After about 14 hours sleep (!) and breakfast, we headed up the valley to the National Park Laguna del Laja. Just past the entrance we saw the Lagunillas cabanas where we had intended to stay and they were indeed closed. Up a rough, stony track we rose up with great views of the valley and Rio Laja. There was a small and basic ski resort with a chair lift, but no snow. Soon after the road was indicated as only passable by 4WD. We parked up and walked down to Neuvo...

Miraculously we managed to leave Concepcion and find the right road to Los Angeles. The road ran up the Rio Bio Bio but sadly we didn't stop to take photos. We also went passed a town called Santa Juana (St Joan) which had a massive wooden cow at its gateway. The road through the coastal cordillera was lined with trees and full of logging trucks, labouring up the hills and whizzing down them improbably fast. At Los Angeles, we found a bank and bought provisions....