Exploring the famous Carretera Austral

The Carretera Austral is known throughout South America as the ultimate road trip route.  Communities are small, with the population of the entire 1,2000 km route being only around ~100,000 people.  The road is full of travelers, both domestic and international on bicycles and campervans reminding us of traveling back in Canada.  It is an area of diverse landscapes, beautiful views, glaciers and rainforests.  We enjoyed it but worry that the amount of tourists and lack of facilities and high cost of everything have created issues that may change how people travel this route in the future.  Regardless we are happy that we drove this road now!

February 24^th – Finding Tranquility

Before leaving Santiago de Chile a couple from the Netherlands had gifted us a book highlighting the best things to see and do on the Carretera Austral.  According to the book the drive from Patagonia National Park to Rio Puerto Tranquillo, our next stop for the night, was supposed to be beautiful.  As we had no big plans for the roughly 200 kilometer drive we made sure to stop at every view point the book highlighted.  Unfortunately, every single one seemed to leave us more homesick. 

The area reminded us of the Sunshine Coast

The drive had described as a drive through snowcapped mountains, glacier’s s and pristine wilderness.  It definitely was that, but all it made us think about was drives we had done through, Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia/ Alberta.  We couldn’t stop comparing it to Highway 99 (BC), to Highway 1 (BC/AB) to Highway 93 (AB) or the northern Rockies of Highway 97 (BC) or highway from Anchorage to Valdez within Alaska.  It was an odd drive that seemed to make us proud of the things within our backyard and miss the roads we couldn’t be further away from.  Unfortunately, as we write this from a future, this will become a common theme.

Our camping spot for the night was located in the small community of Rio Puerto Tranquillo which we assumed would be a community that would fill us with tranquility.  Sadly, this is not what we encountered.  The campsite we chose to stay at seemed very unwelcoming, especially when they learned we had a dog.  We would have been concerned that we picked the wrong place to stay for the night if not for the countless reviews of various campground in the community that all seemed be tired of backpackers and overlanders.  Regardless the campground did offer two things we absolutely needed, a shower and laundry service.

BEACH DAY!!

We decided to spend our late afternoon at a well rated brewery right near an inlet to the ocean where we got to awkwardly watch two men fight each other at the nearby tour company.  There was yelling, blood and police.  It instilled anything but tranquility.  However, it was a beautiful warm day and we didn’t want the actions of others to ruin our day so we headed to the beach with a bottle of wine and sat until the sun was low in the sky watching the waves crash against the land.  All things considered; we found our tranquility near the point with the river of tranquility fed the ocean.

Our mood kept positive through the evening as we ordered some sushi while Kendra got caught up with a friend and Paul got caught up on the blog until most of the other campers had gone to bed.

 

February 25^th – While we wait for the laundry to dry

One of the biggest benefits of the campground we had selected was reasonably priced laundry.  Paul was diligent to ask when the laundry would be done and with their answer being tomorrow morning (now today) we had planned our day around the assumption our laundry would be ready by around 10am.  Frustratingly at 9am the campground owners placed our wet clothing on a clothes line meaning we wouldn’t be able to leave the area of Puerto Rio Tranquillo until they were dry.

There was a hike that we had thought about doing about 30 minutes or so west of the community to the Exploradores Glacier that we thought would be a good way to kill some time.  According to various sources it was only a 5 kilometre hike return and that the elevation change from the start to the end was only 100 metres, so we were surprised to also read that it was also a 4 hour hike.  Well, once we started the hike was through a humid jungle we so learned why it takes people so long;  it was anything but a flat walk.  The path loosely followed a river traveling up for 25 minutes then down for 25 minutes.  It followed this pattern over roots and big rocks for 2 kilometres until a junction to an upper platform and a lower platform. We ended up doing both; however, the lower platform was far superior as it was closer and had benches for us to cool off on from the hike and sit to marvel at the glacier in front of us.  It even gave us an opportunity to talk to some Brazilians who complemented Paul on his ability to speak Portuguese.  Paul found this a little concerning as he was speaking Spanish the entire time and suddenly became self conscious that his Spanish was so bad that people could be convinced he was speaking Portuguese poorly.

