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 Here are a few images from a trip to southern Chile and Argentina in August of 2000. Most of the pictures were taken with a Kodak DC290 digital camera and reduced in size via Adobe Photo Deluxe. A few 35mm shots, and the maps, were scanned on an HP R40. |
Overview Links to related images and additional details are integrated into the following overview text.
The first map indicates where we are in the world, and the progress of the first driving day.Actually, I first flew into Santiago and set out the next day (Sunday) from Rancagua in a doble-cabina 2-wheel-drive pickup. This truck is labeled and marketed by Chevrolet but is actually an Isuzu. It was missing a few things, like a jack and the tool to let down the spare tire. The tires were rather marginal, also. But hey, it was a free loan.
Chilean partner Lelo rode with me to show some property near Temuco, and so it was a bit of a late start. By late afternoon it was raining. Dinner consisted of stuff that I had packed in the truck and by about 2 a.m. I reached Osorno, then camped in the truck in a highway construction site.
Monday involved a run into Puerto Montt in the rain, and a reservation for the ferry to Chaiten that afternoon. Navimag, one of the ferry operators, said that they had no ships headed for places I wanted to go. So that meant taking a Transmarchilay ship. For two hours I scrambled to stock up with provisions, get new mud/snow tires for the rear of the truck, and buy fuel and oil. But when I returned to the Transmarchilay office to buy my ticket, they announced that there was in fact a ship for Puerto Chacabuco, in the Aysén region, the following afternoon. This is what I had asked for earlier in the day, and I was told that there were no such connections. And the Aysén is where I wanted to go. That gave me a little over 24 hours to check out the territory east of Puerto Montt.
On Monday afternoon I took a short visit to the Cochamó area (and nearly getting the truck with its new M/S tires stuck). There are several images associated with this so beware that it might take some time to load the page for Cochamó.Later that evening I went back to Puerto Varas for a room at Merlin's. Merlin's is a restaurant and hotel run by a German chef, Richard, and his German-Chilean wife. I have stayed there a couple of times in the past and I have always felt very much at home, and exceptionally well fed. Unfortunately, they are moving to a new location which will not have the hotel, but I will plan to seek them out for the best cooking in all of Puerto Varas.
Next day, Tuesday, I made my way back to Puerto Montt and got on the Pincoya, the ferry ship. I was the last vehicle to board and we sailed before I was tied in. In fact, we sailed before the advertised sailing time. Welcome to Chile.
The cruise lasted 34 hours. The water sloshed under the ramp like the hiss of a furious sea-dragon, and during the two nights that I spent on the ship, that sound was there constantly to remind me of the depths just a few feet in front of where I was parked.
During most of this segment it rained intermittently, and the temperatures hovered in the forties, with plenty of humidity. The distance from the shores of the hundreds of islands and the ragged mainland, combined with the overcast, prevented any interesting pictures. The port of Chacabuco does not show on the second map but it is near the town of Puerto Aisén (the alternate spelling for Aysén, and the one the CIA uses on their maps). There are some pictures of the area around Lago General Carrera, including Río Ibáñez and other places most affected by the eruption of the Hudson volcano in 1991.The photos also cover the Cerro Castillo range, Puerto Río Tranquilo and the Lago Tranquilo area (associated with that photo here with the huaso and his faithful companion), and sundry other shots of this region which should suggest why it is an objective.
Here are some assorted photos along the Carretera Austral.
Oh, yes, and when I build my lodge thereabouts, do plan to come and stay a while, to fish or hike or ride or whatever.
It was my intent to drive north on the Carretera Austral, on the new pavement along the Río Mañihuales. But the snow was building quickly, and I knew that higher passes would be a bit risky for the marginal tires on the little truck, even though I had chains as a last resort. Certain other modes of transport had no such concerns.
I returned to Coihaique and spent the night, then headed out at a reasonably early hour for Coihaique Alto and into Argentina, near Río Mayo. Then I ran into the same snow storm on the way into Esquel, but the passage of large trucks on the paved roads made it easier than the Chilean Carretera Austral with its mountain passes and narrow gravel roads.
The rest of the journey involved driving through El Bolsón on the way to Bariloche, and then west along Lago Nahuel Huapi, passing through splendid examples of the Valdivian forest. Then at last it was time to cross the frontier one more time, and I drove across the Andes and into Chile, near Osorno.
The following day I spent around Valdivia, and then headed north toward Rancagua again.That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
- Sir Walter Scott
- Now you tell some stories.
- Ahora, cuentas tus historias.
- Ara, relata las tevas historias.
