Carretera Austral

---

The amazing solitude of our campsite at Lago blanco

Driving around Lago General Carerra

The Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) is a road made of dirt and gravel which runs through the south of Chile from Puerto Montt to Villa O´higgins over 1000km due south. We knew that it was going to be a challenge to drive & that there was a real possibility of us damaging the car or breaking down & getting stuck in the middle of nowhere for awhile so we made sure we were very prepared before we left Puerto Montt.

We had bought a lot of food & tonnes of water for our trip but on the morning we left we popped back to the supermarket to get last minute supplies (mostly chocolate) then headed to a garage to buy a can of petrol just in case we should have trouble finding any on the road. This was easier said than done as although there was plenty of petrol to be had you could not buy a container for love no money. Eventually a passing farmer took pity on us & gave us one from the back of his pickup truck & finally we were off.

We drove out of town feeling excited & also more than slightly nervous. It was a lovely day & soon the beautiful landscape soothed us & as we drove along the coast watching the locals pick shellfish from the beaches our confidence started to rise. When we reached the little town of Lenca after an hours drive the lovely smooth tarmac road just stopped & the real Carretera Austral began. Our speed dropped to a slow crawl as Andrea got used to the road but soon rose to an exhilarating 30km an hour which was to become our cruising speed for most of the trip.


We reached the tiny port of La Arena by mid morning. There was a huge queue for the ferry so I jumped out to buy seafood empiñadas for our lunch, what we didn´t realize was that they made these from scratch so they took so ,long that we almost missed the boat. The short half hour crossing was beautiful. Claire had told us that you can sometimes see dolphins & sure enough as we were heading into the harbour a pod swam right past the boat. Perfect!

We then had another bumpy ride to our next ferry crossing. This crossing would be much longer (6 hours) & there was only one a day so we were a bit worried we wouldn´t make it. in the end we got there with plenty of time to spare so we popped into a petrol station to keep the car topped up. The attendant asked us if we had reserved the ferry & looked very concerned when we told him we hadn´t as both the tourist information office in Puerto Montt & our hotel owner had told us that we didn´t need to. Slightly worried we drove on to the dock & I jumped out & ran into the ticket office to speak to the young man running it. The news wasn´t good, the ferry was full but worse still there would be no ferry the next day (Sunday) & we had no way of knowing if we´d be able to get onto Monday´s ferry. In other words we were stuck. I put on my most pathetic face & asked if there was anything he could do to help & he said we should wait to see if anyone didn´t turn up. I stuck to him like glue for the next hour to make sure no-one else got in there first & it paid off because all of a sudden he took me into the office but just as he handed me the ticket a crackling voice on his walky talky announced that four more cars had arrived. He frowned looked at our ticket, looked at his watch & then miracle of miracles gave the ticket to me.

Meanwhile outside all hell was breaking lose. The late comers had been told that they were too late to board & they were not happy. They had literally barricaded the access to the boat by parking one of their huge 4wd pickups across the entrance. And did a snazzy bit of reversing squeezing us past with centimeters to spare & we were on the boat but the fun wasn´t over yet. The latecomers next move was to drive onto the ferry´s cargo ramp so the ship couldn´t sail & refuse to move. There followed an hour of shouting & arm waving then a bunch of them went to the bridge to visit the captain & after that there was another hour where all the cars on deck had to shuffle a few inches each to make more space so that a couple of them could fit on & then finally we were off. With the man left behind literally dancing with anger on the bank.

During the six hour journey we slept, ate & scowled at all the people literally climbing over our car to move around the ship & climbed on to the side of the boat to look at the views. Then we finally arrived at Coletta Gonzales our first stop in Pumalin Park (Privately owned by the man who started North Face .... so partly funded by us seeing as we are both living in North Face fleeces out here).

I was nearly 10pm when we arrived so starting to get dark. We drove the few hundred yards to the campsite, parked next to the road & carried our gear across the very wobbly suspension foot bridge & once our tent was up sat in our little chairs admiring the view of rain forest & mountains. We really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere & were beginning an adventure. So we celebrated with wine, cheese & after eight mints ..... roughing it Windiburrow style!!!!