After stopping to see a waterfall between the end of the trail and where we hoped to pick up our laundry we arrived at the campground.  We can’t quite articulate how frustrated we were to see our clothes still on the clothes line.  We kept on thinking how we were told they would be ready in the morning and yet it was almost 5pm.  We had read they be put in a dryer but our clothes, including our underwear was hung where everyone could see. Begrudgingly we decided to just grab our clothes from the clothes line, fold them and head out of the area. 

Puerto Rio Tranquillo is known for its blue marble cave systems that can be navigated by kayaks or boats.  As they are the most famous things to do in the area, if not the entire Carretera Austral we had heard doing a tour from this location can be quasi frustrating.  If you’ve seen an reels or Tik Toks about Instagram vs Reality this area would be the epitome of the point these videos are trying to make.  In general, you wait in a line until your turn for your boat (kayak or otherwise) to enter the marble caves area so you can take your picture in such a way that implies there isn’t a line of people both ahead of you and behind you looking to take the same photo or video you just took.  Thankfully we had heard that if you had your own vehicle you could drive to the small hamlet of Puerto Sanchez where you could take a tour to some similar caves for less money and have the place to yourself.  Obviously we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience these marble caves without droves of other tourists so we made our way to this small community.

Now we don’t want to get political but there is a trend we have noticed lately.  There has been a lot of Israelis traveling around south America vocalizing how annoyed they are that people are annoyed at them for traveling at this time.   We only bring this up because when we got Puerto Sanchez we happened to camp beside a young couple who had just finished serving in the military.  They had just purchased a vehicle in Santiago and plan to explore the continent for the next year.  Although they did not directly speak of the conflict in their homeland they did seem to make light of it.  The reason why this has been on our mind so much is from stories we heard from other travelers of the issues Russians on the road faced when Russia invaded Ukraine.  They abandoned their trip as they saw their savings disappear as the rubles value diminished and their ability to withdraw funds became next to impossible.  This was all compounded with locals becoming less favourable to their situation.  Obviously no individual person is a representative of the decisions of their government, it is just interesting to see how travelers from these two respective countries deal with the consequences of the decisions of their respective countries.  Israelis just seems to have a lack of empathy or understanding of why there seems to be animosity towards them.  This was something that Russians, at least those we encountered near Uyuni Bolivia, somewhat, begrudgingly, understood.

This boat used to be the only
way to get to Puerto Sanchez

 

February 26^th – A Tour within Marble caves

Regardless of what was said the previous day, we had befriended the Israeli couple we mentioned above who had decided to join our tour to the marble caves of Puerto Sanchez.  Originally we had felt a little ashamed we had been so adamant that we wanted an English speaking guide for our tour but as more overlanders who were less confident in Spanish arrived at the meeting point for the tour we knew we had made the right decision.

A view from inside the cave

In front of the
famous Cathedral

The tour was amazing and we, as promised by others, seemed to have these blue marble caves to ourselves.  We learned how they had been created over the last few thousands of years by pressure and dissolving limestone and that they had become further exposed due to decreasing lake levels.  We even got to explore one of the caves on foot.  For anyone who has heard about these marbles’ caves, fear not, the tour did include a trip to the famous Chapel and Cathedral.  These formations near Puerto Rio Tranquillo were named by Spanish explorers who used them as shelter during a large storm.  They saw these formations as a god send and wrote if not for them they would have surely perished in the storm.

Definitely a worthwhile tour! 

After the tour ended we said goodbye to our new friends and continued heading north looking for a free campsite for the night and after not falling in love with a spot overlooking Cerro Castillo due to the extreme wind, we settled for a spot overlooking a lake in the middle of nowhere.

 

February 27^th – The best meal we have purchased in a long time

We forgot to take a picture of
 the delicious food 

We made a potentially controversial decision this morning.  We would skip Cerro Castillo.  Although many online say the hike to base of the Castle Mountain is something you can’t not do if you are in the area, most we had talked to in person disagreed.  There are three main reasons we decided to skip it.  Number 1: It is the most expensive hike you can do on the Carretera Austral, costing around $25 CAD per person due to government fees and fees to property owners.  Number 2: Everyone we had talked to had enjoyed the 3 long hike we had done previously more (Torres del Paine, Fitz Roy and Lagos Altos in Patagonia National Park).  Number 3: The weather was less then ideal and the weather forecast was predicting more rain and cloud cover in the near future.

