Parks and sunsets in Chiloe

On our second day in Castro, we headed to the national park located in a nearby town called Cucao. Chiloe itself is a big island and it hosts two gigantic, bright blue lakes lined with stony beaches: Lago Cucao and Lago Huillinco. The national park is between the lakes and the coast, about an hour drive from our cabins. We stopped at a lookout point on the lake for photos, then finally made it to the park and had lunch at a little restaurant across the street. Once we entered the park we walked a few of the paths to more lookout points for photos, then packed back up and headed back toward Castro. En nuestro segundo dia en Castro, salimos camino al parque nacional cerca de Cucao. Chiloe es una isla muy grande y tiene dos grandes lagos, azul brillante con playas de piedra: Lago Cucao y Lago Huillinco. El parque nacional queda entre los lagos y la costa, a mas o menos una hora y media de nuestras cabanas. Paramos en un mirador en el lago a tomar fotos, y finalmente llegamos al parque a almorzar en un restaurante frente a la entrada principal. Una vez que entramos al parque caminamos por un par de senderos para encontrar mas miradores para sacar fotos, y luego empacamos todo para volver a Castro.

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Once we were home, Javier and his dad started a little barbecue with steak and fish while I looked through the photos, Maca took a nap and Meri and Cora prepared the rest of the dinner. We had an incredible sunset that night – the sun setting behind the green hills made everything look golden, pretty much exactly how I imagine heaven. Javier and I drove to the top of the hill above the cabins to get a few photos, which was a blast for me until we got back to our poor van and the jumper wouldn’t start. The battery was already on its way out, and we had left the blinkers on while we walked to the top of the hill to take photos. The sun was setting quickly behind the hills and everything was getting dark, so instead of messing with the van to try to jump it we packed up my camera and ran home to get a cell phone and try to call for help. While Pancho and Meri called around, Javier and I sprinted back up to the van (a little less than a mile uphill) and Maca met us shortly thereafter…after about half an hour and just before it got too dark, Pancho and Meri met us with the owner of the cabins who, fortunately, was able to give us a jump. Una vez que llegamos a la cabana, Javier y su papa empezaron a cocinar en la plancha una carne y un pescado mientras yo revisaba las fotos, Maca tomo una siesta y Meri con Cora preparaban el resto de la cena. La puesta de sol estuvo preciosa ese dia – el sol bajaba detras de las colinas y las hacia ver dorados, justo como yo imagino el paraiso. Javier y yo manejamos al tope de una colina cerca de las cabanas para sacar algunas fotos, lo que fue muy entretenido para mi hasta que volvimos al auto y no queria prender. La bateria estaba baja y con el uso de nosotros se termino de acabar. El sol estaba desapareciendo rapido tras las colinas y todo se oscurecia, asi que en vez de perder tiempo viendo que pasaba, agarramos nuestras cosas y nos fuimos caminando a las cabanas por ayuda, tampoco teniamos un telefono con nosotros. Mientras Pancho y Meri hacian llamadas, Javier y yo volvimos al auto corriendo, y Maca (que tambien habia preguntado por ayuda sin suerte) nos encontro en el auto al poco rato…despues de media hora y justo antes de que todo se oscureciera, Pancho y Meri aparecieron en una camioneta con el dueno de las cabanas, que por suerte, tenia cables para hacer puente.

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Once we had the van back down next to the cabin, we finally were able to dig into our delicious steak and fish dinner, with many glasses of wine to celebrate the end of that adventure. Javi and I decided we needed the exercise anyway, and if you’re going to have to walk up a huge hill to jumpstart a dead battery, it might as well be with this view! Una vez que el auto partio de nuevo, manejamos de vuelta a las cabanas para comer nuestra deliciosa cena, con mucho vasos de vino para celebrar el final de esa Aventura. Javi y yo decidimos que necesitabamos el ejercicio de todas maneras, y si habia que caminar un monton de subidas para arreglar una bateria, lo mejor era que fuera con esa vista de Chiloe.

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