chile has many national parks, which is great…and starkly different from the other countries i’ve been to (excluding costa rica, perhaps). i decided to camp out in one….but with so many nearby i wasn’t sure which. i ended up going to parque nahuelbuta. the drive up was beautiful, although it did break my exhaust pipe. that was the second reminder of some of the downsides of driving (the first was that i spent almost $100 between gas and tolls today). i was the only guest at the park, which was pretty cool. it has some strange trees, including araucarias (many of which are barren and moss-covered). it has a beautiful view to the pacific and some volcanoes (such as the one near pucon, which i’ll visit tomorrow).

the only really annoying part of today is that i’m recovering from (well, in the middle of) a cold, so my sinuses are clogged up. this would normally just be a nuisance, but the pressure difference at the top of the mountain (a mile up) caused me a severe headache….which took a couple hours to dissipate. it’s cool, but uncomfortable, being a walking barometer.