Excursion

Nov 11 - Excursion to the Island of Liliguapi.  A small island that used to have a penguin colony a few years ago.  The penguins may have moved to a better nesting ground since dogs appeared on the island around the same time they disappeared.  We walked around for a while but didnt find any penguins but saw signs of a dog. We saw the shell of loco which is a Chilean Abalone which is possible endangered but highly prized in Japan.  The island was covered in mussels on the sea line and had little crabs and anenomes in the tidal pools.  Then walked around Hornopiren a small town.  We saw a large colony of cormorants with a rarer species some pelicans and a large sea lion colony of around 800 sea lions.  There are so many salmon farms here.  

Nov 13 - Went on a walk along the river and crossed the river in a kayak with no paddles just pulling  a rope strung across the water.  There is a tree here called tepa with fragrant leaves. Another tree here is the canelo which has berries that were used to prevent scurvy and the bark is also used as a pepper substitute.  They use mosqueta (rosehip) here to make marmelades and sweets alot. Nalca is a huge leaf and the stem can be eaten raw.  We were bitten by tabanos which are horseflys on our walk.  There are so many hummingbirds and very big turkey vultures, called jotes here.