12/12-A Day For Down Pants

Im so glad I brought my down pants! Even though I’m sitting in the sun, I still have many layers on, including my down pants. I’m warm, but definitely not hot. 

The wind was already blowing pretty good this morning. Actually, it never stopped. I started out in my rain jacket for warmth. The scenery continues to change, being more open. 

We planned another short day, even shorter than yesterday, but this day had an 11km climb. The wind would occasionally blow us up the hill, but then there were crosswind gusts that nearly blew me off the road. 

Still…nice scenery 

Still climbing!

Now we are in Cerro Castillo NP. We are camping tonight for free. The campground appears to be open, and the water is on. If you want to have a shower, you first have to build a fire under the water tank. 

I’m not planning on a shower. 

When we got here, we had thought about maybe going all the way to Villa Cerro Castillo, but we were too cold. The wind was quite cold, and the elevation wasn’t helping with the temps either. Once we chose a site, we set up our tents and got into warmer clothes. I’m really enjoying my down pants!

Markus heated up some water, and that helped too. Eating some food a was a also good. I’m not cold now. 

We went for a little stroll to the Laguna (Laguna Chiguay).

Bird by the Laguna. 

This bird. 

You are not allowed to walk the shoreline of the Laguna due to a protected frog, but we could walk out on this boardwalk. 

We did a loop around the campground after the Laguna. 

Back at our campsite, there is a tree with these fungi. 

Kinda weird. 

We met a family who are on vacation. Tatiana is Chilean, and her husband Thomas is from the Czech Republic. Their daughter was Valentina, and they had two nephews, Argen and Ben, who are from New Zealand. We had a nice conversation with them. 

There’s no one else camping here. Just us and the wind. 

Oh, and last night while Alex and Markus were writing in their journals, I made this. 

I left it for the nice camping place people. 

Update: The Ranger came by. The camping is currently free, but we had to pay 5000clp as an entrance fee to the National Park. Also, Markus built a fire in the hot water tank. Not because we want to take showers, but to have someplace warm to sit. 

Now, if only we had some marshmallows…