 hours we were there, the heavens opened. We definitely did a very thorough test of all our waterproof clothing, ready for our 7 day trek next week. On the bus back, however, the sun came out and not a cloud could be seen in the sky. It was just what Gemma had predicted at an especially cold, wet moment.

Returning home to our warm cabana we had that 'after walking all day content' feeling, as we had a cup of tea in our hands and a happy tired feeling. A good day.

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