The next day we chilled at the campsite in the morning then after lunch we decided to walk to the nearby waterfall. All the bumph we had read described this as a stroll along elevated platforms to a beautiful cascade. Stroll my arse, this was worse than an SAS assault course. With slippery ladders as high as houses, a very dodgy (raging) river crossing on wobbly slippery boulders & an abseiling session at the end where you had to hall yourself up a huge slippery rock face over a raging torrent using just a mouldy old rope. We made it though & the waterfall was lovely but my god we were tired after that!

Just after we left we came across a very steep hill where the road was just very loose rubble & gravel & it took several attempts before we managed to drive up the hill without getting stuck, we thought our Carretera Austral trip was over then & there but the road improved as we drove further south. The Landscape was made up of rain forest so thick you would have to hack your way through it and towering snow topped mountains. We drove down roads lined with wild Lupins & bushes teeming with tiny Fuchsia flowers.We stopped off to take a walk around some beautiful old Alerce trees then drove on to the campsite at Lago Negro where we experienced our first encounter with the regions infamously evil horse flies. Luckily as the daylight dissapears so do the flies & that night we had the whole campsite to ourselves which was slightly scary at first but once we were used to the idea it was wonderful.

We woke to the unusual sound of rain forest bird song & while we were eating breakfast we found out where it came from when a thrush sized bird with a red chest & the attitude of a cheeky robin hopped out of a bush to see if we had any spare crumbs going. As we were washing up morning two German fishermen arrived & asked if we had some matches we had plenty so gave them a box (apparently they couldn´t fish without them, we still don´t know why). One of the men, Stefan told us that he owned a hostel in Chaiten, a town further south & if we wanted to stay there he´d give us a discount. We packed our camp up & walked down to the lake where we saw them floating around in two tyre inner tubes fishing (& we thought they wanted the matches to use dynamite)! That night we camped at Lago Blanco & apart from a fleeting visit from Stefan & friend we had the whole place to ourselves again. This was a really special site. Our Fogon (which is a wooden cooking shelter that each camping spot has) was right on the lakeside, just us & the frog chorus (no Paul McCartney thank goodness).

On Tuesday we planned to hike up to a glacier in the mountains but we woke to a downpour & low clouds. We spent the morning in the Fogon hoping the weather would clear but after lunch we packed our sodden tent & drove further south to Chaiten where we checked into Stefan´s hostel; Casa Hexagon. Chaiten is a litte coastal town which like most of the towns in Chile is made up of little wooded box houses in grid pattern of streets. Casa Hexagon is very different from all the other houses it is built around a tree, has a beautiful interior with a cobbled floor in the living area, pot bellied stove & a hammock & yes it is actually hexagonal. We had the loft room which we climbed a ladder to enter & which had amazing views of the town mountain & river. It was a lovely place but the reception from our German hosts was a little bit frosty.

The next morning we left early and drove to the Termas de Amarillo hot springs in the mountains. We soaked our bones for a couple of hours before pushing further south, leaving Pumalin park behind & entering the Quellat national park. It rained quite heavily that day so unfortunately we didn´t get to see the views as we drove up through the mountains but the rain stopped by the time we reached our campsite for the night near the Ventisquero Glacier. We walked to a viewpoint that evening to get a look at the Glacier which sits in a hanging valley above a lake. As we stood chatting to a friendly Argentinian couple the glacier gave us a show calving loads of ice which thundered down the mountain side into the lake below.

I had the coldest shower I have ever had in my life. I have since read that the water I chose to wash in was Glacial melt water pumped straight from the lake brrrrrrrr. We drove on through Quellat park experiencing some of the worst road conditions yet but having the thrill of watching condors flying high in the skies above us. We slowly pushed on until we hit tarmac as the road neared the town of Cohaique (pronounced Coy-ay-qay) Woo hoo! We were making good time but were feeling a little guilty as we had passed quite a lot of bedraggled looking hitchhikers that day then we saw a granny on the side of the road with her two year old grandson so we stopped & gave them a lift into town. They must have been to a family party as the old dear reeked of booze.

