Upon recommendations from some Chilenos we met camping, and my utmost desire to see a forest of wild Araucaria trees (monkey puzzle), we ventured to the Parque Nacional Conguillio, east of the city of Temuco. Pulling into Temuco, we were not greeted with the sweet hospedaje ladies who populated the smaller bus terminals of the Lakes District, and in this larger city, were somewhat unsure of what to do-where to go-etc. We ended up getting ripped off by a cabbie (spending the equivalent of almost $14 on what should have been a $4 trip) to be dropped off in front of the address listed in our guidebook where there should have been a nice little hostel, which didn't exist. Tired, we checked into a dumpy place across the street.
The next morning we took a bus to CurcautÃn, where the guidebook said there would be a shuttle to the park. It didn't exist. Not this year. At la officina tourisma, she informed us that tourism was low and that they were not running the shuttle this year. How do we get to the park, 42 km south of the city? ¨Taxi, or al dedo.¨ Al dedo, literally, 'the finger', means to hitchhike. The lady at the tourism office, straight faced, was telling us we'd have to hitchhike to our destination.
We walked out of town... getting discouraged after 45 minutes of waiting. Finally, a man in a truck picked us up, and then proceeded to pick up a half dozen other hitchhikers in the back. He pointed to a hillside and said, 'This is my work, silvicultura (forestry)'. I told him we were students in botany and ecology, and he began to tell us of different medicinal plants, and about the recent eruption by Volcan Llaima (the centerpiece of the park), and how it had affected the plant communities around. Evidently an eruption in January 2008 had caused the river to jump course, and had laid black fields of sediment clearing entire swaths of landscapes. He showed us how you can differentiate between the different eruptions in the types of rock, and about how the different heats and cooling times, as well as the chemical composition of the lava, affected the outomes of the resulting rock formations.
Us with Madre Araucaria, reputedly 1800 years old.As we approached the parque, we began to see the Araucaria-Nothofagus forests. Though we got another ride all the way in, we still arrived much later than anticipated, and at first had difficulty finding a campsite. We wandered around Laguna Captren, taking in the sights, and the sounds of a half dozen species of ducks. Later in the evening, the clouds cleared, and for the first time we got a glimpse of the impressive and looming, very active, volcano, at which we were camped at the base of.
Old growth monkey puzzle trees rising above the coigue.In the cool of the next morning, we packed up and wandered through the old growth. The trees here are so huge and majestic. To see the Araucarias in their natural habitat was stunning and so rewarding and hard to describe. They are the most important species to the Mapuche Indians of this area, particularly for their pine nuts, and I think are regarded with as much care and sacredness as the Western Red Cedar of the Pacific Northwest to the native tribes of that area. I'd like to put some into the forest garden I worked on at Evergreen, as I saw a bunch of sweet little cute ones growing in full shade cover.
To leave the park ended up being a bit more of a challenge than arriving. We watched car after car pass us by, and we were concerned about catching the bus back to Temuco so we could catch a night bus to Santiago, as we had planned. Such a long and desolate 42 km, in the midst of open sky and lava fields... it took us three rides to go that short distance, the last in a small car already full with three kids, their parents, and a dog. As soon as we pulled up to the bus station we saw an express bus back to Temuco, which paused for us, and we relaxed, amazed at what the last 36 hours had brought.
Al dedo, with Volcon Llaima in the background.
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