We are now in Patagonia, the southernmost area of Chile. This lush forested land of the Andes has more than 300 days of rain or fog and the purest water in the world. The population is low.
We trekked through the privately owned Aiken del Sur park. Our excellent guide gave a lesson in basic botany as we walked along the Waterfall Trail.
He talked of eco-development including lichen, fern, mushrooms and trees and how nature reuses these within the forest. He also referred to the destruction of the wetlands and glaciers, mainly by mining.
As we walked we enjoyed the accompaniment of a babbling brook.
Our guide used the terms, Goi meaning water and hue meaning place. This park is thick with trees and plants. Animals, such as puma, are rarely sighted,
The arrayan has red bark. It is cool to the touch. Lichen drink their water from the tree but leave when it is dry. When it is overly wet, it loses its bark showing the white inner layer.
The giant leaf of this fern needs water and sun. The nalca is the branch and the pungie, the leaf. The leaf has medicinal uses, such as stopping bleeding.
This is the seed of the nalca.
The chilco tree has red flowers.
Mushrooms abound.
Tepa, is 300 years old and is full of information to share with its neighbors.
This moss is also known as pillow of the poor.
The promised waterfall flowed at the end of our walk.
Our bus drove up a narrow one-lane road headed to our lunch site. The ride was one Jerry appreciated, an impossible right turn onto another narrow road with posts on both sides of the entrance. Jerry knew better than attempt the turn. After a few minor scrapes, the driver returned to his original road, found a spot to make a u-turn and got onto the second road. We don’t know about the driver but our reward was watching local dancers and enjoying a lamb bbq with potatoes and vegetables.
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