After a long overnight bus journey from Santiago we
arrived in the ???? national park to see the perfect cone of volcan ??? and
camp on the black and red volcanic ash beech on lac ???. This was a
particularly pretty place, but the weather was a bit miserable. We didn't
get very wet, but the views of the two proximal volcanos were obscured by
clouds most of the time. I was plagued by massive black and red flies every
morning, but it was worth it to see the incredible display of stars on the
first night (even a few shooting stars!) and the view of the volcano that evening,
when it wasn't cloudy. We tried to climb up the volcano to the snow line,
but it was much further than we thought, and we only made it a third of the
way there before it was getting dark. The lava flow was huge once you
tried to walk across or up it. The vegetation in and around the lava flows
was really weird. There were a couple of species of air plants hanging from
the branches of small shrubs and trees, and a weird carpet like moss that
was really comfy to walk on (see the weird boot picture below). Every now
and then there would be a big rhubarb like plant with massive leaves
sprouting out of the lava. All very odd indeed. Howver there were good (if
cloudy) views of the lake from up there.
We took a boat trip ot over to the other side of the lake,
past Isla Marguerita, to a small village at the bottom of a steep mountain.
We found a path that led up into the forested mountain side and climbed
it. THer was lots of bamboo and tall trees, and the occasional patch of
bright yellow flowers. Plenty of undergrowth to rummage around in too.
Many of the smaller plannts were in seed and deposited their offsprinfg
liberally all over us. Invariably the seed had some clever method of
sticking to you and/or your clothes. Some had spikes, some velcro like
stuff, and one type of grass used a really clever hook which grabbed onto
the hairs on your arms and legs. These were all a pain to remove as it
took ages and sometimes even hurt! We certainly had a good adventure up
there in the jungle though!
Dans
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