Fray Jorge

While Dave was a work, the granparents, kids and I took a drive down the coast to visit an ancient forest.  We found more of those wild donkeys.

The signs here make us laugh.  The road ahead of us was steep, but not quite as steep as depicted here.

The desert lizards here are so colorful.

When we stopped for lunch, we were greeted by a passing herd of goats.

A special treat...a glass of orange Fanta to go with lunch.

Once inside the park, we visited the information center.

Chile has quite a few national parks.  Fray Jorge is one of them.

According to Wikipedia: 

The park covers an area of 100 km², but the forests cover only 4% of its surface. The national park is known for having the northernmost Valdivian temperate rain forests. The coastal fog  hangs on the mountain-slopes and moistens subtropical vegetation, allowing the hydrophilic forests to survive despite of being surrounded of semiarid scrublands, with average annual rainfall of approximately 113 mm.  The forest is a vestigial survival of the last glacial period.

So, basically, all surrounded by desert is this tiny remnant of a tropical forest.  It was so interesting to enter the forest and feel the temperature lower and humidity increase.

After walking through the forest, the trail led us to a great outlook of the coastline.

Back inside the forest we enjoyed the moss covered trees and the coolness and time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa.

On our way back from the forest, we drove by this abandoned house.  We thought we saw a dog inside, but it ended up being a herd of sheep.  Can't blame them for utilizing a nice shady spot.

But, sheep were not the only animals using this old building.  We also saw a couple of barn owls as well.  One flew away when it saw us, but the other stuck around to allow us to take a picture or two.

In the desert, if you need to build a fence and there aren't really any trees, might as well build a cactus fence.  It might just do a better job than a wooden one, right?

It has been great to be able to share this part of Chile with Bill and Terrie.