http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Chile , Aisen , Carretera Austral en-us Wed, 09 Dec 09 04:24:00 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 09 04:24:00 +0000 Trudging up the hill the only thing that prevents us becoming airborne it seems is the suction of our boots to the slop. The poncho that envelops us isnrsquot helping much aerodynamically but beneath its shelter shackled to my back Kiva somehow manages asleep. Itrsquos possible to experience four seasons in a single day in Patagonia I recall as a hail seeded wintrymix swirls up throug http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-394073.html Hey gangsorry its been so long weve just been incredibly busy in the last month and more.Firstly we got a boat from some random place in Uruguay down soem winding tributuries thats my 5th attempt atspelling that word and i nkowits still along way of witha few wooden shacks dotted around then got near argentina and shacks were replaced by fishing lodges and rich kids on speed boats then we actu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-391860.html Wednesday saw me and my SwissIsraeli companions getting stuck in La Junta no bus connections of course a very sleepy town. We walked through the night in a slight drizzle needing about an hour to find a hostel that had free rooms. Luckily the lady of the house was more than friendly. I made an unimaginably great breakfast which cheered me up to quite the extent. Scrambled eggs made love http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/Futaleufu/blog-388033.html The Carretera Austral links the previously inaccesible well only by boat villages south of Puerto Montt in Chile. It's a pretty rough track winding past fjords lakes and rocky mountains. While travelling on it one sees the vegetation change from south Patagonia's lenga and ire woods to a lush temperate rainforest. Tall trees damp moss bamboo and a really sexy scent coming of the forest ma http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-386833.html Have you ever been to Greece I have found many different culture and custom here. Take a look at the hair clips now http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/Futaleufu/blog-384245.html Its been a couple of weeks since the last update so were backtracking a bit here. Going back a couple of ThursdaysTHE PLANGet this bus Friday morning a few hours south to Villa O Higgins and do a couple of days trek over the border into Argentina and the small town of El Chalten and do a few days trekking around there as it is supposed to be really nice. After that we would go to El Calafat http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-383127.html I think the pictures say it all. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-379138.html Buenos DiasNow this may be a bit long winded but it is the tale of a 20 hour trip that turned into 3 days and our eventual surprising welcome to Chile We thought we had it all worked out. Last time we were speaking to you we were going to get a bus to Los Antiguos in Argentina get a 10 min bus ride over the border to Chile and a Ferry to Puerto Ibanez and a bus to Coyhaique. Simple. We started http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-379123.html WE ARE IN A NICE town called coyhaique at the moment waiting on a ferry up to peorto monte. it is a 20 odd hour ferry trip up through a load of islands and past a volcano in chaiten that has been erupting for the last 2 weeksso it should be fairly cool.any how back to where we are.we came here because there is a road through the middle of chile called the carretera austral that we read about boast http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-379108.html After a couple of days in Puerto Tranquilo we got the bus a couple of hours south to Puerto Bertrand which was somehow even smaller than Tranquilo. There were less than 20 houses 2 tiny shops and more stray dogs per capita than any village on Earth. It lies on the shore of a small lake called Lago Plomo which has beautiful clear turquoise water and is the start of the Rio Baker one of the large http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-378586.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-378171.html I left you with me getting a lift at 8pm from Rio Tranquilo and I promised adventure. I hope what follows will live upto your expectations.The first section of the journey was devoid of adventure but full of amazing views. As we'd made such a late start we got to see the sun setting over the lake which was really something. Signs of the downpour last night were definitely evident though as http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-375194.html 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 wh http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-375191.html I've been having some pretty good luck of late. From getting good weather at viewpoints to getting a free lift from Puyuhuapi to Coyhaique everything had been going well. In Coyhaique I was just going to look for a campsite when I was approached by 2 girls who had a room going spare for the same price as a camping. And when I got there they had some amazing leftover salmon which I was welc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-375162.html 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 threat http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-373163.html First of all I need to start this entry with an admission. I went to Chaiten purely as a voyeur planning on taking a view photos of the town then leaving. For those of you that don't know the history Chaiten was a busy port village until May 2008 when the nearby Volcano Chaiten erupted. This caused the river to overflow and the town was devestated. Thankfully everyone got out alive. No http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-373153.html RiverThe Futaleufu is a world class bigwater 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 s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/Futaleufu/blog-368051.html After 3 days of feasting in Coyhaique we departed feeling rejuvenated with bulging panniers filled with our xmas treats. We left with a howling tail wind and almost sunshine. Just before we left town we popped into the Aysen Reserva de vida information centre to learn more about the SIN REPRESAbattle and were lucky enough to find a very passionate American woman to answer all our questio http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-360423.html 2009 began in fine style for us. After seeing in the new year with the family who run the hospedaje some entertaining yanks and a couple of dutch cyclists in Tortel we dragged ourselves out of bed after not enough sleep to take a boat through the fiords to join the Carretera Astral further south. We joined Carson a cyclist from Germany and together we rode three abreast on roads in much bet http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-360416.html Just a few photos we might sort out a few words shortly. We are in the wee town of Cochrane after some wonderful diverse days of riding and are keen to have our rest day at a interesting sounding isolated refugio down the road. So next town Totel the town with no roads well up until they went and built a road for us to cycle in on. On second thought only two photos its painfully slow We http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-357596.html