16.02.23

I wake up at 6:30 am to take some shots of the mountain panorama in the morning light. After a walk to the "Mirador del Valle" (viewpoint over the valley), Porter and I clean up the hiking hut and descend back to the Alerces Refuge. On the way, we collect boards to complete the repair of the bridge. After a short stop in Alerces with Mati and Juliette, I go down to the Notros Refuge alone. I have been entrusted with the wonderful task of carrying a large rectangular wooden pole from kilometer five all the way down. At first, I think it's one of Patis' jokes, carrying a wooden pole 5 km through the forest, but it's serious. It is needed to put up signs that inform about the flora and fauna of the park. Luckily, dinner is already cooked when I arrive. I shovel a pan of chickpeas and quinoa into me. In the evening, we chop wood and I give the rake a new bamboo handle. We also release an otter from its trap by distracting it with canned fish on one side of the cage to open the other side. The animal lets out a few deafening squawks, but then settles for the canned fish. The reason we release the captive again is that there is currently no gun in the park. The otters come from Argentina and are considered invasive species, as they decimate the vulnerable bird and fish populations here.