Bäck again in Chile on the Carretera Austral

National and other parks

After a good nights sleep next to two other overlanders at the local YPF gas station and stocked up with medialunas from the local bakery, we continued our way up north. It was quite a long way that we wanted to cover that day, almost until the chilean border. There are a lot of really cool things to see here in Argentina but we both agreed that we cannot visit every place if we really want to make it to Alaska. So we skipped the famous cave with ancient hand paintings and decided to just make a mid day short hike at the parque patagonia. This protected area is not a national park. It is private property that is being marketed as if it is a national park. in their brochure it is described as: „This park is the result of the collective dream of developing an economic model where wildlife and people thrive as their natural ecosystems recover“. Sounds to me like a business model based on nature, I am fine as long as nature is protected by it. The funny thing is, that we did not have to pay any entrance. And to add to the confusion this private „parque Patagonia“ is right next to „Parque National Patagonia“ and the „parque Provincial cueva las manos“ is within the private „Parque Patagonia“. Also you find on the chilenien side another “Parque National Patagonia“, just that this one belongs to Chile and not to Argentina. Anyone not confused yet? We were in the private „Parque Patagonia“ and did the hike that was called „earth of colors“…. and they did not exaggerate here. At one point it looked like we were within a classical ice cream jar, with bright yellow, red and brown right next to each other. It was pretty impressive, although we were almost blown away by the strong wind that was blowing during that little hike. On every long day of driving we try to at least do a little hike to keep moving during the days that we spent mostly in the van. After a short shopping stop in Perito Moreno (the town, not the glacier and not the national park (they really try to confuse you with names here (almost like I try to confuse you now with brackets within brackets))) we found a beautiful camp spot in a national park. I am not joking, but this was AGAIN the national park Patagonia, just a different part of it. It really looked like an old farm, they had a little fair in two rooms, where locals sold local products on four stalls and we bought two hand made alfajores, that were incredibly tasty. The way to the camp ground was very narrow for Rosi, but we managed and enjoyed a tasty beer overlooking Lago Argentina and seeing the Andes after a long day of driving.

Boarder control at the solar eclipse

The rangers had already told us about the solar eclipse the next day, but we wanted to make it to Chile as fast as possible, so we just passed through the tiny border village on the Argentinien side, had a very fast border control and than we got busted on the Chilenean side of the border. We knew that it is prohibited to bring fruits, vegetables  & honey into Chile, which is mainly due to a specific fruit fly that Chile wants to prevent to enter their country. So we prepared the best way we could and ate all our fruits, froze the pumpkin we still had and hide our garlic and ginger as deep as we could. On the form I marked „I did NOT bring any plant or animal based products into the country“. The immigration worked fine and the civil servant even spoke a few words german. Normally than they look into the van let us open a few cabinets and let us pass, but not this time. As soon as the lady of customs found products in our fridge she told me, that I did not fill out the form right and all of this was plant based. I was surprised but obiviously nodded and asked what to do. I had to fill out the form again and mark that „I DID bring plant or animal based products into the country“ and than she went all in. We had to open every cabinet and every bag, even the hood of Rosi I had to open. She took our dry lentils, our frozen pumpkin, our firewood and told Linda to eat all the raisins we have left, but she did not find the garlic and the ginger. She educated me fiercely, that I ALWAYS have to mark that I bring plant based products, since even clothes of wool or leather are animal or plant based and than the customs agent will decide if I am allowed to keep it or not. But NEVER bring anything fresh. After we packed everything that was left back into Rosi, she let us pass. I felt weirdly violated after this boarder crossing and Linda was sure that the lady was just keen on a fresh lentil soup. So there we were back in chile and needed to go shopping straight away in the beautiful town of Chile Chico. It felt a little like being in the USA of the fifties. Everything was small and organised with Chilenean flags everywhere. We went shopping for some fresh fruits and vegetables, local honey (it turned out to be the best honey we ever had), some stuff at the local hardware shop, Chilenean sim cards and fresh water at the local gas station. For every errand we drove along the only main road of the little town back and fourth, so pretty much everyone had seen us. Next to the supermarket there were a few Chileneans that gave us the special glasses so we could also have a look at the solar eclipse which was pretty cool. We missed the part of the full ring, but we at least had a glimpse at the moon in front of the sun.

