PARQUE NACIONAL PAN DE AZUCAR

Here´s a veritable little gem of a park, Chile´s Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar, and now that I´ve visited it, I am scratching my head wondering why in the world I never took the time to visit it during my first two visits to Chile. Well, my Agent Andrés insisted that I needed to go there, by saying that he is "always looking for new places for you to explore."

Pan de Azucar was created in 1985 with the intent to preserve and protect the natural ambience, as well as the unique flora and fauna of this specific coastal region in the Atacama Desert. One feature is the striking small island, Isla Pan de Azucar, which lies right off the coast from El Soldado campground and is the home and nesting ground for a population of Humboldt penguins. Locals offer boat rides to the island for tourists to see the penguins as well as the other maritime animals such as a local herd of sea lions. The above sunset photo shows the proximity of the island to the mainland.

Here is the view from the fabled Mirador, which gives the visitor a better appreciation of the coastline in the park as well as offering a wonderful opportunity to see and appreciate some of the native plant species that have become adapted to survive on the mists from the ocean fog, as it hardly ever rains here.
The scenery here in the park is as varied as it is spectacular. Golden sand hills give way to stark chocolate bands of sediment on jagged escarpments. In all, I would say Andrés was right when he insisted I visit this park, and I only regret that I did not have more time to explore it further.. But I guess that only means I will need to do so on a future journey.