Blogs from Carretera Austral, Aisén, Chile, South America - page 8

After our fantastic time in Southern Patagonia, it was time to make the looong journey north to the Lakes District. There's not a whole lot in between these two regions so we decided to take the 'scenic route' to break up the long journey. We would otherwise have been face with a 24-hr plus bus trip, so the scenic route sounded like a good idea at the time. Patience is a virtue, be prepared for a loooong story here... The first leg of the trip involved the bus trip from El Chalten to Los Antiguos. The bus trip was long and relatively uneventful, save for the french traveller who was humped by a llama at our lunch stop. I was lucky enough to have my camera ready and I took a video that I thought only ... read more

Catching a ferry across one of the many lakes that are scattered over Chile, we arrived to much longed for pavimento (tarseal); finally a break from corrugated gravel roads! We envisaged smooth rides with thekilometres whistling past our tyres ... but it seemed that Patagonia wished for us never to forget that we are in a powerful landscape, and we were faced with several days of 30-40 knot headwinds, once again testing our morale and inner strength. However, the greater the challenge means the sweeter the reward - fresh food, a comfy bed and hot showers in a Hospedaje (backpackers), that was so clean that even Kate´s grandmother (who had a slight obsession with cleanliness) would have approved. New Years arrived to much anticipation of experiencing a South American ´Feliz Años Nueve´ (Happy New Year). Local ... read more

It appears that Penny was not alone in having a less than perfect spanish tranlation of her name... After 8 weeks of introducing one of our number (I won´t say who) as Kate, we discover that it translates as a ´cocaine based loaf´. To preemptively prevent any further nomenclaturial mishap, there have been a few changes (see above), to some good wholesome spanish names. ... read more

We arrived on the Carretera Austral via Trevelin, Argentina and Futaleufu. Though we only ended up driving the Carretera for 2 days rather than the originally planned 3 or 4, it was still a high point of our trip. The scenery is stunning and constantly changing and is some of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere on the planet. If you decide to go, I would recommend the suggestions you'll find in all the guidebooks about being well-prepared-----you will be literally in the middle of nowhere on a poorly-surfaced dirt road with few houses and only a few widely spaced towns along the way. Carry water and food and be prepared for anything. It is no problem to drive with a normal compact car (as we did) but make sure the car is in excellent driving ... read more

After resting up in Chaitén and eating amazing seafood like the local marisco stew called "paila marina", David and I headed into Pumalín, the world´s largest a private nature park open to the public. The park was founded Douglas Thompkins (who also started Esprit and North Face) to protect the temperate patagonian rainforest and it´s enormous alerce trees. It is open to the public, who only must pay a nominal fee for staying in beautiful campgrounds, most of which have covered sites for tent camping. This is because the key to healthy alerce trees is rain, and lots of it--about 4 meters a year. In all my travels up to now, I think Pumalín is one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever witnessed. Thompkins has gotten a lot of press by Chileans paranoid that he ... read more