Blogs from Carretera Austral, Aisén, Chile, South America - page 4

I think the pictures say it all. ... read more

So, we got the bus on the Wednesday morning and travelled about 6 hours south down the Carretera Austral to a tiny village on the shores of Lago General Carrera called Puerto Tranquilo. The road down had some spectacular views of jagged mountains and we saw our first glaciars hanging around the top of some of them. Puerto Tranquilo consisted of about 50 houses, a couple of minimarkets, 2 cafes and a few places to stay. We found a friendly little hospedaje behind a shop and stayed there for a couple of days wondering what we could find to do. On the first night, we got talking to an Australian woman who told us about a tour to a glaciar about 80 km to the West down a road that had only just really been completed. ... read more

An interesting thing happened as the bus pulled up in Cerro Castillo. Carl, an English guy I'd first met in Futaleufu, then again in Puyuhuapi, got off to stretch his legs. Nothing too strange there you might think, you bump into the same people all the time when you're on the road. Except in this case, Carl had been cycling the Carretera Austral. So what the hell was he doing on a bus, and where was his bike? Turned out he'd managed to break it, so it was now lying back in Coyhaique, waiting to be fixed. Other people have bad luck too it seems. The journey to Rio Tranquilo took us along the shores of the Lago General Carrerra, the second largest in South America. Instantly, I was struck by its incredible turqouise colour. How ... read more

As the bus wound down the Carretera Austral from Chaiten towards Puyuhuapi, we were passing glaciers on our left one minute, crystal clear waters on our right the next, with the odd towering mountain chucked in just for good measure. It was all too good to be true, and 50km outside of Puyuhuapi, it started to rain. Really rain. Arriving in town, the rain had let up, but the sky was still threatening more, so I was more than pleased when the tourist office recommended me a camping which was under a roof. Perfect. I set up camp, had a lovely cup of tea, then decided to go on the rather cheesy interpretative trail which the office had recommended. Puyuhuapi is located at the edge of a fjord, and the first part of the walk took ... read more

River! The Futaleufu is a world class, big-water, glacier fed, turquoise and beautiful river that flows from the eastern side of the Andes in Argentina, but then swings backward from its natural easterly course and cuts the Andes in two by heading back to Chile and making a short and steep plunge to the Pacific. While not as long or deep as the Grand Canyon, the water and rapids in the Fu are of similar size. While not having any famous mountains nearby, the canyon systems of the valley are deep, green, forested valleys filled with glaciers and jutting volcanic peaks. It is a magnificent pastoral glacial valley. The Fu is also a precious remaining gem. Several of the biggest whitewater and wild rivers in Chile have been dammed over the past 50 years, and of ... read more