Fjords, Ferries and Chiloe Island

The last part of the famed Carretera Austral road, isn't in fact a road. The land breaks up into a series of magnificently carved fjords, so the road takes to the waves.   We loved the stunningly beautiful, privately owned Pumelin park. What an amazing way to spend your millions (if you have them, of course) protecting such a unique and pristine place, then allowing everyone to enjoy it. Two ferries of 45 minutes and then 4 hours with a 10km drive between them gave us lots of opportunities to enjoy the views. We spent the night near the waters edge near the small town of Hornopiron before a couple of hours drive to the next ferry the following morning to near the city of Puerto Montt. It felt very strange to be driving through a big city, we've loved driving the Carretera Austral. The most remote, southerly section definitely was our favourite part.             We turned Southwards again to head to Chile's largest island: Chiloe taking, of course, another ferry. Famed for its rainy weather, mythology and wooden churches. Our first night was spent on a wild, windswept Pacific beach tucked behind the dunes. In the morning we woke to rolling fog and some confused cows staring at us from the beach.   
We continued South to the main town of Castro, to be honest the scenery was rather disappointing. We've loved wild remote Patagonia so much and hoped for something similar in Chiloe but it was more built up, deforested and mostly agricultural land. Maybe we should have gone to the far south, where there is another private protected park.
The interior of Castro's UNESCO heritage church was made completely of native wood, beautifully simple. The outside was just bizarre though, painted lemon yellow with a violet roof and trim, quite something! It was also constructed of sheets of iron made to look like stone. Some of the smaller churches we had seen throughout the island were far more attractively made of wooden shingles.
        A small shingle church out in the countryside. We spent a couple of hours that afternoon exploring the tiny back roads of the nearby Rilun Peninsula looking for a spot to boondock. On one tiny wiggly track we came across a beautiful little eco hotel overlooking a bay, charmed we asked to have a look around. We continued on and after executing some impossibly tight u-turns whenever the road ran into the sea and someone's house, we gave up on the boondocking and returned to town to look for a campsite. 
Although Steve seems to have lost years on this trip, I think he looks years younger than when he stopped working 20 months ago, he turned 50 in Chiloe. Unfortunately over the last few days he has been feeling decades older, after causing his hip joint to become inflamed by overexerting himself in Pumelin. The thought of spending his birthday as we'd planned: parked up in a national park in the rain, when he couldn't hike, didn't excite him. So it was back to the sweet Hotel Parque Quilquico we found the day before, for his birthday treat. It ticked all the usual boxes: gorgeous views, gourmet food, huge beds, a pool and some things that would have been less important for us in a nice hotel a few years ago: space from each other and a bath! Even better to go with the delicious meal was a surprise bottle of champagne that Steve's brother-in-law and sister sent for his birthday.  
        
Many of Chiloe's dishes take advantage of the abundant seafoods found in their waters. Steve had read about curanto, a hearty shellfish stew flavoured with pork cooked either in a clay pot or dug pit, Polynesian style and was keen to try it out. We drove to the fishing village of Quemchi and found a sweet wooden restaurant that served it. The girls and I chickened out and opted for fish instead but Steve said it was tasty enough with some of the biggest shellfish he had seen, and massive dumplings that looked like hamburgers. Interesting but not something he would order twice.
       
