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.