The Carretera Austral - Part Two - Aysén
This post covers the second half of our journey down the Carretera Austral -- through the region of Aysén.
On February 1st, after spending a thoroughly dreary evening and night on a lonely spit of land, we packed up and eagerly headed south, hopeful to be somewhere drier. We also hoped to come back to visit PN Queulat the next week.
Every bridge in Chile, no matter how large or small, had a sign with its name on it. Some were named after people, places, nearby items of interest. A handful of the hundreds of bridges we crossed were called Puente sin Nombre -- a bridge without a name. Which seemed odd -- the transportation department spent the money to make a sign for it, why not name it?
We passed through several construction closures with extended wait times. After too short a time, the pavement ended and the road progressively got worse and worse the further we went. The silverware in the drawer in the back sang us a neverending song and our skeletons jangled with a surprising intensity.
We came upon a mountain pass that was clouded in mist and it began to rain. The road was very steep -- very washboarded -- and with many switchbacks. We passed people cycling both on the way up and back down and felt very sorry for them.
The mountains had come alive with the rain -- it collected and cascaded in thin ribbons down the mountainsides creating dozens of ephemeral waterfalls. We admired them whilst sitting at a construction stop.
We drove for many hours over this awful road and with every kilometer the hope that we would return to PN Queulat got further and further away.
On the other side of the pass the rain slowly petered out and the landscape changed -- from lush and green, to dry, and somewhat brown.
We passed through the city of Coyhaique, the largest city in Aysén. The road turned back to pavement! We were planning on coming back here in a few weeks to get a PCR test to enter Argentina.
We passed many more cyclists on the road battling the fierce crosswind. We even passed a family with a little girl on a tiny bike -- maybe 10, complete with miniature panniers. I felt awful for the kid -- they probably had no idea what their parents asked them to do!
We stopped at a roadside waterfall called Cascada La Virgen, complete with a shrine to the virgin Mary. The sun peeped out for a second when I took the shot.
We continued on and the landscape started to become more dramatic -- the mythic Patagonia I had read about. And cows. Lots of cows.
Eventually we came to the last pass before reaching Villa Cerro Castillo, the small town at the base of Cerro Castillo and the Parque Nacional of the same name. There was a beautiful overlook of the valley. It had taken us about 6 hours to get here, 6 hours that felt like an eternity.
We found a small campground and cafe called Arbolito where we paid 10,000 pesos to stay the night. There was hot water (although only available in 3 minute increments), and clean bathrooms. The shower building even had a little window that opened up to frame a view of the Cerro Castillo massif. Also, delicious kuchen. The woman enunciated so clearly I understood everything she said to me! We stayed in a goat pasture based on the amount of shit pellets everywhere but I didn't see any goats.
We cooked dinner in very strong wind and prepared for our hike up to the Laguna Cerro Castillo the next day, while the sky provided some evening entertainment.
Spectacular lenticular clouds formed in the matter of a few hours -- and the slowly setting sun set them ablaze.
Soft pink and purple hues were the closing act.
The next morning we headed for the private trailhead to Cerro Castillo. This would cut the mileage by 12km, and CONAF would still receive our entrance fees. The cost of this hike was extraordinary -- 18,000 per person (5,000 going to the private landowner over which we would cross his land first, and the rest going to CONAF). That's about $45 USD for a 10 mile hike, or $4.50 per mile!
We had to park at an area for non 4x4 vehicles and walk about an extra mile to get to the trailhead. After traversing the hill we realized we could have driven it just fine.
We arrived at the place to pay and got in line. There were two large groups in front of us and as we checked in they had already proceeded to the trail. Once we had filled everything out we set out, eager to see what I felt was our first big mountain hike of the trip.
The first part of the trail was immediately steep -- a slap in the face, a cold glass of water, a firm backhand -- at 8am in the morning -- to wake us up. It climbed steadily for about 500 feet of gain before leveling off and passing through some cow pastures. We had already passed everyone who we met at the trailhead.
