Blogs from Coyhaique, Aisén, Chile, South America

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South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 29th 2018

Today I was invited into someone’s kitchen for lunch. I arrived at Villa Amengual (some 90 km South of Puyuhuapi) around lunch time and drove round the plaza asking for gas. The tanks at the station had run dry in Puyuhuapi last night before I could refill, and I was running low. I walked up to a little grocery store and a woman called out from inside asking what I wanted. “Nope, no gas to be had. Are you hungry?” “Yes!” “Come in and have some lunch. We have some soup on the stove, and the ñoquis are ready.” “Sounds good to me, where do I go?” “Hey, come into the kitchen. We are all in there and we can talk.” So I did. The road had been awful – a wet slippery gravel climb through ... read more
Early morning at Puyuhuapi port
Entrance to German Hostel
Men working on blasting out new road

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique December 11th 2015

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 26th 2015

After Torres de Paine everything is rather bleak, the ever present Patagonian nothingness is ever-present as we drive to El Calafate, 80 km of really bad ripio and some ditto highway we’re in El Calafate , me yet again.New mates and a new hostel. They receive us like royalty, Bele’en the woman in charge is so nice as to fall in love with her. Lucky for me( and her) I already have found one to be in love with. Anyway how lovely she is the beds are a bit too short, for a man of my size but Itake of the mattress and but the actually bed hardware against the wall, now I’m sorted and actually the bed serves as a good coat hanger. Rather a nice dinner later with lamb agnelotti and some plonk it’s ... read more
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South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 24th 2015

Moooooooo Check out this video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/iyRXec4LacQ... read more

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 23rd 2015

Das war heute der große Tag mit der Carreterra Sustral - der "Straße nach Süden". Klingt ganz harmlos, ist aber nicht so. Die Strecke von Futaleufu bis Coyhaike ist nämlich noch weitgehend ungeteert. Was ja ganz ok ist. Aber leider wird über lange Strecken die Straße ausgebaut, und das bedeutet, dass tiefgründig weiches Zeugs da ist, vermischt mit jungen Felsblöcken - zum Fahren ein Genuss. Oder es gibt riesige Pfützen, wo man dann sehr froh ist, wenn ein Auto vor einem durchfährt und man so ungefähr eine Ahnung bekommt, wo die tiefste Stelle ist. Weil klar war, dass die heutigen 400 km sehr lange dauern würden, gab es Frühstück um 6.00; Abfahrt war so schnell als möglich. Aber es war dann doch schon 6.45, aber immerhin war es dann schon hell. Mein Optimismus,. dass noch Futaleufu ... read more
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South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique November 23rd 2014

Hi, we have all arrived here in Coyhaique on the Carretera Austral 'Highway'. Over the past week or so we have visited the fabulous Torres del Paine National Park in Chile before crossing back into Argentina and our ride up the notorious section of Ruta 40. Well much has changed since my last time here in 2009, as they have pretty much paved the whole 600km section, and on the day the wind gave us a break also. We were prepared for the long day with our now much desired 'Tail Gate' lunch, which is presented by Melean with the help of Paul. Our two night stay in El Calafate gave us a relaxing visit to the fabulous Perito Moreno Glacier. Entering Chile through Paso Rio Jeinemen, we had a drama at the border, it turned ... read more
Perito Moreno Glacier
Glacier face
Ruta 40

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique October 10th 2014

Now I am a person that likes the heat. The heat and humidity of Asia is just what I crave right now. It is so bloody cold here that I even had to get some gloves and more thermal stuff just to keep warm. And it is just getting worse the further south I go. Ah well, the things one does to see the world. And that is my last whinge for this report. Promised….. So here I am in Coyhaique, the capital of the Aysen region. And I set myself a new travel record; never ever have I been any more south on this planet as I am just right now. That deserves a celebration beer later on. After I wrote my last report in Chaiten I had two more nights and one full day ... read more
Chaiten volcano
At the end of the river walk... The waterfall
Chaiten volcano

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique April 1st 2013

This had gotten ridiculous. I really just wanted to leave Tranquilo, and I couldn't. I think “Escape from Tranquilo” (working title... maybe I'll go with “Tranquilo”) would make a great psychological thriller or horror movie. In some Hotel California type situation, it's impossible to leave this town no matter how hard you try. Oh, and no one can hear you scream, or something. I'm working on it... And time is against me. I only have two weeks left on this trip, so there's a lot of stuff that I wanted to do that's not going to happen now. I was getting frustrating. I had spent half a day on Saturday trying to leave by any means necessary, and couldn't. And now it was Sunday. Easter Sunday. Every bus that came through town was already full. I ... read more
The town from above
The smoke hangs low of Coyahaique
Looks like fall up here

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 22nd 2013

We took a bus to Rio Tranquilo to see the marble caves. We made several stops Along the way to see the vistas, rivers, volcanoes, the dead forest, to pick and eat calafate berries. We got a boat and toured the marble caves. They were spectacular. On the way back we stopped to find huemules in the woods, they are very similar to deer. They are endangered so we were lucky to find them. The next day I hiked through Coyhaique to the nature reserve. I got lost a few times and the last 1.5 km uphill in the blazing sun exhausted me before I even got to the reserve. Nonetheless, I hiked to the Laguna Verde where I sat and watched the fish leaping out of the water for almost an hour before I headed ... read more
marble caves
marble caves
lago general carrera

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique January 15th 2013

JANUARY 14- PUERTO CHACABUCO, CHILE I don’t know how I got so lucky; another beautiful, sunny and warm day! The guide said the weather was so unusually nice, we got to see a lot of things that are usually not seeable because of rain or mist. I took the tender to the bus and began the 5 ½ hour tour on time. The excursion write up says “Depart from Puerto Chacabuco on the legendary Carretera Austral to Coyhaique, the capital of the Aisen Region which claims breathtakingly steep peaks, glaciers, cascading rivers and grassy steppes”. It is an accurate description. I’m glad we had a good driver because the guard rails looked very skimpy and the steep and deep drops would have been impossible to survive. I can’t express the beauty of this place enough, but ... read more
SIMPSON RIVER RESERVE
PATAGONIA
COYHAIQUE




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