ALONG THE CARRETERA AUSTRAL
(Chillin' in Chile Part 3)
Travel Tales Index - Chillin' In Chile Index - Chile Pix
Our first morning at Parque Pumalin, our new Chileno friends, Froilan and Marcelo stopped by to check on Lois & me (they were staying in a beautiful cabaña nearby). Since Lois´ ankle was swollen and sprained, she stayed in the campground and read and rested while I joined Froilan and Marcelo on a hike up the mountain to a waterfall. The trail ran through what was basically temperate rain forest/cloud forest. They had boardwalks over wet sections made from split logs and ladders for climbing steep sections. It was a very well maintained trail, however, as I mentioned, it was in a rain forest so, of course, it was raining. And raining and raining… for 2 hours, non stop. It wasn’t very heavy, so I was dry except for my hair which was soaked. Enough rain already! Luckily, it stopped raining just before we reached the waterfall – about 90 feet high, 10 feet wide at the top and 25 feet wide at the bottom where there was a large clear pool of VERY cold water. I can assure you, we didn’t even consider swimming! Two hours back down the mountain and I found Lois relaxing and reading her book, her ankle slowly improving.
 Parque Pumalin Waterfall |
We cooked our dinner in the campground pavilion and talked with some of the other people camping there. The majority were Chilenos. This was something we found to be unique about Chile (and later Argentina) compared to the other Latin American countries we have visited (Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador) where we mostly met foreigners traveling. Perhaps, the standard of living is higher and the people better off so that they can afford to travel within their own country. The other possibility is that the size of the middle and upper class has expanded since our last trips to South America (winter 98 & winter 99). Plus, there is a significant outdoor culture of hiking, fishing, camping and horseback riding. There are both Chilean and Argentinian brands of camping gear.
That evening and the next evening, Froilan and Marcelo stopped by and had us return with them to their cabana where they gave Lois's ankle some "contrast therapy". Froilan learned this from football player's in the US as a way of strengthening the ankle's ligaments. It involved putting the ankle in the hottest water Lois could bear for 15 minutes and then ice cold water for 15 minutes. She didn't complain a bit (If you believe that, you don't know Lois!!). Thanks to them, her ankle has recovered 95%. After another day of hiking with Froilan and Marcelo and Lois staying back at camp, it was time to wish them well and move on.
We hitchhiked from Caleto Gonzalo to the nearest town, Chaiten about 60 km away. We caught a ride in the back of a pick-up which in some ways is the best ride and in other ways, the worst. On a good day and a good road, from the back of a pick-up, you have an unlimited panoramic view of the area you are travelling through. Probably the best possible. However, on a bad day or a bad road, you have to cope with: wind, cold, rain, bouncing, dust and dirt all over you and your pack. This was a decent ride since we were driving through very lush, green mountains, but on a dirt road.
After a lunch stop in Chaiten, we checked on transport to our next destination, Puyuhuapi. We were told the next bus left in two days, but later in the day there was a bus that went to La Junta, 1/2 way to our destination, from where we could take a bus the next morning to Puyuhuapi. Given our luck earlier in the day, we decided to try hitching.... Well, after 3 hours waiting at the side of the road, we finally got a ride in a collectivo (van) that was going to Villa Santa Lucia, about 1/3 of the way to Puyuhuapi. There were four very friendly passengers in the van and they alerted us to one of the sites along the way. An airplane had crashed nearby and a family had taken the fuselage and turned it into a house! We arrived in Villa Santa Lucia at 5:30 PM, and discovered 8 other people who were stuck there (Two of them since 11:00 in the morning), trying to get to Puyuhuapi. We saw more horses than cars in the town. Hmmm, it didn't look too good for us!
 Crashed Plane = New House |
Villa Santa Lucia was a very small town in the middle of nowhere and I do mean nowhere, with a population of about 100. Three hospedajes, a restaurant or two, a bunch of dogs running loose and a lot of dust. Of course, it was all a matter of perspective. If it had been our destination, we would have said, what an awesome place, totally tranquil, surrounded by snow capped mountains, clear skies and streams meandering throughout the area. So, we relaxed and spent the night. A van showed up the next morning headed to Puyuhuapi. However, it was a 15 person van, it already had 9 people in it and there were 10 of us that wanted to go. This is where all our third world travel, especially in Africa, came in handy. I told the driver we were all skinny and he could fit us no problem. After a little hemming and hawing, with Lois in my lap and another girl in her friend's lap, we all managed to fit. 19 people in the van, not that many compared to the 24 that we had in Africa on one occasion!