It climbed another 2000 feet or so before we passed the baños and the ranger who lives up there full time to prevent people from hiking the trail without paying. We stopped and chatted with him for 15 minutes -- and I would have made the course record had we not stopped! We passed the remaining people on the trail -- and the only person ahead of us on his way back down.
After the ranger, we had about 30 minutes more of climbing and the final 1200 feet to the overlook. It got pretty steep but the rocks on the trail were of a good size and not too slippery.
Finally -- we made it up to the mirador (which we had all to ourselves) and the spectacular massif of Cerro Castillo loomed above us, with the deep turquoise laguna below. It was cold and windy, but the views were crystal clear.
We admired and had a snack, then wandered down to a lower overlook and watched the clouds come in and hide the peak.
We felt very fortunate we got to see it on a clear day totally unclouded. We looked for the last time -- the peak becoming more cloudy by the minute -- and headed back down.
We enjoyed the view on top of the world now that we were facing the valley and began passing countless people on their way up. We must have been asked how much longer at least 20 times. We studied the hikers -- there were people of all ages and fitness levels enthusiastically attempting the hike, carrying no food and little water. We came across one girl who asked us where the next water source was -- and we told her in about an hour up another 1500 feet. She had only an 8 oz bottle that was empty -- so we filled up her bottle with our water and she continued on.
By the time we had made it back down the mountain had completely clouded over. -- we thanked our lucky stars. We also saw these unique looking birds in the grass at the trailhead.
And then an armadillo crossing the road! Maybe we saw one in Texas but I don't remember. This guy got scared when I approached and simply hunkered down like he is in the picture and waited for me to pass.
I wanted to do another hike in the park, Laguna Duff, but the weather was supposed to be rainy the next day so we decided to head south and come back later.
We drove maybe three hours south to Puerto Rio Tranquilo. The road turned back to gravel almost immediately outside Villa Cerro Castillo and would remain unpaved for the remainder of the Carretera Austral. Goodbye pavement, I hardly knew thee! Transit times took so much longer than forecasted because google maps didn't know the average speed achievable down here.
We didn't realize it at the time, but as we drove, a fine dust began to accumulate on all horizontal surfaces inside of the vehicle. We realized after a day of driving in these conditions that our sleeping bags were all dusty and from then on we drove with the windows up -- in our sometimes stifling un-air-conditioned car!
We finally made it to town and headed to Rincon Austral -- a campsite in someone's backyard with excellent hot showers (unlimited water!), clean bathrooms, a really friendly older gentlemen who helped me have a conversation with him by speaking clearly and gesturing, and a dog named Rocky. The free wi-fi at the campsite was the first time we had internet since our brief visits to Chaiten several days earlier.
The next morning we left to try and book a tour for a glacier hike that we had read about. We tried one place -- that no longer existed -- and tried another -- and it wasn't open. We eventually parked outside of El Puesto Expediciones and waited for them to open (google said 8:30; the front door said 9; the girl working next door said around 10). Eventually around 9:45 someone showed up and we paid a deposit (180,000 pesos total) and reserved a spot for the next week.
We left town and continued our journey south, passing a lot of hitchhikers and cyclists (who were becoming more numerous), a beautiful orange bridge and a strikingly blue river. We parked while Vitali called Avianca to complain about our denied refund and I walked down a dirt road that seemed to hold the promise of a beautiful view.
And what a view it did. Big mountains and glaciers were just peeking out of the low-level clouds.
Our issue with Avianca unresolved -- we continued south.
We started to see more big mountains, draped in their mountain finery.
After about three hours we reached Parque Nacional Patagonia -- a very new national park, which had reservations online but when we got there they told us they didn't have internet, so reservations were not required.
