Carretera Austral: The Long And Winding Road

So we bumped our way through 13 plus hours of gravel road, waterfalls, glaciers, tourquoise lakes, jagged mountains and coastal rainforests. The Carretera Austral´s construction was started under Pinochet and is a highway that connects southern Chile with the populous north. It is accessed in the north only via ferry, and it dead ends in the south of Chile, but there are several connecting roads into Argentina along the way.

We opted to break the journey with one night at the end of an oceanic fijord in the town of Puerto Puyuhuapi. We camped out under blue skies near the ocean and enjoyed some wine and local baking. We were taking public transport, not tour buses, so stops were minimal and there is only one bus per day, so we had to take care not to miss it. The road is less travelled on the Chilean side than the Argentina version which is Route 40. We were originally thinking of taking the Route 40 because Argentina is slightly cheaper to travel in, but as a result of it being more economical and accessible it is frequented a lot more. That combined with the fact that we are told that Rt 40 is more Andean steppe, while the Carretera Austral is right in the thick of fijords, rainforest and mountains on either side. That being said we are trying to head to El Chalten in Argentina and we might have to take Rt. 40 to get down there.

Life in the small towns here is nice and relaxed and the locals are all keen to say hello and to welcome you to their neck of the woods (with their slang filled spanish that makes it really hard to understand). We have been blessed with sunny skies and virtually no more than a few wispy clouds in the last two days, so we have been soaking in the views from the bus windows.

Today we are resting in Coyhaique wandering the deserted Sunday streets (it is always fun to see what will and will not be open on a Sunday). We also went to check out a local camping option (because they range in price and quality, from someone´s backyard to nice camping complete with hot showers and refugios) and on the way we got molested by a stray Bouvier (dog).

Tomorrow, transport permitting, we will try to catch a bus two hours south to a trail head for a 4 day trek around Cerro Castillo. Busing is sparse as although it feels like summer, smells like summer and is hot like summer, the people have yet to arrive and the busing reflects that. We should be back in 5-6 days and from there hope to head down into Argentina towards treks in the Fitz Roy range.