Alerce trees

I am staying at a German hostel and not hearing much Spanish this evening...
I rented a car with the guy that I met through friends. It was actually really nice to go with him because he is really into birds and checking stuff out along the trail. The drive was much further down dirt roads than we had anticipated. I think we screwed up in going to the south end of the park instead of the north, but this was discovered much past the point of no return. It is called Parque Nacional Alerce Andino. It is relatively small and encompasses a good chunk of a peninsula just east and slightly south of Puerto Montt. If you are keeping track on a map you'll find Puerto Montt rather easily. The park is probably too small to show up on most maps. I am actually staying about 20km north of Puerto Montt in Puerto Varas. This was highly recommended and after todays trip, I know why. Puerto Montt has very little to offer and we spent about 30 minutes there walking around and deciding that there was not much keeping us there.
So back to the park...
These alerce trees are thousands of years old and super tall. Not Redwoods by any stretch, but getting close. We hiked in about 4 miles next to a river and saw all sorts of crazy plants. That area is so lush!! There were mosses and lichens and liverworts growing on the rocks on the trail. There were also tons of bryophytes and some Chilean proteads - long red flowers that the hummingbirds were braving the rain for. Dont be fooled by the fact that I am in South America, this place is much more like Washington than it is a tropical forest. There are not hundreds of species. You see the same trees and plants and birds over and over...it is just that they are jam packed into this beautiful little sanctuary with super steep hills and lakes galore. The alerce trees are conifers, similar to a cypress. Our mistake in going south was that there are more and bigger alerce trees in the north, but I am not complaining. It pretty much drizzled the entire time. The songs and calls of the birds and frogs there were so bizarre. They need to make a tape and sell it.
I think I am heading to the island of Chiloe, just southwest of Puerto Montt, tomorrow. The bus schedule is up in the air because Tuesday is a national holiday and I don=t want to get stuck on a rainy island when sunny Argentina awaits.
I have the dorm in the hostel all to myself tonight. I am heading to a warm bed and a good book.