The drive the day before had been long so we decided to stay at home and read surrounded by snow capped mountains. Joan went to see the owners to pay but the only person home was the mother of the family who was busy baking bread in an old range. In the kitchen was the family's pet sheep. She explained all about the fruit trees they grew and talked about the animals. There were chickens, turkeys, sheep, lots of dogs and cats. The dogs she explained had mainly be...

Once the sun rises up in the mountains, it is immediately hot. Though the cabanas are light and airy at Antucalhue, there is no shade outside. We packed up, said goodbye to our host with hugs and kisses and headed down to the Ruta 5. We had decided to go to the Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta where there are pehuenes or Monkey Puzzle trees. As we drove to the park entrance in Angol we could see a pink sky in the distance. As we got closer we realised this was being ca...

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....

This morning we headed south along the coastal road to Lota, a mining town whose colliery closed in 1997. As ever the hardest part was getting out of town. We found signs for Lota but then they disappeared. Nevertheless we got there. The town looked very poor. There was a beach with some rides and a few restaurants but we had come to visit the mine. It was down near the coast, but as it is mainly a drift there were no colliery headstocks that could be seen. We we...