Blogs from Aisén, Chile, South America - page 16

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

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 a couple of times we had to slow down, as the road had turned into a river. The slow progress meant we arrived at Puerto Guadal, just past the crossing for Chile Chico, at around 10.30pm. Here, we stopped to get a bite to eat, as none of us had eaten earlier as we weren't sure when our lift would arrive. It was ... read more

So, my bus from Coyhaique dropped me in Villa Cerro Castillo, and after dumping all my unwanted gear at the tourist office, I hit the road to start my hike. I say hit the road, because the trailhead is 25km outside of town, so I needed to hitchhike there. However, an hour later, nothing had happened, and it was now 2pm. I was very aware that it was starting to get a bit late being as I had 17km of walking ahead of me, so I looked for other options. It turned out you could walk up to what is marked as the final campsite. As you can do this from town, I made a start. The first few kilometres were fine, but then I started to lose the trail. I had been warned that the ... 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