It was time to leave Chiloe, back on the ferry again, for the Chilean Lake District. We got some stunning views of the volcanoes and lakes as we drove nearer. Volcan Osorno, is shaped like a children's picture of a volcano, a perfect cone topped with snow. We camped up on a black sandy volcanic beach next to the crystal, clear Lagos Todas Los Santos. We lined up the truck perfectly and cleaned the filthy mud-splattered back window, so we would get the perfect morning view of the sunrise over the volcano. One of the things I love about our nomadic lifestyle is the different views we get every morning from bed, it's a priceless perk. Unfortunately we awoke to low cloud and drizzle, we wouldn't have believed there was a volcano up there, if we hadn't seen it the day before. Luckily Steve's hip was slowly recovering, so he was back on his feet for a few gentle strolls to a nearby waterfall. Optimistically, we decided to spend the night near to the ski lift, just below the snow line on the volcano. We hoped the cloud would lift sometime during the afternoon. It was a cold and very windy night at 3am the truck started to seriously shake as the wind got up and changed directions. We decided to head down to a less exposed spot, although there was a multitude of tight hairpin bends the road was at least tar. I am always impressed with the girls on the few occasions we have had to move in the middle of the night. They woke, crawled into the freezing cold cab, strapped into their car seats and let me bundle their duvets around them without a word complaint. We found a more sheltered spot amongst the trees as the rain started lashing down. There were no views that morning just more rain but at least we didn't get blown off the volcano during the night.
           

Up the Sunny Carretera Austral

We have pretty much completed driving the Carretera Austral from South to North, a journey of more than 1000kms and it has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world.  In many parts the pristine wilderness is stunning with valleys, glacier topped mountains, gushing rivers, crystal clear lakes and fjords.  The drive was made more spectacular as the week wore on the sun came out so we could enjoy the wonderful views.

In many parts the road is rough but some parts are tarred and shortly the whole length of it will be tarred. Most of this part of Chile has only really been populated for a hundred years but development is coming.  There is an increase in tourism and plans to dam some of the rivers.  If these plans go ahead it will forever change this wonderful place, and not for the better.  

As we left our camp by the mighty Rio Baker, Gilly and I both commented how much more "developed"this part of the road seemed to be compared to further south.  Mind you "developed" was very relative.  What had happened is that the gravel road had changed to almost double track from single and we did actually pass the odd car or house.  Mind you public transport was still scarce so during the week we gave a number of lifts to hitchhikers including a young women who lived in Prague.


We arrived in the small village of Rio Tranquilo which is set on a lake famous for its marble caves.  When the sun shines the glacier water sets off the caves wonderfully.  There was only a bit of sun when we arrived but we still decided to go and booked a trip for after lunch.  Over lunch the wind picked up so it was a pretty choppy ride out there.  Although we did not get to see the caves in all their glory in brilliant sunlight they still made for an impressive sight.





Continuing up the road the next highlight was the basalt spires near Cerro Castillo.  Unfortunately the weather still was not playing ball so we only got to see glimpses through the clouds.  On arriving in Cerro Castillo the road turned to tar.  The first tar we had seen for 1,000kms since before the Chilean border.  On a quick, inspection of the truck the gravel road had taken its toll.  The front disc brake cover had broken again but more importantly the front shock absorber had broken loose.  We decided to push on to the largest town on the road, Coihaique to see if we could get some repairs done.


As we approached Coihaique the scenery changed again.  The mountains became less imposing and instead the scenery opened to green hilly pasture with large fat healthy cows everywhere.  The town of Coihaique came as quite a shock after been out in the wilds.  It was a bustling metropolis of 50,000 people and had all the things we needed to continue our trip.  Following a recommendation from our friend John we found a good welder in town.  He quickly and inexpensively welded both the shock absorber and the disc brake cover and I refitted them back on the truck.  Let's hope they hold.


As we did most nights along this road we found somewhere to camp either by a river or by a lake.  Nearly always these came with spectacular views and were wonderfully tranquil.  The weather was also changing and the sky's were clearing so we could enjoy the views even more.  





We also reconnected with our hunter gatherer roots.  I was given the task of the hunter and sent out to catch food from the river.  Usually this did not result in anything but one evening Gilly noticed that the fish had started jumping and I was sent out again. Luckily I landed a trout big enough for 2 to eat.  Alisha and Lucy had already gone to bed but with the excitement were soon up and helping out in the river in their nighties and wellies.  I never did catch that second trout we needed so portions were pretty small for dinner!


The girls were the gatherers and collected tubs full of wild blackberries that we enjoyed in a number of desserts and smoothies.  Mind you Alisha and Lucy seemed to eat more than they put in the tub.




