While staying at Refugio Tinquilco and relaxing after a working investigative trip to Chile, Anne Petermann and I walked down to Lago Tinquilco. It was a brief respite from the forest fires and then traveling southwards to see the timber plantations encroaching further into Indigenous Mapuche territory we observed earlier this spring.
I photographed this view of Huerquehue Parque Nacional in color intentionally capturing it in black and white (not photo shopped). Maybe this image is an homage to the death and damage of the wildfires started earlier in Chile.
Lago Tinquilco is one of several lagos in Huerquehue Parque Nacional in the La Araucanía Region in southern Chile. Huerquehue Parque Nacional (Spanish pronunciation: [werˈkewe]) is located in the foothills of the Andes, in the Valdivian temperate rainforest.
Huerquehue is a Mapudungun word (the language of the Mapuche people) that means “the messenger’s place”. One of the most noteworthy features Huerquehue Parque Nacional are its ancient Araucaria (Araucaria araucana) forests, the tree commonly known as “monkey puzzle”. These are the backdrop for the clear lagos and lagoons that dot the park, including Lago Tinquilco, which lies in the lower portion of this protected area.
