Leaving Chiloe Island by ferry early in the morning with Chaiten as target – only one quarter of the ship full, so calm and quiet trip. Arrived on schedule in Chaiten – filled the tank and drove south towards Villa Santa Lucia. The weather was clouded with a light drizzle of rain, but again it cleared and took a calm afternoon and looked at the planning for the following days.
Sitting a couple of hours in the sun this Saturday afternoon observant the life of this 20-house town of Villa Santa Lucia you get an idea of how life is – this is so far away from any major town/city but still the local bus comes every half hour and the backpackers crawls out to catch the buses. Meanwhile loud music flows from a shed where someone is doing the laundry – life goes on. Pace of life – it just has another meaning out here …
In this area everything is very expensive and the most popular sites and cities are either sold out or just so pricy that I do consider alternatives. But I also need to prioritize and be true to what I really want to see and experience. So a couple of nights with camping to balance the serious price tag for simple accomodation in El Chaltén (the coming Fitz Roy trek).
The route was then decided to be Villa Santa Lucia, Puerto Cisnes, Coyhiaque, Puerto Rio Tranquillo, Perito Moreno (Argentina again), Gobernador Gregores and then El Chaltén.
Moving on from Villa Santa Lucia towards Puerto Cisnes – a center in this region with the active port for transport of goods and fishing in the fiords and the southern Pacific Ocean. The Ruta 7 was again beautiful and road conditions mostly paved, with some sections hard gravel/dirt with potholes and some loose top-gravel as well. Only 30km out of 220 was not paved – so just a pleasure ride.
Puerto Cisnes is an area with high risk of tsunamies, so coastline is protected and signed accordingly.
I booked entry to the National Park Queulat that holds one of so many glaciers in this area. After a short wait in line to get registrered and pay, you entered the wilderness on rough terrain – but the price was the Ventisquero Colgante.
It was a spectacular revelation to turn the last corner after following the sound of the river for a couple of kilometers of trail.
The road to Puerto Cisnes also proved why this area is so popular for travellers.
Leaving Puerto Cisnes and heading towards Coyhaique was slightly less amazing being a bit more flat and farm-like. Adding a detour to Puerto Aysen only added another view to the risk of tsunamies in the coastal areas of the Southern Pacific Ocean.
But do enjoy some of the views – they are now embedded in my memory and will keep them there.
Next post will still be on Carretera Austral but covering the southern part of Coyhaique to Chile Chico before entering Argentina again. This is about 450km gravel/dirt so I think I need a days rest before the next many shattering kilometers.
Breathtaking. And I see you found yourself some gravel? 🙂