Sacred Steps Through the Puyehue National Park

These two beautiful faces are tied to a small indigenous group of Chilean inhabitants called the Mapuche. There remains only 26 direct descendants of this particular ethnic group called Huilliche. They still practice their own language, mythologies, ceremonies and diet.

It's rare that a gringo like me, from way upstate New York, finds herself participating in the native song and dance of the Huilliches, deep in the forests of the Puyehue National Park. But, today was special.

Dressed in colorful skins and knitted ponchos they walked us through a protected environment playing acoustic guitars and blowing on a horn instrument called a trutruca.

They stopped to worship the Canelo tree, a slender variety that produces a peppery bluish berry fruit used in cooking. Before taking us on a mossy path to see the Gol-Gol river and Indio waterfalls, we bowed our heads and asked the trees for permission to enter.

That was when my heart soared - such reverence for Mother Nature!

At one time, the Huilliches fished and hunted this land but today they oversee the conservation of it. The Chilean government was smart to put them in charge.