In search of Araucarias

It was really difficult to find out where to go to see an araucaria forest, i.e. monkey puzzle trees.  The website for Chile's national park has very little information.  I ended up looking at Google maps and checking the photos taken at all the viewpoints in the park and checking if they showed any araucarias.

We wound up driving up Ruta 199 towards the border with Argentina.  It was a beautiful drive up a winding road through lush valleys ringed with snow-capped mountains.

We stopped at two viewpoints 

with small stands of  young araucarias 

that had probably been planted there.

Closeup of young araucaria 

As we drove up the highway we went around a curve and spotted our first Southern caracara perched on the divider.

Can you spot the southern (crested) caracara? Remember we don't have Leo's camera anymore.

The southern carcara is the same species as the crested caracara we've seen in the southwest and Mexico.  This was the first one we'd seen in Chilé.  It was still there when we drove by again.

We stopped at Laguna Quillelhue where we saw off in the distance

What looked to be a stand of araucaria trees.

Sure enough there they were.  We kept driving and came upon a larger stand in the shadow of Volcan Lanin.

The lichen looked just like old man's beard

The trees were magnificent.  I think most of the forests are logged like the redwoods in California.  

Or like visiting Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island.

We actually ate some araucania seeds (piñones) when we were up north in Arica (where araucania does not grow) but we didn't know what we were eating.  It was only later reading about araucaria that I realized what they were.

There were signs posted prohibiting the harvest of the piñones; only the indigenous Mapute people are permitted to harvest.

We kept driving up the road but soon came to the border with Argentina.

We turned around at the border control and drove back down the valley.