Having sorted out our battery problem, today we visited the Parque Nacional Conguillio and Volcan Llaima. The entrance was 28 km from Curacautin down a ripio road. Just before the entrance the woods opened up and there was Volcan Llaima and fields of ash. Llaima last erupted in 2008 whilst we were visiting Chile but unfortunately we were in the far north at the time.

It was an awesome site and it is difficult to believe that something that looks so permanent and fixed could just explode.

The drive through the national park needs a high clearance vehicle and in parts is very narrow in deep ruts, so we were glad we didn't meet much traffic. There are a couple of lakes in the park and lots of Monkey Puzzle trees.

The most dramatic part was the lava flows on the south side of the twin craters where you could see the most recent eruptions. The lava in places was 6 metres high.

Rather than take the easy route back, Kevin chose to drive around the eastern side of the volcano, via Icalma. The road was ripio and challenging to say the least, but with fillings in tact we made it up to the high plains and more gentle terrain before heading back down via the Tunel de Raices to our campsite. More pasta tonight!

One of the sons from the campsite brought us freshly baked bread and we talked to him for a while.