After a couple hours drive we arrived in the “big” city of Coyhaique, the only city, by any sort of definition, in the area.  We took advantage of the big city amenities by shopping at an actual grocery store (rather than the minimarkets we had become accustomed to) and going to a café for some coffee and cinnamon buns.  As an aside, these cinnamon buns were some of the best we had had since Canada!

Our camping spot for the night

After our good food at the café we decided to test our luck and go out for dinner as the community had numerous well rated restaurants including a brewery which supposedly had tartare that was to die for.  Well, we can confirm that the reviews were correct and we sat gorging ourselves on some delicious beer flavoured by the local berries of Patagonia and the best tartare outside of Quebec.

 

February 28^th – Searching for waterfalls and comparable cafes

After a less that optimal sleep thanks to some locals blasting some reggaeton near the van around 1am we explored Coyhaique for some good coffee.  We originally thought we would try another café but were surprised to see that most were not open or had poor reviews so we didn’t want to chance our previous good fortune.  After some window shopping we decided to make our way to the café we had traveled to yesterday but when we learned that the cinnamon buns we had had yesterday were sold out we decided to save our money and head to a café  a couple hours away in the community of Puerto Aysen. 

No ghosts left the waterfall

The drive from Coyhaique to Puerto Aysen was beautiful, as we followed a river between two lush green mountains full of waterfalls. Two of these waterfalls we ended up stopping at, including one that was known for a ghost boy that would periodically emerge from the falls and hitch a ride with you in your backseat.  We will admit we did do a double check to make sure we didn’t have any unwanted hitchhikers after leaving these falls.

The cafe at Puerto Aysen was perfect but it felt a little to early in the day to continue our original plan to camp in the area so after we finished our coffee we continued heading north until we were halfway between anywhere and stopped at a well reviewed camping spot where we continued having typical café conversations; however, we had switched to wine.

 

February 29^th – Queulat’s famous hanging glacier

We continued heading north with our sights set on Queulat National Park where we planned to hike to a viewpoint of the Queulat hanging glacier. 

We have noticed that throughout southern Patagonia many trails close to the public and surprisingly early times.  For instance, the trail to Torres del Paine closed at 10am, Fitz Roy closed at 1pm and the hike to Queulat closed at 3pm.  Although we didn’t plan to do this hike today we were pleasantly surprised that by the time we made it to that national park it was only 1pm and we had already seen everything we had planned to see that day.  These other things being a small waterfall a few minutes walk off the main road and a cove known for dolphins where we had some lunch.

Even though it felt like we had lots of time until the trail closed Rupert presence meant we couldn’t park within the National Park meaning that the 5 kilometer one way hike to the viewpoint would be a 7 kilometer hike for us since the trailhead was a couple kilometers within that national park.

The view we worked so
hard to see

The quick 750 meter
view point

We had some concerns we wouldn’t be able to complete the 7 kilometers in 2 hours as we had quite a bit of elevation to gain but we pushed ourselves hard and got to the viewpoint with 30 minutes to spare meaning we could sit back and catch our breath as well as enjoy the view.  For some reasons we didn’t think 14 kilometres is enough hiking for the day so we decided to tack on another 1.5 kilometres to a lower viewpoint that we actually think may have been better than the actual famous view point of the Queulat hanging glacier.

Was the hike worth it?  Well, this has been a matter of debate between us.  Chile has recently increased all its prices for foreigners meaning that each hike we decided to do in a national park cost us $15 CAD each.  Many hikes we have done have felt worth it, but this one was the first one we disagreed with Paul feeling like this hike was too much and Kendra feeling happy with the experience we got for the cost we paid.

We returned to the cove known for dolphins to camp for the night where we got to feel like quasi celebrities.  Over the course of the early evening more and more people arrived to the spot to camp including another couple from Canada who we ended up talking to for a few hours.  What was neat about the encounter is that within the first few minutes of talking they asked us “Are you the Go Go Gauthiers?”.  They then explained that they had been following us on Instagram and seeing our stickers throughout their journey.  Suddenly we felt like influencers.

 

Believe it or not there are dolphins, they just refused to be photographed

   

March 1^st – The most expensive shower of the trip

Relaxation!!

We know when it has been too long between showers and we knew that this point had elapsed.  During our hike down from the Queulat glacier viewpoint we had discussed campground in the area that had shower but had settled on a plan to forgo paying for a campground and use the money we would have spent to go to a luxurious hot spring located an hour drive away from the National Park.