The park was created with land donated by Douglas Tompkins. His story is a very interesting one -- he was co-founder of The North Face and Esprit; later in his life he became a conservationist and gradually acquired over 2 million acres of land in Chile and Argentina, becoming among the largest private-land owners in the world.
In 1994, he had acquired a tract slated for logging and donated it to the Chilean government -- with the requirement that the entire surrounding area was turned into a national park -- and the area went on to become Corcovado National Park -- which we had visited in the last post.
In 2017, his foundation donated over 800,000 acres along the Carretera Austral that would later become Parque Pumalin -- which we had also visited in the last post.
In 2018, his foundation donated over 640,000 acres which went on to become Parque Patagonia, where we now were.
We arrived in Valle Chacabuco and checked in with the Visitor Center, a handsome building clad in local stone. All the buildings were new, beautifully designed, and well crafted.
We paid 8,000 pesos to enter the park and 48,000 pesos to stay in the park for three nights. We were planning on staying in the closest campground to the entrance that night but the ranger told us that it wasn't suitable for vans -- all the sites were walk-in -- so we had to drive another hour out to Valle Alto, where the sites had parking adjacent.
We were pretty tired but climbed back in to Tiny for another hour on gravel road. At least this road wasn't as washboarded as the highway.
Eventually we came to the campground, nestled in a beautiful valley unlike any we had seen before. There was a range in one direction, and a lonely mountain in the other.
The campground seemed empty although there were some tents on the other side of the bathrooms and a pop-up shelter in one of the quinchos.
Our quincho was beautiful -- complete with hefty table and benches and a very nice paint job.
And the bathrooms -- they were unbelievable!!! They had solar heated showers, which is better than nothing! On the days we were there we had one warm shower and two that were not cold, but not warm.
The first night we had a beautiful sunset on the range in front of our campsite.
In the morning we drove a few kilometers from the campground towards the trailhead for the Sendero Lago Chico y Mirador Douglas Tompkins. There was a steep hill with loose gravel and at the very top a giant divot. Tiny couldn't make it -- so we had to park and walk an extra 1.1 miles (each way) to get to the actual trailhead.
We passed the 2x4 parking area, and then the 4x4 parking area, and then finally reached the trailhead. This was the first trail we had been on, maybe ever, where the trail wasn't worn down to dirt. The grass was just heavily trodden. We took it as a sign that this park was lightly trafficked, an undiscovered gem, and we rejoiced. We would only pass two other people on this trail.
The trail passed over rolling hills for a ways and then we came upon our first view of Lago Chico, a long skinny lake. We descended to the level of the lake and walked through these apparent clouds of shrubbery. They looked liked pillowy hillocks, so soft and rounded you could flop right down on them to nap.
Upon closer inspection... they were dense and spiky bushes -- maybe to keep the guanacos from eating them. Maybe you could nap if you threw down a thick blanket first.
We passed a dead guanaco as we made our way (inexplicably) around the lake, to a nice view on the other side. I was mildly annoyed at having to walk around such a long skinny lake. We would later find all the trails in the park had this same feature -- not only do you go to look at something, you must walk all the way around to appreciate it! I read that Tompkins was involved with the trail design.
We passed by some guanacos who posed for us.
Back almost to the start of the trail we came upon the Mirador Douglas Tompkins, a beautiful view over surrounding lakes.
The next day we took it easy -- only going on a short hike, the Sendero Valle Aviles. This was another 'walk along something and then walk back along the other side' and I was not down with that.
The trail started out at the Casa Piedra campground, another beautifully landscaped parcel with a ranger and restroom building, clad in the same stone as the visitor center area.
Today, the trail was gloriously flat!
We passed the bones of a guanaco and then saw some baby guanacos! They were so cute.
And we made it to an overlook of the Rio Chacabuco, which was a beautiful pastel blue color.
We walked back and headed back to our own camp, did a bunch of laundry, and Vitali went for a run.