Carretera Austral

After being fully stocked up we started our way in the direction of the famous highway number 7, the carretera austral. Dictator Pinochet decided that this road needs to be built to connect the more rural communities in the south of Chile. But to get there we still had 120 km dirt road in front of us. The dirt road was in pretty god condition and the views were breathtaking. The road went along the Lago Argentina which is named Lago General Carrera on the Chilenean side. It went high up and than down again until you almost touch the water. Always with a backdrop of the Andes covered in snow. It is hard to describe but we were both fascinated and it showed again that on this trip it is essential to value what you see while driving. We spent so much time on the road and it sounds cliche, but the way is more important than the destination. Our goal for the night was to find a wind sheltered spot. We talked to a local farmer, who was woodworking with a chainsaw and 5 dogs around him wearing a typical gaucho hat. He was grumpy at first, but when I asked in spanish, he let us stay on a small wind sheltered stretch next to the road for the night. 

After 40 more kilometers dirt road we turned right and saw the first big sign that we finally made it to the Carretera Austral. Scenery did not change and the road also did not get better, but the views just stayed amazing. We just adjusted our travel speed and enjoyed the scenery. In the afternoon we had made it to Villa Cerro Castillo in the shadow of the mountain with the same name. Next morning we decided to do a little hike that we found on Komoot and sstill got the chance to see ancient painted hands. It was a beautiful little hike and we did not meet anyone. Only the local police was interested in us…. but more in our trip than us. The ancient hand paintings were impressive. It just feels different when you imagine that someone held his or her hand at the same spot where we did it and than spat the painting to make a negative painting of their hand. These paintings are found all over the region and the true meaning is not yet discovered. From there we made our way north and the valley suddenly opened up and more people were on the streets, also the street was paved again and you saw more fields and cows and all in all it really seemed like the Allgäu in Germany. In the bigger town of Cohaique we went shopping and drove further north and the village like structures became fewer again. We found again an incredibly beautiful sleeping spot, not even a kilometer off the main road. In the green grass, next to a river with views on the surrounding mountains and new born lambs running around Rosi.

Amazing hike to the Ventisquerro Colgante

The next morning we started earlier, because we had planned a few stops. The first one (a highly recommended cafe) was closed so we continued to the National Parque Queulat. There we made a three hour hike to the view point of Ventisquero Colgante. In my opinion the toothpaste-like name is not doing it justice. The Ventisquero Colgante is a glacier that is hanging over a huge cliff. Time by time pieces fall off and you constantly see multiple waterfalls coming out of the glacier. This alone would be mind blowing. But after hiking 1,5 hours through lush green forrest with humming birds around you, it is just breath taking when you see the glacier for the first time through the green leaves of the jungle around you. Linda and me were amazed by the thick and green forest, since we have not seen such a forest so far on this trip. I did not even know that this glacier exists, but the view of it could as well be the background in a movie. After hiking down we found a 10 cm long crack in our windshield, which must have come from a stone of the cars on the long dirt road. We marked it from the inside with a pen to analyse if it gets bigger. Than we continued to drive north, since we wanted to make it as far as possible to reach a ferry the next day. On the way we passed through a strip of land that looks completely different than everything else we have seen on the Carretera Austral. It was a wasteland. All the trees were gone, but not chopped off, because you could not see any tree stump. Also the road was gone in that sector. Back when we had wifi, we found out, that this was due to a devastating avalanche that had wiped out half the village Villa Santa Luca in 2017. The screenshot of google maps shows how much force this avalanche had and hoe big the area is. Also it was crazy to see that neither nature nor the town had recovered from this avalanche even though it was over 6 years ago. 

After this the views change and we could see multiple vulcanos all the time. They were all snow covered which made them even more impressive and when we finally arrived in the village of Chaiten we had arrived multiple things. Firstly we had seen these volcanoes in the amazing golden light of the sunset, secondly we had finished our part of the Carretera Austral and thirdly, we had made it to the city from where we will take the ferry the next day to the island of Chiloe!