The national park was a little bit of a let down. Maybe it's more interesting if you hike deeper but for the day tripper it's just a few paths accessible from the visitor center to take you to either forest or beach.







We chose the forest and soon were being dive bombed by huge awful flies which wouldn't go away. We started letting them land on one of us so the other could try to whack them but many times the fly would just fall to the ground only to spring back to life and soar far up into the sky out of reach. A couple minutes later it would be back buzzing around our heads. We finally managed to shake them when we entered the Tepual area.







The Tepual area is a rare ecological area protected by the park. It seemed like it made up only a small part and according to the signs on the educational trail, lots had been destroyed by people. The path was a wooden walkway that led into a damp, shady area with twisted trees with leafy plants growing from their trunks, mossy floor, and climbing plants traditionally used in potions to cure fear. Judging from the signs, there was lots of folklore related to the area including a bird whose call could auger good or bad luck depending on what side of the path it came from and orange berries said to be the food of elves. Though the path was short, it was interesting and we were sorry to leave it (and get back into fly territory). Following a sign, we ended up at a cafe which seemed in the middle of the forest. It was a house with wooden tables set up outside, shaded by thatched roofs. It turned out that it was only about 20 feet from the road on the other side.

Next we took a path that led to the beach. It went through a brief bit of forest with red-trunked trees then traversed some sand dunes before spitting us out on the beach. The flies had once again joined us. We walked up the beach but even the ocean breeze couldn't rid us of our winged harassers. The beach was tranquil with stretches of nearly empty sand.







It was strewn with razor clam shells and funny little birds ran up and down with the waves. Fishing birds of prey circled and sometimes landed on the sand to eat whatever they caught.







One interesting thing we found was a whale jaw bone which had parts chipped off revealing a porous, bubbled looking interior.




Since we'd been wandering aimlessly around the beach, we lost the path back to the visitor center. Instead we tried to cut back to the road which led to wandering through dunes, bushwhacking through brambles, twisted tree trunks, rushes and ferns, and navigating a marshy area. After squeezing through a 2nd barbed wire fence, we made it back to the road, covered with fern spores and prickly plant seeds. The dusty gravel road brought us back to the visitor center, followed by flies all the way. The flies made us both hate nature that day and we discussed the possibility that perhaps we need to get back to the city.

On a more positive note, we saw a mother falcon and her two babies sitting in a tree by the visitor center. Later, as we ate lunch, the mother joined us on a wooden post tearing up some animal and flying off to bring pieces to her babies.

After a breakfast of sopapillas (deep fried bread) which had been temptingly fried by the door of the bus station, we took a bus ride through lots of green pastureland to Castro.














Castro is on the island of Chiloe and the only way to get there is by boat. As we made the crossing on a barge, I thought how just crossing water to get somewhere else creates this anticipation of approaching someplace very different from where you are coming from. I could see rolling green hills with trees and rocky beaches. The air from the water was cool and refreshing mixed with the warmth of the sun.

Castro is a laid back place. The first thing we saw as the bus rolled into town were rows of colorful houses on stilts by the waterfront called palafitos.
The town itself is a series of a few main streets with businesses, a main square, the waterfront and more of the palafito houses. The main site in town is the San Francisco Cathedral.




From the exterior it is a rather uninteresting building covered with corrugated metal sheets which seem to collect the dirt in the air. However, the inside is amazing.







The entire inside: domes, arches, vaults, columns, decorations (stations of the cross, saints and their niches), and towers are all made from beautiful golden wood. There are sections that are carved but a lot of the beauty is found just in the arrangements of the panels of wood and the warmth they give the light shining through the stain glass windows.

We found a residencia (home hotel) run by a very kind couple. The rate included breakfast which featured home-made jam from local fruit. I noticed some musical instruments around and asked if someone in the house played. Our hostess replied both her son and daughter were musicians. Her daughter, a music professor, had a band that happened to play the traditional music of Chiloe. Unfortunately she was on vacation so we weren't able to meet but we did buy her CD.

Another thing I realized today was how important having a good (cheap) meal can be. We were rather disappointed with food in Argentina (except for a couple really nice vegetarian places we found). Big hunks of meat are the specialty there. We prefer lighter food but it seemed when people weren't eating big hunks of meat, they go for fast food: hamburgers, pizza (with more greasy cheese and not enough sauce) and sandwiches made from tragic "Wonder" type white bread and a slice of processed ham and cheese.

Today we had a meal consisting of noodle soup, salmon in a vegetable sauce, potatoes (or rice), a little bit of salad, drink and dessert for less than $5. This made us both very happy and we decided we like Chile a lot.

Even though some of the houses and buildings are run down, for the most part the town is a quaint, friendly fishing town, where you can walk along the beach admiring other islands and peninsulas in the distance. It reminded me of small fishing towns in the Pacific North West and Alaska: a bit weathered but warm.