The tar did not last and we were soon back on the gravel road.  One section of road was been worked on and was closed every day between 1pm and 5pm.  In part this was so they could blast away at the cliffs to widen the road.  So that particular morning we set off early so we could make it to Parque Nacional Queulat before the road closed.  The evening before had been glorious but that morning it was close to freezing and a heavy mist hung over the rivers and the lakes.  It was still misty at 11am when we stopped to do a walk in "the Enchanted  Forest".  The vegetation had changed again and was now a dense forest of ferns, trees and fuchsias.  It gets very wet in this part with 4m of rain during the year.  The walk was wet but wonderful and felt very Tolkienesque.  As we climbed the mist began to clear to reveal a wonderful glacier set against a cobalt blue sky.






We only just made it to our nights camp at the National Park before they closed the road and then set off on another walk to see another glacier, this one hanging off the cliff edge.





The following days saw us have fantastic weather and the scenery was magnificent and a feast for the eyes. Again in the morning it was misty allowing us just peaks of what was to come but by mid morning the most would clear to reveal a treasure trove of views.



We spent a couple of days in the verdant and pristine Parque Pumalin.  This is not a National Park as such but is owned by Doug Tompkins, the husband of Kris Tompkins who owns Parque Patagonia.  Doug bought large swathes of land the size of Rhode Island and has run them as a large conservation project.  This has been somewhat controversial with the Chilean people but seems now to be accepted.  Eventually it will be handed over to the Chilean government to be run as a National Park.  For now it's free for the public to use with some lovely camping areas.  The scenery had changed yet again with deep forest and ferns.  There was also some immaculate grassy areas that made you feel as though you were on the grounds of an English stately home.  Then as a backdrop there were mountains with sparkling glacial snow on them.


We spent two nights in the park, one on the Southern section and one in the North.  In between we stopped in the village of Chaiten.  In 2008 the nearby volcano had unexpectedly erupted and devastated the village but it is now slowly recovering.  We could see the volcano still slightly smoking from the town.  We could not go much further North as the road ran out and the only way out from here was by ferry.  But first we camped one last night in the Northern section of the park.  From our campsite we had the most magnificent view of another snow capped mountain (no, we don't get sick of seeing them).  But as the afternoon wore on the breeze picked up and lifted the volcanic ash that was lying around up.  And just like that the mountain faded into the cloud and just as our journey up the road was coming to an end so were the views.  But the memories of this special road will last much longer.



To the End of the Road

Ushuaia at the bottom tip of South America might call itself "Fin del Mundo" but where we've been for the last few days has felt even more the like the "End of the World". 
The Carretera Austral runs 1257km down Chile between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. The far end at the small town of Villa O'Higgins is 600km north of the bottom of Chile but after that the road runs into unpassable mountains, glaciers and fjords. If you want to go south to the towns of Peurto Natales and Punta Arenas you have to go through Argentina. Of course it is the remoteness as well as its stunning scenery that make it so attractive.
After our mammoth 3 days of trekking in El Chalten, we had a day relaxing, doing jobs and hanging out with www.twogypsiesandaprincess.com before hitting the Ruta 40 north again. The scenery was very dry and desolate with very few people. The famed epic road-trip route is now nearly all tarred. We had heard that the border crossing at Paso Roballos was very beautiful, so we headed off the asphalt and onto a tiny gravel track that wiggled its way through first semi-desert and then green pastures backed by snowy peaks. We didn't see the need to pull far off the road that night, as only one vehicle passed us the whole time. At the border post only one of the amiable Argentinian guards had bothered to put on his uniform, the others just ambled through to process our passports from the kitchen next door. Unfortunately their Chilean counterpart a few kilometres on had let the effect of his isolation go the opposite way. As he had less than a handful of people to process every day he was absolutely sure he was going to do it properly. He didn't have a clipboard but he should have!  He was insistent that he needed to have the children's birth certificates, even though both their parents were present. Eventually we found them in a stack of documents we haven't needed so far on this trip. He confiscated the usual vegetables and fruit, we've learnt to have a sacrificial pile of a potato and a couple of manky carrots to hand to keep Chilean customs happy, while stashing away the herbs, ginger and spices which are harder to replace. He then gave Steve a quick lecture about food hygiene and insisted he put the butter in the fridge, admirable apart from the daytime high around here is about 12°C. 
 
