Monkey puzzles

It is hace frio en Pucon ahora. Yesterday and today have been really cold and cloudy. Which means I didn't choose the best day to hike around Cañi nature reserve yesterday (but I did pick the best day for the volcano- people today were rained out from going to the summit).
The reserve was really cool. We were literally the only people there. There are so many similar plants to California - especially invasive ones. Tons of gorse, broom, eucalyptus, Monterey Pine, etc. The reserve is pretty much without invasives at this point but there is grazing all around it. The lower elevations have all sorts of South American oaks, laurels, gaultheria, fuchsia and others. The higher elevations is where all of the monkey puzzle trees grow. These things are older than dinosaurs and look amazing in the fog. We hiked up another snow-covered mountain to the top which has a scenic vista. Unfortunately we couldn't see any of the tops of surrounding mountains and volcanoes, but the surrounding valleys were in full view. It had rained the night before which actually meant a light covering of snow on the top-most monkey puzzle trees. It was a winter wonderland.
This stupid computer isn't recognizing my camera, so I can't upload photos just now...bummer!
One more day of Spanish lessons and then I'm leaving Pucon on Saturday morning. My spanish teacher has invited me to bike to her cabin outside of town tomorrow after class for coffee. She reminds me of Renee for some reason... I really like her.
More later! Keeping this one short as I try to make the camera work....