Road trip part 1: Carretera Austral

Hello world! It's been a while, but I hope you're all still there. We (Virginia and I) are recently arrived in Buenos Aires, and before doing any sightseeing I've promised myself I need to get some more photos and stories online. We spent the last two weeks driving through Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia (using a car borrowed from my grandma, gracias Omama!) and saw a ton of things. Driving is an expensive way to travel but the flexibility it gives you makes it possible to do a lot in little time. We started by taking an overnight ferry from Puerto Montt (an hour south of my grandmother's, in southern Chile) to Chaitén, a semi-ghost town in the wake of a huge eruption of the nearby Volcan Chaitén in 2008.

 El transbordador 'Don Baldo'. 

 Empty street in Chaitén. (Photo cred: Virginia) 

On the advice of my uncle, we headed straight to the 'Termas de Amarillo' (hot springs) to relax after a so-so night sleeping on the floor of the ferry. Eventually we managed to tear ourselves away, grab a slice of raspberry küchen, and hit the road. First destination Futaleufu for rafting! This is an incredible river with bright blue-green-turqoise water and supposedly some of the best whitewater in the world. Really fun! Continuing south we drove through beautiful valleys with views of mountains, glaciers, pastures, and ocean. Sometimes all at once.

 Usual view out of the car. 

 Virginia made fun of me for taking this, but wind turbines are cool, right?

We passed through Coyhaique, a 50,000 person municipality, which felt like a huge city because of the emptiness of the previous couple days. In retrospect, Chile was crowded compared to the vastness waiting for us in Argentina. More on that later. Next on the agenda, 3 day hike through Reserva Nacional Cerro Castillo. Beautiful hot sunny day when we started, although by second day, when we were close enough to actually see the mountain, it was all clouds and rain. Oh well!


First day was mostly hiking through old farms along 4WD tracks.

 Looking back at 'Paso Peñon'. 

 Over the pass we go. Snow! (Photo cred: Virginia) 

Hitchhiking back to where we left the car.

After the hike we kept driving south, passing around a huge lake, Lago General Carrera. The mix of shadows from clouds and bright sun on the surface of the glacier fed lake was incredible. Amazing colours.

'Canopy' is a catch-all term for high ropes courses and zip lines through the forest etc. Somebody obviously needs to have a word with the marketing department at this one. Awkwardly hanging limp mannequins do not inspire confidence.



We took a turn off the main highway, heading towards Argentina along the south side of the big lake. Apparently this was the most expensive portion of the 'Carretera Austral' (southernly highway, as the system of roads is called) to build, since they basically dynamited 30km of it out from the side of the very steep shore. It was incredible to drive, going through tiny gaps in the rock, and then with huge views of the lake.


Lago General Carrera. You can just see the road on the left near the top.

After reaching the town of Chile Chico, it was on to Argentina! Which I think merits its own post.

Cochamó to Valparaíso

After our getting back to Osorno we spent a quick day running around interneting and buying supplies for the next journey. The plan was one week for me, and two weeks for Ross, in Valle Cochamó. This is a beautiful valley about a four hour hike up from the town of Cochamó which is actually on an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. We had warnings about rain and extreme mud, so we bought rubber boots, a tarp, and called to arrange for a horse to carry up our gear and food. This was the right idea!



Christian leading the way.

As we made our way up, the huge rock cliffs started appearing in the distance, albeit generally through a shifting layer of cloud and rain. Without any load we made it to the fogón (cooking shelter) in good time and were welcomed there by 'Pato' (nickname for Patricia) who showed us around the camping area and suggested a camping spot. The walking lawn mowers (horses) kept the whole camping area proper looking and the views all around were spectacular.


Cerro Trinidad as seen from our tent. Close to 1000m from the base of the cliff to the summit.

Being a climber is a nice way to visit somewhere, since you are immediately welcomed into the community of fellow escaladores. Especially when it's been raining for ten days and everybody is happy to have some new company! We found four Germans, two Americans, two English, a few Brazileans and a mix of other Argentineans/Americans/Brazileans who were living there for the whole summer.


Kiel, one of our German friends, making his daily espresso.



Grant and Chris (the American camp) cross Río Cochamó heading towards the refugio.

 
Finally the sun came out a few days after we arrived, on the same day as one of the German's birthdays. The best present he'd ever received he said. Flo (the birthday boy) had gone down to town to buy meat and beer, so it was asado time! A real asado al palo, with sticks cut from bamboo and everything.

Birthday asado for Flo, another German!

The next day we headed up to the base of Trinidad, another two and half hours further up.


Looking down from Valle Trinidad.

Ross and I started climbing 'Bienvenidos a mi Insomnio' bright and early the next day. We made it up a couple pitches but felt we were a bit over our heads so didn't make it up any further from there. One more short climb the next day, and then I headed back down, while Ross stayed. Hopefully he can fill you in with some good stories and photos!

Now I was back to Osorno and then on a bus to Santiago where I was meeting Virginia who had been volunteering and traveling in Peru for the last two months! We went straight from the airport to the beach, which was beautiful and sunny, but definitely a bit of a culture shock, especially for Virginia. Here are some photos from our stroll through Valparaíso.

Bright colours!



Cute!



Typical view in Valparaíso.

One of the murals of the 'open-air museum.'

Tonight Virginia and I start the Carretera Austral, a highway running south through the Chilean Patagonia. We have a ferry from Puerto Montt to Chaiten at midnight!!