Once we dropped them off we stocked up on supplies in the supermarket then pushed further until we hit another national park & found a campsite. This site was probably the least attractive of any we had stayed at so far as it was in a wood so had no views but it was also one of our favourites as the wardens supplied wood for campfires & there was a wood burner in the tiny shower block so you could heat water for a hot shower Quirky & luxurious!

By now we were far enough south to be out of the rain forest & the rain. The landscape opened up to rolling grass plains with better views of the snow topped mountains all around & by now it was a common sight to see a farmer herding his sheep on horseback, looking very comfortable on his sheep skin saddle. We took a detour from the gravel road on to another smaller gravel road to visit some beautiful little lakes Stefan had told us about. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn & ended up driving down some very steep & hairy roads. Poor And was driving & was terrified that we were going to get stuck but we eventually found our way to the town of Puerto Ibanez. We had originally planned to drive around the huge lake here & catch a ferry back to this town then drive back up the Carretera Austral before crossing into Argentina but now we were there we decided to catch the ferry across & reverse our route. There was a sight hitch though as after waiting for hours for the ferry to arrive so we can buy our tickets we found out that it was booked solid so we had to retrace our tracks we stubbornly pushed on until after dark but even so ended up camping in a small farm just a few miles from where we had started out from that morning (ho hum).

The next day the landscape just got more & more stunning as we drove on through the mountains & around Lago General Carrera The water of this lake was the most vivid turquoise we had ever seen, the photos just don't do it justice. We found a lovely campsite on the lake & spent the afternoon chilling there just admiring the view then had a great evening playing ludo around our roaring campfire wind.

The following morning was our last on the Carretera Austral. We decided not to continue further south as the road was supposed to degenerate even further from this point so We drove around the lake slowly trying to absorb every last bit of the beauty of the place then we crossed the border into Argentina. Our plan had been to drive up what our map showed as a good tarmac road to get up to the lake district region as quickly as possible but our map let us down. Ruta 40 was in fact another lose gravel road which was actually more loose & slippery than the Carretera Austral had been.

The landscape changed dramatically almost as soon as we had crossed the border. Gone were the towering mounains, forests, shimmering lakes & crazy curvy roads This road was boring & ran straight through the flat scrub land of the Argentinian Pampa. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but dryness, dust & the odd scraggy bush or half blown over telegraph pole with a bird of prey perched on top & every few hundred kilometers a bullet ridden sign to a different Estancia. W e amused ourselves by making a game out of counting the many blown out tyres on the side of the road, (while wishing all the time that our tyres wouldn´t go the same way) & looking out for Rhias the South American ostrich, We got very excited when we spotted a father with about 20 chicks right next to the road. It seems that it´s Daddy Rhias job to look after the kids (quite right too)!

We drove into a town to stop for the evening only to find a Rodeo was taking place where the campsite should be & the town was heaving with Rodeo types so there was no room at the inn. We stopped for a while to watch the horsey antics then pushed on. The distances between towns were huge & after a while we were started to get worried as not only was it getting dark & we had no where to stay we were also running low on fuel. Just as things were getting desperate we saw a sign to a little village with camping & petrol so we headed there along a tiny track The petrol pump was closed for the night & we couldn´t find camping so were forced to sleep in the car that night. Which was actually surprisingly comfortable. We were up with the sun to drive back into the village where we were relieved to get petrol from a hand pump! We had the dueling banjos tune buzzing round our head for the rest of the day after that.

We had had the most amazing experince, the beauty & solitude of the Carretera Austral had been absolutely wonderful & we were feeling sad to leave it behind as we drove north up the now thankfully tarmac road counting tyres on our way up to the Argentinian lake district.....

---

Photos

Hurry up with my dinner wench!
Note the (probably half empty) carton of Clos!