We realized that we were no longer in the heavily touristed part of Chile. The Carretera Austral (Southern Road), as it is known, is one of the least and last to be developed regions of Chile. Later on, we found out that bus service every 2 days was pretty good compared to some other towns. When we got to Puyuhuapi, we saw that transportation out of there was even worse and since it was a very rainy day, when a driver had 2 empty seats to offer us, we headed to our next destination, Coihaique. We had planned on camping for a day or two in Parque Nacional Queulat which we passed through just after leaving Puyuhuapi. If I have any regrets on this trip, it is that we skipped Parque Nacional Queulat. Driving through the park was one of the prettiest rides on our whole trip. The road turned and twisted, following a turqoise stream and crossing over a mountain pass. The mountain was covered in lush, thick, green vegetation. Of course, it was totally clouded over and raining like crazy, but who knows what might have been...
After we left the mountains, we hit some rolling fields, full of wildflowers of varying colors: yellow, purple, white, pink, blue and red. The mountains in the distance all had waterfalls cascading down their sides from the rain and melting snow. As we approached Coihaique, we saw a number of huge rainbows. Coihaique reminded me of Salt Lake City, relatively dry in the valley, surrounded by snow capped mountains.
 Rainbow Over Coihaique |
 Flowers All Over |
 On the Roadside |
Outside of Coihaique was a national park where we wanted to camp for a day or two. The park covered one of the mountain tops surrounding the city. We camped at Laguna Verde. Our site was a little hut with one open side containing a fireplace and picnic table. There was one other group nearby for the day but we had the whole place to ourselves during the night. Since there was lots of deadwood laying around, we had a roaring fire and managed to relax, read our books, watch the lake and generally refrain from too much effort! One morning, Lois said to me, "look at that dog over there" and I thought, that's strange, there are no people here. I started thinking "wolf", until I saw the bushy red tail and the angular face and realized we were watching a fox on the prowl. He left us alone and we left him alone.
We decided to give Lois' ankle a little test run and hiked up to the top of the mountain within the park. We climbed up about 1000' and could see the whole valley before us, the town of Coihaique and the other mountains surrounding it. The forests there were mostly pine at the lower elevations and then changed to birch and other trees that I never saw before called lenga. The trees were covered in a kind of moss similar to the Spanish moss in Florida. Here, it is called the devil's beard! It eventually covers all the leaves of a tree and kills the tree. After views and more views, we headed back down to our campsite, had a little mushroom soup and headed back to Coihaique. I was glad we ate so much in the park since my pack weighed a lot less for the 8km hike down to the main road.
 Laguna Verde |
 Mountains Overlooking Coihaique |
From Coihaique, we headed to Puerto Ingeniero Ibañez, the windiest town we had ever been in (until we got further south). Similar to Aruba where all the trees are bent over in one direction due to the wind. We had some time to kill until the ferry left for our next destination, so we walked around and found a rodeo arena and then passed the municipal library, housed in a colorfully painted old bus! The bus had a large satellite dish attached to it, so I had to go over and investigate.There were some books on shelves and 3 brand new Pentium IV PCs, donated by The Bill Gates Foundation. The girl told me they have free internet access there as well. Now, I used to work for a company called Gilat/Spacenet that provided satellite internet service all over the world, so I had to snoop a little. Sure enough, they were using the Skystar Advantage system, something I had personally worked on. Of course, I knew it was used all over the world, but to actually see it in use, in this remote corner of Chile left me with a very good feeling.
 Puerto Ibanez Rodeo Arena |
 Library on Wheels |
From Puerto Ibañez we took a ferry to Chile Chico (lots of ferry rides in a part of the country with lakes and rivers and very few roads).There is a gold mine near the town and the miners take up a lot of the available rooms. All the "official" hotels and hospedajes were full, so we checked out two houses where people rented out rooms. Neither was too appealing to us so we kept walking. I saw a sign for camping (in someone's back yard) and the señora happened to be outside. I asked her if she had a room to rent because while we were prepared to camp, having a roof over your head is more comfortable. She say's, "it's possible", I laugh and reply, "I think anything's possible given enough time and money" (something we often say at work). She must have liked my response, because sure enough, she moved her sons to her room for the night and we slept in their room. She was a very warm, friendly woman and we paid about $12 for a very nice room in a clean, well kept house.
Is this the first time I have mentioned money in my e-mails? Well, let me tell you, Chile is expensive compared to anywhere else in Latin America. We usually pay about $20 for a room with shared bath. That's not so much, you say. Yes, but food is incredibly expensive. About the cheapest meal you an eat out, say a 1/4 chicken and french fries costs about $7. Usually, for dinner, we are paying about $20. But, you'll see a full acounting at the end of the trip!