Área Costera Protegida Curiñanco

Today we travelled about 40 minutes north of Valdivia to do a coastal hike in a regional nature reserve known as Área Costera Protegida Curiñanco. Unlike on Canada these parks are not terribly well marked or sign posted and they often merge with urban areas and there is never any parking. Without Google Maps it would be impossible to find the parks and even with Google maps it can be a challenge. This morning when we arrived in approximately the correct location we were greeted by small hand painted signs with arrows directing us through this neighborhood on gravel roads to the road. We tried to drive it but realized we would have to park on the main road as there was no parking in the neighborhood. We walked back along the roads and a path following the signs until we came to a home made fenced area and a little house surrounded by other houses. It seemed like the correct place to enter the park but it didn't. There was a hand made sign with a list of prices inside the fence which was locked. It was all a little strange. We assumed it was closed and walked back to the car. There was a small restaurant and outside there were some university students. I asked them if any of them spoke English which I find is unusual but one did. I told him our problem and he communicated it to the restaurant owner who told him that the caretaker was probably sleeping and to go back and yell and wake him up which we did. It was almost 10 am and it was to have opened at 9. Our inability to speak Spanish threw him off but he gave us his lecture in Spanish regardless. He introduced himself as Rodriguez and gave us a map. We shook his hand and introduced ourselves. He had great difficulty saying Cheryl's name. The Spanish have problems saying She. It comes out as Ch. We were obviously the only ones in the reserve. We di a loop though a very forested area to the north of the park before heading back along the coast which commanded beautiful views of the Pacific. It reminded me of Big Sur California. The hike took us about 2 ours and when we were done we wandered around on a nearby beach before driving back to town. That evening we headed to the Valdivia botanical gardens at the University to check out some of the trees that grow in this area.Read more