The next day we headed back to the Visitor Center and the third campground -- Westwinds, to hike the Lagunas Altas Trail. There were very few trails in all of the national parks we visited in Chile and this park was no exception -- we did all three of the long distance trails available.
We started around 7:45 in the morning, leaving our van at the end of the trail and walking up to the trailhead, about 1km away.
This started out as another lightly trafficked path, first through meadows and forest, before beginning to climb and switchback up a steep hill.
Here is a photo of Vitali Not Feeling It™.
After gaining a shelf we laid eyes on the first of seven lakes. Unfortunately because it was so early we didn't get a full look at the color of the lake, but it was still beautiful.
A few minutes later... I filled up both my memory cards and had to emergency offload onto the laptop! There sure was a nice view while we waited though.
Not Feeling It™, but also inspired by the views.
We continued walking along the shelf and came across multiple other small lakes, ponds, and puddles. We walked all the way around one in the fashion of this park which at the time, I found quite annoying. We could have saved a kilometer by not going around!!!
The hike was recommended to do in the direction we did it -- and we saw why. Even though the way we had come up was steep -- the way down was steeper. As we descended it seemed so long!
We saw those pillow thorny shrubs again and they made a cool pattern from above.
We also snuck up on a guanaco unexpectedly and he looked at us quizzically and proved to be a great model.
We finally made it back to Tiny (only passing 4 people on this hike) and decided to stop at the Visitor Center to see the exhibits we had missed before because the museum was at capacity.
We also saw one of these dudes at the Visitor Center too, a Crested Caracara.
The museum was unexpectedly incredible. Really high quality displays, exhibits, perfect english text, and interactive elements.
It's hard to see in the below photo but the red beads suspended on the strings represent the population of the earth for the past several thousand years -- relatively steady -- and then the last few hundred -- and the exponential explosion of people on our planet. The exhibits on one half of the museum dealt with the repercussions of this fact. The lit squares with animals on them had a lever that you could move back and forth along with dates -- 1940, 1980, 2020, 2040 -- and as you moved the lever the lit squares went out as the species drawn on them went extinct. Between 2020 and 2040 was shocking. Species like the tiger, lion, cheetah, crocodile, and yak. All gone. We fucked it up, bad.
The museum was sobering. Halfway through was a 3D film that reinforced these ideas and had interviews with Douglas Tompkins himself about conservation. At the time of production a few years ago -- Tompkins described humanity as teetering on a cliff -- and we must be able to take a step back. I think we're past the cliff now.
The other half of the museum was dedicated to the wildlife and landscapes of the park, and the exhibits were stunning. Small touches like eyeglasses and table lamps really made the space personal and inviting. The drawers could be opened to look at specific information on the types of animals; the picture frames had screens inside with information on demand; there was even a holographic fire in an indigenous shelter.
And the Architecture! The flooring was end pieces of lumber, beautifully textural and organic. And so much high quality wood trim. Wow.
We left the museum and headed to Cochrane, where we camped in a very tiny yard crammed with 15 tents! We woke up early the next morning to head south towards O'Higgins, the final town along the Carretera Austral, and we had a ferry to catch!
But first -- we had to find gas for our stove in town as we had run out! We eventually did, in a hardware store. Then we headed south, following a beautiful river, the Rio Cochrane.
We passed some goats on the road too.
Once again -- the internet gave us information that differed from reality! The ferry website said something like -- 10:00 - 12:00, 15:00 - 18:00. What does that mean? We supposed there were at least departures at 10, 12, 15, and 18. As we approached Puerto Yungay we saw a sign -- that had a place to display the hours but it was now blank. What does that mean? And then we passed a second sign -- that had different hours than the website!
So we showed up to the dock and people were actively turning around and backing on to the ferry. So we did the same. Two more cars came in and the ferry departed. It was something like 10:45 so we didn't know what the heck the schedule meant. This ferry was free.
As usual, great views from the barcaza. After we got on we realized we didn't ask if this was going to Rio Bravo or to Tortel. Luckily, we were on the right boat.
