How do I manage to get lost everywhere I go?!!! I decided to do a bit of walking in one of the national parks - Podocarpus. On the first walk I managed to take the wrong path and head off on an old Inca trail in completely the wrong direction! Luckily, in the middle of nowhere there were some German scientists working on a soil project and they set me back on the right path! On the next walk I started out on what the sign posts said was a 7 hour walk. It was supposed to be well signed and since I started walking at 8:30am I thought I had loads of time.

Anyway, the trail was well maintained to begin with but that didn't last for long and soon I was climbing on my hands and knees over and under fallen trees, walking through waterfalls and through undergrowth that was taller than me (with slippery rocks and tree trunks hidden underneath)!!

I'd been walking for 7 hours so thought I would nearly be back at the ranger station but after 8 hours I still wasn't back and couldn't see any sign of it. I carried on walking though as it seemed like there was only one path. It got to 6pm and I was really high up and it was starting to get dark. I realised that I would have to spend the night there as I had no other option! Pretty scary especially since I had nothing with me to camp with!

I had seen some plastic sheeting forming a sort of shelter about an hour back so I literally ran (stumbled) back down to get there before it got dark. It's amazing how your eyes can adjust when they need to!

It was really warm during the day and I was only wearing trousers and a sleeveless top. Luckily I had brought extra clothes with me and so had a short sleeved top, two jumpers, waterproofs, hat and gloves. Even wearing all of that and with the plastic sheeting I was still really cold.
Needless to say I didn't sleep much! I set off again at 6am and decided to go back the way I came rather than risk continuing in the wrong direction. I only had food for a day so I walked for 10 hours on only 4 tiny biscuits. Not something I want to do again!

From now on I will be doing guided walks unless I'm certain I know the way!!