The hot springs were expensive at around $40 CAD per person but had “free” shower.  Unfortunately, they were only open from 10am to 1pm, so to ensure we got our money’s worth we made sure to arrive right when they opened.   Although we did have some concerns that this expensive shower which included access to hot springs was a bad idea, those concerns melted away once we found a pool the was the perfect temperature for us.  3 hours flew by and suddenly we were the only ones left in the pool and the employees were motioning us to the change rooms.

For us, the cost was worth it!

Pure Bliss

We were out of food so we had to stop at the small community of Puyuhuapi where we learned that the grocery store (minimarket) would be closed for the next couple hours.  Thankfully the community had a café that was open with free Wi-Fi, unfortunately, the coffee was terrible.

This downtime gave us the opportunity to do some route planning where we decided to book a ferry to leave the Carretera Austral from the community of Chaiten to Quellon on March 7^th and book a white water rafting tour in Futateufu on March 3^rd.  Suddenly we had a rough plan for the rest of the week.

We had previously talked about driving to a small community called Raul Martin Balmaceda but with ferries and tours booked we decided against it, however that didn’t stop us from camping at a spot down the road towards the community.  The spot was on private property which, according to iOverlander, people could camp on as long as you close the cattle gate behind you when you enter the area.  It would have been a great spot of not for the rain and the clouds that covered all the mountains that were supposedly viewable from our camping spot.  Not wanting to just hide away in the van all night we decided to start a fire and have a little BBQ with some of the sausages we had purchased.  We can assure you the taste of the meat more than made up for the wet weather.

Dinner of champions!!

Figuring out our plans

 

March 2^nd – Rural Dirt Roads

We knew we had a bit of a drive today an were in no rush to start it as we knew most of it would be on dirt roads.  However, we did eventually leave our campspot and drove what felt like hours down rural dirt road that somehow claimed to be the main entrance or exit from the Carretera Austral to Argentina.  Within a few hours we finally arrived at Futateufu and paid for our white water rafting trip we would be doing the next day.

We did explore the community and even stopped for a coffee and empanadas but in general there was nothing of note or recommendation in the community so we made our way to a camping spot near the Futateufu River where we had hoped to sit beside and enjoy some good weather.  Sadly, the wind had other plans and we ended up spending most of the day hiding in the van.

 

March 3^rd – Class 5 rapids

Friends of ours who had already driven the Carretera Austral had highly recommended white water rafting in Futateufu and it had been years since we had last gone.  Amazingly this trip had a connection to the last time we had gone white water rafting.  One of the guides/shuttle driver worked for Big Canyon Rafting in Quesnel when we last went white water rafting.  It is possible, if not probable, that our shuttle driver was our guide when we last went white water rafting in Quesnel.  How crazy is that!?!

The white water rafting was so much fun and definitely worth the money.  The tour was split into three sections, a warm up class 3 rapids which didn’t require a lot of technical knowledge to overcome which then led to class 4 rapids where we suddenly were given far more direction of when to paddle and when to get down.  The final section, an up charge only available if the water level was the right level was a section of class 5 rapids.  This section was highly technical and required lots of direction and planning. To say it was thrilling is probably an understatement.  When we finally reached land we were still buzzing.

LETS GO!!

We couldn’t relax much after the tour as we had to get to Argentina.  Paul had noticed a week or so ago we were running out of propane and it is against the law, for some reason, for Chile to fill foreign propane tanks meaning to fill our propane tank we would have to go to Argentina.  This task became a far larger priority this morning as we had run out of propane.

The border to Argentina was only 10 kilometres away from Futateufu and the large city of Esquel was just another 70 kilometres.  As we have traveled between Chile and Argentina many times now it took us no time to get through the immigration and customs processes.  Before we knew it we were in the Esquel area purchasing gas (which is over 50% cheaper than Chile), having a pint of beer at the local brewery and selecting a restaurant to eat at (since all the propane places were closed until tomorrow morning).

An epic meal to end an epic day

It had been recommended many time to go out for Asado in Argentina.  Asado is just a charcoal grill but when used at a restaurant it usually means lamb or cow grilled all day over charcoal at low temperature.  We decided to go to the best reviewed Asado restaurant in Esquel and were not disappointed.  We had an amazing meal which was the perfect way to end a perfect day.

