(Click on the picture to see it bigger)

At 70 km. from Santiago you find Baños Morales town, there is located the access to this park.

You can arrive to the glacier and the lacoon only walking, it will take a bit more than two hours to arrive to San Francisco lagoon, and half an hour more to El Morado glacier.

Before arriving to the lagoon you will find Aguas Panimávida, in this place you find a source of mineral water.

In the east hills of Chungungo was located the most important iron mine of South-America (in its years), exploited since 1914 by the Bethelhem Steel Co, called "Mineral el Tofo", and it had its own thermoelectric central. A harbour for shipping the iron, and the first electric railroad in South-America, were constructed for the mining operation. Water was pumped from 30 km. north of the mine, it was used to supply the mine, harbour, and a town located at one side of the harbour. The mine worked till 1954, and in the eigthties all was demolished.

Today, close to the ruins of the original town (I still don't have its name), there's a little town called Chungungo (chungungo is a kind of sea lion, mamipheral), its primal activity is artisanal fishing, what is left of the harbour is used by the fishermen to protect their boats.

Chungungo, ruins of the thermoelectric central

Road to the "Mineral El Tofo" (abandoned), a view of Chungungo bay, and the last picture shows the camanchaca receivers (camanchaca: a sea fog), used to get water for the town of Chungungo (they get ~ 40.000 ltrs. daily, project running since 1992).

This native forest was discovered in 1627 by the Father Fray Jorge of the Franciscan Order, he used its wood for the construction of the San Francisco Church's tower, in La Serena.

It's located in the zone of "Altos de Talinay", front to the sea. There's not more than 100 mm. of rain a year, but there are about 900 mm. of "camanchaca" at the same time, that's why its trees survive.

There are many foxes, and they don't fear men, because they are protected in this zone. The "guanaco" (a sort of dromedary, typical in Peru and Chile) is being reintroduced to the zone, it had almost disapeared from there.

The water fall is close to the Calbuco volcano (2015 m.)