The ferry crossing took maybe 40 minutes and then we unloaded and continued south towards our final destination. We pulled in to a campground in O'Higgins that afternoon and it became overcast, very windy, and started to rain.
In the morning we set out early to beat the crowd and make it back to the ferry in time. Our first stop -- the Fin de la Carretera Austral. We had made it to the end! 1,247 kilometers of "highway" in our Furgo Machine!
Everyone was still asleep so we got our nice picture with the sign and Tiny, and then headed back north. We stopped at a really nice overlook of a glacier that had a beautiful shade structure built too.
It was about this time we saw that Argentina removed the PCR requirement to enter the country if you had been in a bordering country for at least 14 days. Since we no longer needed to go to Coyhaique, we also scrapped driving the awful road back to PN Queulat and to Laguna Duff. Oh well, next time.
We stopped to do a hike called the Sendero Alta Vista. The trailhead was at another beautiful suspension bridge.
It was a nice hike where we both accidentally stepped on a frog (but they seemed okay and hopped away), and passed countless others sitting on the trail as we walked over them.
We hiked to two viewpoints. The first to an overlook of a glacier.
And then past two lakes and then up to an overlook of the lakes we had just passed and larger lakes below and beyond.
The clouds provided very nice lighting.
It was a nice short hike. We made it back to the trailhead then headed back north to catch the ferry back to Puerto Yungay.
But first... I wanted to stop at a few waterfalls we had seen on the way in. We thought we knew where they were but we didn't see them as we drove north -- so we doubled back... and missed them again. So we kept going.
Eventually we found them, further up the road than we thought.
I had Vitali pull over on the side of the road so I could photograph the two below...
...and what looked like solid gravel was actually really soft piles of it... which we immediately became stuck in. It was only one rear wheel though so I started digging out, putting some rocks under, and finally, pushing Tiny while Vitali hit the gas.
Phew! Self-rescue! Woohoo!
We finally made it to the port around 2:15 and got in line. We counted the cars -- we were number 15 in line... and we were pretty sure the ferry only held 12 or 13! It seemed like the ferry just ran consistently all day, so we sat and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
A huge amount of motorcycles showed up. Finally -- after about 2.5 hours of waiting the ferry arrived. Based on the time it showed up, we think we finally decoded the hours. It operates continuously from 10:00 to 12:00, then 15:00-18:00. It does NOT operate during the siesta.
So about half the motorcycles got loaded in and we were third in line for the next ferry, and it was getting pretty late. We were worried if that would be the last boat of the day...
But we waited about an hour and the ferry came back, taking the rest of the motorcycles and 12 cars. This was the last boat of the day. We looked up at the poor folks stuck and already backing out and turning around and laughed -- suckers!!!
We disembarked and headed north -- racing against the fading light of the afternoon. The road was awful between O'Higgins and Cochrane -- about 7 hours of driving for 234 kilometers.
We couldn't drive anymore that day and couldn't quite make it to the town so we found a suitable spot off of the highway.
It had a few gravel paths to spots with nice views. We made dinner with the last light of the day and went to sleep.
In the morning we stopped by a roadside waterfall listed on ioverlander. We couldn't see the actual falls but before and after were quite pretty.
We stopped in Cochrane to resupply and check the internet -- since it had been basically nonexistent the last several days.
We passed by Patagonia National Park again and had an opportunity to admire the Rio Cochrane from a different angle.
We drove by the Rio Baker which was an incredible intense turquoise blue. Similar to the blue of a freezer pop, but with more green.
It was warm too, and people were white water rafting. We stopped by the confluence of the Rio Neff and Rio Baker, which was like an artist's palette.
We passed by Lago Bertrand which was almost the same color as the Rio Baker.
And we saw some more beautiful roadside mountains.