 

March 4^th – Our one day in Argentina

Today was all about errands.  After a cold breakfast we drove straight to a propane refilling company who took our bottle and asked us to return in a few hours.

We spent our few hours picking up cheap non perishable groceries and enjoying coffee at a cute café near the downtown core.  Time seemed to slip by as we started to message our container buddy (the people we would be sharing a shipping container with) as we had just learned that our requested shipping date of April 14^th was no longer possible.  We had to decide on whether we would move our shipping date to April 7^th or April 21^st.   Both dates had pros and cons but in the end we decided that April 21^st would work best for both of us. 

We have propane again!

The perfect place to spend the day

This date opens some new possibilities for us, namely it could allow us to see northern Argentina or Paraguay, two places we were unsure we could fit into our trip.  However, to fit these locations into our trip we would not be able to have many days off from the road.  Often our fear of missing out is our biggest asset and curse on this trip.

Before we knew it we had a full bottle of propane and a full pantry of food meaning we could cook our own meal while sitting by a nearby lake, which is exactly how we chose to spend the rest of our day.

 

March 5^th – Glaciers and Poop

As we have a ferry to catch in a couple days from Chaiten it was time to re-enter Chile.  We spent most of the day driving from Esquel to the Chaiten area only stopping to get through the border, grab some coffee and a snack and do a hike to another glacier.

The Yelcho Glacier was a 7 kilometer return hike to a viewpoint of two hanging glaciers and it was surprisingly free and arguably just as good as every other hike to a glacier we had done in Chile.  We almost think it would have been frustrating if we were traveling south on the Carretera Austral and had done this glacier first, then paid to do the other comparable ones.  The best part of this hike was that it was also dog friendly so Rupert got to finally come on an adventure with us.  He honestly seemed so happy to be exploring Chilean Patagonia with us.

So happy to be joining
us on an adventure 

Just as we got off the trail the rain started, so we head for a well rated camping spot near the trailhead.  We did not stay long.  Just as we parked and opened our door we saw the unmistakable view of human feces, everywhere.  Unfortunately, many people on the Carretera Austral have gotten into the habit of doing their business where ever and not burying it or disposing of their toilet paper making many areas a serious biohazard.  It’s a real shame with everyone blaming everyone else and not much changing.  We would not be surprised if in the next 5 years camping in this area of Chile will be highly regulated. 

We did eventually find another camping spot which was a huge improvement from our last spot, but not unlike every spot we had camped on the Carretera Austral, not without spots where bad actors have left evidence of their presence. 

 

March 6^th – Consequences of out of season travel

As today would be our last day on the Carretera Austral it was top priority to see and do everything left on our list of things to do.

Are we there yet?

Our first stop was in the community of Chaiten for some meat and vegetables where we were surprised to see just how small the community was.  As the ferry hub for the area we envisioned a quasi big community, not a small town.  This worked out in our favour as it meant there was no need to spend a lot of time in the community.

The final hike we wanted to do was to the Chaiten Volcano viewpoint, an active volcano which has been described as “some smoking titties”.  We will let you be the judge of that nickname.

...halfway there...

Such voluptuous volcanos

The hike was brutal being 4 kilometres straight up, 90% of the trail was on stairs.  It felt like every pore in our body was sweating with drops of sweat hitting the ground every time we put our head down.  We did eventually make it to the top but didn’t stay as long as we would have wanted as our sweat soaked clothes made the wind feel very cold against our skin.

Near the hike was a little warm spring grotto that had recently been discovered. Although the temperature of the water was barely over 30 degrees it was a nice spot to soak after such a strenuous hike.

Relaxing in the grotto

We had hoped to get to a campsite and just settle in for the night but as we returned to cell service Kendra received a text about our ferry the next day.  Our ferry to Quellon had been canceled and there were no more sailings for the season. They had also canceled all sailings to the island of Chiloe (where we wanted to go) for the next few days meaning our only option was a 10 hour ferry to Puerto Montt.  To give a bit of a BC example, this is like booking a ferry directly from Tsawwassen to Salt Spring Island, then being told that you have to go to Victoria and find a way to Crofton to take that ferry to Salt Spring Island.  It adds more cost, time and logistical questions to your ferry trip and your driving.

We tried not to let it ruin the day and “go with the flow” so we sat back and finished the day watching sunset against the backdrop of a black sand beach with volcanos in the background.