 
    You wouldn't believe this track went to an international border post: Park Patagonia just the other side of the pass is owned by Kris Tompkins, the former CEO of Patagonia clothing. She and her husband have bought huge swathes of Patagonia and have rehabilitated the land of former run down sheep estancias. Removing fences and non-endemic plants, allowing it to return to its natural state. The park is an important wildlife corridor between two other national parks. They have donated two other national parks further north back to the Chilean people and have another far bigger one donated as an NGO. It is so impressive what they have done here to return this unique and beautiful environment back to its original state and then opened it up for everyone to enjoy.  The scenery was stunning with snow capped peaks, tumbling rivers and lots of guanacos. We found a pretty camping spot tucked down out of the wind in a little glen. Exiting the park we hit the Carreterra Austral and turned south to get to the bottom of the road. The road certainly lived up to its reputation as we passed through Lenga forests, high mountains and turquoise lakes. If Bilbo Baggins had stepped out of the woods, he wouldn't have looked out of place. We had heard about the problem with the lack of transport, in fact any sort of vehicles, in this region so we picked up some hitch-hikers just outside Cochrane. The student couple from Santiago were very happy to get a lift as they had been waiting for two days already.   
Caleta Tortel is a small fishing, wood-cutting village built entirely on boardwalks at the edge of a huge fjord. The road in stops in a communal car park and after that its all on foot on the boardwalks above the sea on the steep slopes. The rain was lashing down and the clouds were low, so we didn't get to experience the full beauty of the place. But we did get to snuggle down in one of the wooden huts for a salmon dinner. It was quite a strange experience wandering around the deserted village, all the sensible locals were inside out of the rain, and getting lost along the maze of boardwalks.
The next morning we still weren't decided if we were going to go all the way to Villa O'Higgins at the end of the road. The rain had been lashing down all night and we were worried about the state of the gravel roads, we needn't have worried as although they were single track they had been well made. Waterfalls were everywhere, tumbling down the mountains to swollen rivers and lakes. We arrived at the ferry at Puerto Yungay just as the ferry was about to depart, so we took it as a sign and decided to continue on. We crossed the free 45 minute fjord crossing with 7 long distance cyclists and no one else. We have seen lots of these hardly souls over the last few days, we are so impressed with their tenacity and cheerfulness even in the pouring rain. 
It was three more hours to Villa O'Higgins, a tiny town of just 500. It really did feel like the ends of the earth. We still had 8 more kilometres to the true end a ferry on another fjord, so off we set. Perhaps not the wisest move in such a big truck as the largest thing the ferry takes is bicycles but we made its safely there and back along the track between the bottom of the cliff and the fjord below. 
Back in "town" for school we were approached by a couple of European travellers asking desperately for a lift. They had got stuck not just because of extreme lack of transport but also because they had walked and taken the ferry in from El Chalten in Argentina and there was no bank in Villa O'Higgins. We'd actually been told to look out for one of them Jeff by Marissa and Michael (gypsies and a princess) in El Chalten, as they knew him and had dropped him at the ferry at the other end. We said we were happy to take them north but we were going to stop just 10kms away for the night next to a lake, before we headed on. They were a sweet, young pair and we managed to squeeze everyone in out of the persistent rain for salmon, chat and wine before Hanna slept in the cab and Jeff in his tent.  The dripping woods in the swirling mists made for an atmospheric drive over a few passes. We crossed back over the fjord on the ferry and made our way back past the town of Cochrane as the sun came out at last. We had been there just 3 days before but it felt far longer. We felt the round trip of 450km was definitely worth it, as the scenery was gorgeous and sense of remoteness was complete. A few kilometres north the sun came out at last and we found a pretty spot next to the unbelievably turquoise Rio Baker.