We did get some good advice at Casa Chueca - Franz recommended a stay on Isla Mocha, which gave us the chance to visit another of Chile's hidden gems.

Isla Mocha is an island 28 km off the coast south of Concepcion. Occupied first by Mapuche Indians, visited by pirates such as Sir Francis Drake, it is now home to over 600 people who live on the flattish coastal fringe that lies between the rocky platforms and isolated windswept sandy beaches and the steep central hills covered in superb temperate rain forest. Here they raise cattle and sheep, fish, collect seaweed and snail slime (for export to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies) and lead simpler self-sufficient lives.

Motor vehicles are rare and the horse and cart is the preferred means of transport, but that is not to say that Mocha is backwards - small wind turbines and banks of photovoltaic cells generate electricity at individual properties while satellite dishes provide internet and TV connection to the wider world. It is just that here, life moves at a very different pace.

That night the front passed through, the wind rattling the windows and the rain squalls sweeping by like jets from a high pressure hose; we appreciated our good fortune in getting here before the weather. Still by mid-morning, the rain had largely gone and, fuelled by a breakfast of home-made bread, jams and cheese, we were ready to head off with Mario in his old yellow 4WD.

Rock platform on the southwest coast

Proud of his island and his heritage, Mario showed us some of the isolated beaches, islets and rock platforms of the west coast of the island - stopping to watch the natural gas that seeped up through the beach sand bubble through the seawater as it ebbed and flowed, and to inspect the "faro viejo" - Chile's second oldest lighthouse - on its rocky pedestal. It was almost covered by the tsunami that swept over the island after the world's strongest recorded earthquake hit Chile in 1960.

Nello, Mario and the old yellow Toyota

The old lighthouse

Closeup of Chile's second oldest lighthouse

Brown hawk on the dunes

Humboldt penguin in the surf

Heading off for a stroll along the island's road

Rock platforms north of Playa Blanca

All along our walk was accompanied by the sounds of birds; the scolding of lapwings, high-pitched piping of curlews, mournful wailing of gulls and short guttural calls of bandurria (or black-faced ibis) as they probed the fields with their long curved bills. Isla Mocha is a bird-lovers paradise with over 100 species recorded.

After cadging a brief lift with one of the local families in their horse and cart, we checked our watches, remembered how good dinner had been the previous night and headed back. We were not disappointed!

The low sand flats of the south-east corner

Metre- wide leaves and flower spikes of nalca

The next morning, Mario drove us around to the "village" on the eastern side of the island - a cluster of a few houses, carabineros office and church, where the cross-island walking trail started. We headed off inland on the Sendero Nuevo, quickly crossing the open fields to reach the edge of the hills, the forest and the National Park.

Here the track climbed up into a low pass that crossed to the western side. However, we almost immediately left that to climb steeply up the dense, shrub and tree covered slope to the south - our destination was the mature forest higher up and Laguna Hermosa, one of several small freshwater lakes that occur in the hollows of these hills.

The well-formed track, aided by wooden steps on the steeper parts, led us quickly up the steep hillside, with occasional glimpses out over the grassy fields of the eastern coastline. Reaching the ridgeline, we made a brief pause at a lookout with more substantial views, before pushing on up to the top of the ridge and the highpoint of the walk at 360m.

The big arrayan

We were now in the deep shade of tall forest trees; several temperate rainforest species grow here, olivinos, canelos, arrayanes, some over 30m tall, most with the trunks covered in lichens, mosses and epiphytes. Only the gnarly trunked, but smooth orange-barked arrayan kept a clean profile. In this high ridge, the bases of the trees were dotted with the nest-burrows of fardelos (a small shearwater); we walked by quietly not to disturb them.

Descending gently through the dim light beneath the dense canopy of this impressive temperate rainforest, we were accompanied by the sounds of the rarely seen forest birds, sometimes twittering, sometimes deep and haunting. After a while, we could see the light of an opening and soon emerged at the edge of Laguna Hermosa, which lived up to is name, the luxuriant vegetation surrounding it reflected in its still waters.

As we sat and contemplated the scene, cloud began spilling over the top of the ridge and waves of mist swept across the lake - the changeability of the weather on this island is impressive.

View westward from the Sendero Nuevo

From the lake, we started a more rapid and sometimes slippery descent through the tall trees to a lookout over the western coastline before joining up with the Sendero Nuevo and following it out through a dense grove of olivinos to the western edge of the forest.

The sun broke through as, from here, we crossed a series of old dunes covered in coastal shrubs and pasture to reach the white sands of the Playa Blanca. A short stroll along the windswept beach and we were at the Faro Viejo, the old lighthouse that we had visited yesterday, and the end of the island crossing.

We had arrived a bit early, so we continued on in the sunshine until we saw the distant sight of Mario's old yellow 4WD heading up the beach to collect us. It had been a good walk in a very different part of the island - the forest of Isla Mocha, virtually untouched despite centuries of human occupation of the island, remains magnificent.

Farewell Isla Mocha

The winds had blown themselves out for the day of our departure and we spent the morning enjoying the still air, sunshine and peaceful ambiance of the island. Our flight out that afternoon over the dimpled blue waters of the Pacific back to the cliffs and black sand beaches of the mainland was as smooth as our flight in. Thanks Mario, Imme and all at Casa Hahn for making us feel part of the family, showing us your island and feeding us so well. The ancient Mapuche believed that the souls of the dead travelled to Isla Mocha to be revived - in our modern and stress-filled times, you can go to this isolated and tranquil island to revive the the souls of the living.