Monday (Lunes) 7th December, 2009
Day 269


Parque Nacional de Campana, Chile
Parque Nacional de Campana, Chile
Miles: 30,122
S 32.93274°
W 71.07869°



Another milestone - 30,000 miles since Gig Harbor in just under 9 months


From Los Villos we continued south on the Panam eventually turning off to visit the seaside towns of Vina Del Mar and Valparaiso. What a contrast those towns were. We have so far travelled nearly 2000 km down the coast of Chile and it was pretty uniformly dry and lightly inhabited. These two towns and the coast around them are high density resort and commercial towns. Dozens of high rise apartment buildings and hotels, heavy traffic, and people everywhere out enjoying the sun and the water. Mind you, the temp was only 71°F, so we still had sweaters on. However the sun was out and the sky clear in contrast to the sea fog that we have lived with over the past few days.

The towns were so densely packed with apartment buildings, and cars that we had a great deal of trouble finding anywhere to park so we did not spend a lot of time with the vacationing throng but instead headed back to the Panamericana and eventually the turn off to PN de Campana. We had spent time there 3 years ago so felt it was okay to take a pass on this tourist wonderland.

In the campground we found a Chilean made motor home built on the chassis of a Ford F350.

Camping

We camped in Parque Nacional de Campana via the norther entrance from the town of Ocoa off highway Ch-5. A loverly semi wilderness campground. Only a few other campers, and limited facilities (toilets and water, no power). Beautiful sunny afternoon and morning, cool night with clear sky and wonderful display of stars.