And finally made it back to Lago General Carrera. We went back to Rincon Austral where the friendly older gentleman welcomed us back like children he hadn't seen in years and designated Vitali Master Chef.
We had two more things to see before we left Chile -- the Glacier Exploradores in Laguna San Rafael National Park and the Catedral and Capilllas de Marmol, in the Lago General Carrera.
We stopped by the Eco Nativas tour stand that afternoon to reserve a spot the morning after next for the marmol tour.
- - -
We had a vehicle and I hate being trapped in busses so we drove to the meeting point to meet our tour group in the morning (this also saved 10,000 pesos!). We had to meet at the CONAF entrance of the park at 8:20 AM. We left early just in case and caught the sun rising over the stunning mountains.
We made it to the entrance and waited around for our tour group to arrive. A ranger pretty quickly noticed we were orphaned and came over to talk to us (to prevent us from entering the trail illegally). We assured him that yes, we were with a tour. I guess people don't usually drive out here because the parking lot was filled with tour busses and only our van.
Eventually our group showed up and they handed us backpacks with items inside -- boot gaiters, crampons, a bag full of snacks, and a helmet. We already had our own backpacks ready to go so I asked them if we could use ours. They told us no and I asked why, and they said those are the rules. Five minutes later they told us we could use our own packs if we wanted but we had already transferred all of our things...
After they told us the rules of the hike we met the guide that was english speaking and he walked with us at the back and translated things for us. We set out on about a 20 minute brisk hike through forest to the viewpoint of the glacier and Mount San Valentín, the tallest mountain in Patagonia.
We asked the guide if it was always this clear -- and he said no, today is a special day.
We also went by a calafete bush -- which bears berries that taste very similar to blueberries. Our guide and a Chileno told us we had to eat one -- they say if you taste a calafete berry, you will always return to Patagonia. And so we did. They were delicious!
And then we hiked about 30 minutes over rocky terrain... and our first glimpses of ice!
For a ways the ice was covered in rocks and dirt so no need for the crampons.
When the ice became mostly clear of debris we stopped to have a snack and strap up. Our snack box contained a sandwich (mine was gluten free!), an apple, a chocolate bar, and a granola bar. We found the portions plentiful. We struggled with strapping the crampons on correctly and eventually the guide made his way around to us and showed us how to do it correctly.
Before we started walking we had a group lesson on how to ascend and descend very steep ice -- and we all had to demonstrate.
Once the guides were satisfied the chance of people tripping and injuring themselves was minimal -- we were off!
The debris on top of the glacier soon disappeared and we were walking on pure ice.
We passed over several crevasses that we had to JUMP over! It was a little scary. If you fell down, you'd fall quite a ways and then have to be rescued... We watched one lady who made us nervous -- she wouldn't put any weight into her steps to 'bite' the ice and she'd start sliding on inclines...
The shapes of the ice were fantastical and incredible -- influenced by the sun and by water. Any rocks on the surface would warm and then melt a hole straight down into the ice.
The color of blue was incredible -- it varied from a pale baby blue to a deep azure.
The glacier changes every day and there weren't really any ice caves that we could walk around in -- just a few we could look in to or walk into the entrance of.
It was cold on the ice but not too bad, even when we weren't moving.
We stopped for several snack breaks, where instead of eating food that may or may not have been gluten free I mostly took pictures of the ice. So many beautiful gradations of color!
Eventually it was time to start heading back. We passed these blue poles towards the end of the ice -- each pole 2 meters long. The poles on the ground have been removed as the glacier melts, so the picture shows about 8 meters of shrinkage. The guide asked how long do we think it's taken for that much to melt?
Three months. We were all surprised by how fast this beautiful glacier was receding. Great job humans!
We struck up a conversation with a Chileno from Santiago and learned that they have bad, expensive healthcare in Chile too; that the usual workweek is 44 hours; and that Patagonia is normally too expensive for Chilenos to visit but with all the foreign tourists not there due to covid, he couldn't resist!
