Isla Mocha: Part IV - The Myth of Isla

The Mapuche tribe believes that all their souls migrate to Isla Mocha after death. When you visit Isla Mocha, you definitely understand why they believe this. Because Isla Mocha is definitely a magical place, which you can't get used to quickly, but which becomes more beautiful day by day and where you always discover landscapes that leave you speechless.

When a neighbor stopped by to see how we were doing, he also talked to Marcelo about his plans for the cabin. Gioanni (the neighbor) immediately offered to assist Marcelo. That meant that the next day, we went to the beach with Gioanni's truck, his son Ezequiel, and their dog Jana to collect stones for the cabin's foundation. Ezequiel is 5 years old and already a lively, cheeky boy with whom we had a lot of fun. He tried to teach us a little Spanish and joked around with us the whole time. Anyway, we not only got the stones, but Gioanni also took us on a tour of the island. He showed us methane sources in the water that can be ignited, a small island full of penguins (a bit reminiscent of Happy Feet), the fishing boats, and simply the beautiful landscape of the island. It was also a cool feeling to ride on the back of the truck above a beautiful beach and observe the endless ocean on one side and the 'Lord of the Rings landscape' on the other side. We enjoy days like these.

But just when we thought we had seen the most beautiful sides of the island, Isla Mocha surprised us once again.

On our day off, we went hiking to the other end of the island, through the Isla Mocha National Park, an indescribable jungle. After starting through the island's green meadows, we quickly entered the aforementioned forest. First, a steep ascent, with the first break at a stunning viewpoint, from which you had a view of the huge green fields, the endless beach, and the boundless ocean. Then we continued to a beautiful lagoon in the middle of the forest. The trees grew bigger and bigger, and we felt more and more the magic of this place and why there is a myth surrounding the island.

There is probably nothing more healing for the soul and mind than walking for hours in a wonderful environment, with wonderful, funny people, and letting your thoughts flow.

As I slowly got used to this fascinating jungle, we arrived at one of the most magical places I have ever seen. It is difficult to put this moment and this place into words, especially because it is actually 'just' many big trees. But the moment when Marcelo sat on the ground surrounded by all these trees, illuminated by the few rays of light and stared at the 40 meter high treetops, accompanied by complete silence, all this made this moment so unique. Words like surreal, spiritual, and above all magical, would probably describe it best.

We simply walked through this forest and somehow had to laugh suddenly over and over again, out of joy and enthusiasm. This enthusiasm never ended, on the contrary, whenever we thought we were used to it, we suddenly saw a new incredible image in our field of vision. We could print every picture we were allowed to see on a postcard.

Another highlight was definitely the moment when, after hours in the dark forest where only a few rays of light shine through the dense vegetation, we suddenly came across an incredibly bright, warm clearing. Now we had a view of the sea again and our next destination, the lighthouse. After a short visit to an old friend of Marcelo's, who spontaneously welcomed us very nicely, we continued through the meadows of Isla Mocha, with their strong, lush greenery. Past countless cows and horses, until we reached the beach. By now, we knew what the beach looked like, but we were still amazed when we saw this endlessly long, wide, brown-black, completely smooth and flat beach.

When we reached the lighthouse, we all just sat down and enjoyed the view. I had to laugh again out of pure joy, it's just incredible what Isla Mocha has to offer. The cold wind made us get up and start walking home. We had actually agreed with Gioanni that he would pick us up when we were at the lighthouse, but the phone network on this side of the island was down, so we couldn't reach him. So we had no choice but to walk again and hope that Gioanni might still come.

Our lucky charm didn't let us down once again, after about half an hour Gioanni came roaring over the beach and all we had to do was jump onto the back of the truck.

The day wasn't over yet, because Gioanni went fishing. So we had no choice but to wait on land until he came back. First, we were all a bit annoyed that we had to wait here, as we were all pretty cold and wanted to go 'home' to our warm campfire, but even this waiting paid off. At first, we used the time to collect some seashells for the cabin's foundation, and since fishing took a little longer, after two hours we were able to witness a breathtaking sunset, which left us all speechless again, so in the end, we were all grateful that we had to wait here. I will remember the incredibly strong colors that colored the clouds for a long time to come. The perfect end to a day with countless beautiful moments!

That's it with the Isla Mocha adventure for us. I don't want to write a conclusion now, but just a sentence that, in my opinion, sums up our two weeks here quite well.

We had almost nothing, only the essentials, and yet we somehow had more than ever before.

Now Pichilemu is waiting for us.