One of the many streams and views nearby

(Note from Carol.....)

Liz left right after Christmas to take up her paid internship at the Huinay field station. She's helping other researchers with their equipment, etc. For example, she is going on a collection trip for two weeks at the beginning of March

She's actually in the midst of a fight over preserving the rain forest. Twenty years ago, Doug Thompkins of North Face and Esprit vacationed in Chile and like it so much that he bought thousands of acres for a retreat. He then got into saving the rain forest and secretly started buying up surrounding land (hundreds of thousands of acres in the end). The Chileans got wind of it and started to protest. The last piece he wanted included a couple of rivers that the local power company (ENDESA) wanted to preserve for energy production. So, in 2002, they persuaded the University of Valpariso (the owner) to sell to them for less than this foreigner would pay.

The power company then started the Huinay Foundation (http:www.hinay.cl) with a marine field station (run mostly in conjunction with a university in Munich) and a sustainable agriculture station.

There is a bank of images at the top of the General Information site where you can see what the place looks like. More pictures are at the site of the directors ( http://vrenifossi.com/Fotos.htm). Needless to say, Liz is in heaven (though working awfully hard).