We made it back to the trailhead and bid our tour group hasta luego -- and headed back to town to pay for the balance of our tour. We stopped at a waterfall along the way.
We went back to the same campground that night, the hot showers were just too good to stay away!
In the morning, we headed over to the beach and to the Eco Nativas stand to wait for our 7:00AM tour. It was a cold morning, and we knew it'd be even colder on the water, so we had on almost everything we owned. When they handed us the ponchos we put those on too.
Pretty quickly the six others in our group joined us and we headed for the boat. I had asked our guide the day before which side of the boat to sit on for better pictures. At first he said it didn't matter but then said if our boat went to Puerto Sanchez to sit on the right.
The first mate and tour guide introduced himself and the captain, gave us a quick introduction about the lake and then we were whisked away!
Wow, was it cold. We sat in as small of a volume as we could -- and waited for the sun to rise and the 15 minute boat ride at speed to end.
Eventually we came upon two abandoned boats, which were neat to look at. But, also littering.
Then we had another 10 minutes in the freezing wind to the caverns of Puerto Sanchez, which our tour guide from the glacier said he preferred. They were pretty neat -- the texture of the marble and intrusive veining was incredible.
The tour took us to a rock shaped like a shark:
And in to a really beautifully veined cave in grey and coppery tones.
All the while the sun was rising and attempting to warm our freezing bodies.
We were shown a cavern with a really interesting fissure.
And went by some incredibly delicate features.
Some of the caves had openings in between the chambers too.
After we had exhausted the Puerto Sanchez caverns we headed over to the more famous Capillas and Catedral de Marmol, and honestly, I didn't know which was which.
We started to see more tour boats out on the water. We were the only boat we saw with ponchos!
We also passed a dog:
And a fish swimming and an elephant drinking:
We were approaching what I had seen photographs of now, and the color of the lake was starting to become more apparent as the sun rose higher into the sky.
And finally we saw it -- the freestanding chunk of marble so often blogged about.
Kayaks were all around the base. We heard if you wanted to get really close to do a kayak tour. We decided not to because we wanted to see more and not struggle with paddling and photographing.
In hindsight, it would have been nice to do a combination -- because I would have liked to spend more time at this geologic feature to photograph the patterning in the marble.
It was exquisite.
We did a drive by and then circled the feature.
And went around another similar one.
It was cool stuff! Literally. By this point, my body was cooled to the point that it was beginning to go numb. Our sightseeing complete, the captain turned us back towards the port and sped back. He really opened up the tiny engine! The boat was slamming into the now pretty high surf from the wind -- and freezing spray was splashing me all the while. Every once in awhile we'd hit one wave and I'd bounce up and slam back down and I could actually feel my spine compressing. So, I sat on the edge of the seat trying not to succumb to hypothermia while also maintaining a posture that prevented me from being jolted.
Fun. After an agonizing 20 minutes we landed, and my brain told my legs to move and they did but I couldn't feel it.
We walked back to the car like penguins, and immediately cranked up the heat. It took me an hour to warm back up! We headed south and then east to Chile Chico, where we would spend the night before our attempt to cross the border.
We stopped at a waterfall first, El Maqui.
And then we stopped at an overlook of the same lake we had just been on -- it was a really big lake! The color was a little less intense over here though.
And finally we stopped by a mirador of a laguna that had a beautiful color. The landscape was beginning to change as we passed from the west to the east side of the mountains, from windward to leeward, and from wet to dry, along with a lot of dead rabbits. We were getting our first glimpse of the landscape of Argentina. Interestingly, half of Lago General Carrera is in Argentina and is called Lago Buenos Aires.
We pulled into Chile Chico for the night and stopped at a cute campground that had an ivy covered reception building and a yard full of chickens.
As a side note -- we had only encountered one American family and several Germans in all of Chile thus far. We would soon see who and what would await us in Argentina.
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