Parque Nacional La Campana

Mariah, Francisco, and I start out from the valley of Quillota, where Francisco lives.

California poppies in Chile!

As we get higher and higher up, we can see both the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. We think the big peak in the center is Aconcagua, the highest point in South America, which is in the Mendoza provence of Argentina.

These beautiful, bizarre aloe vera plants grow high up in the mountains. They look almost other-worldly to me. The black part isn't burned, except by the intense sun. The silvery aloe vera keeps growing along these long tentacles, leaving the dead part behind.

We finally get to the top of La campanita! After climbing 6000 feet (and it seemed like for every 1000 feet, we'd go back down 700, only to have to regain them), we--me especially : ) -- were exhausted. The last bit was incredibly steep. It took a long time scrambling over a landscape of boulders, cactus, and aloe vera plants. Behind me in the photo is another range--La campana itself. One of these days we will have to go hiking there, too!

Mariah climbs over to another rocky outcrop during lunch.

Here we are the top!

Beautiful sunset as we walk home. It got dark and hard to walk fast after the sun went down, but soon enough we were on the road, with the moon, stars (southern-hemisphere stars, completely different from the ones at home) and lights from town to help us see.