2020 february: Chile - Patagonia / Carreterea Austral
In Puerto Montt we took over our Land Cruiser and went on the ferry to Isla Chiloe.
Glacier, Lakes and Cordilleras
In Puerto Montt we took over our Land Cruiser and went on the ferry to Isla Chiloe. A day tour across the island with its well-known wooden churches was followed the next day by car ferry to Chaiten, where the northern part of Patagonia began for us with the Carretera Austral. In the upper part of Patagonia we hiked to the Ventisquero Colgante glacier.
But it only gets really interesting after Cerro Castillo, when the southern part of the Carretera Austral begins, the asphalt road gives way to a gravel road and the town of Puerto Tranquilo is reached. From Puerto Tranquilo, where we spent two nights, we took day trips by boat to the marble caves on Lago General Carrera and across the Rio Exploradores and the San Rafael Lagoon to the San Rafael Glacier. The latter is a day tour, and on the way back you could also watch the sunset at the Exploradores glacier.
tough guys in a untamed country
Further from Puerto Tranquilo, past the Bertrand lake (Lago Bertram) and Puerto Bertrand we reached Caleta Tortel, the southernmost point of the Carretea Austral. The southernmost point is the village of Villa O'Higgins. Caleta Tortel was the starting point for two lonely day tours to the glaciers Jorge Montt and Steffen. Breathtaking scenery and a unique silence make these places so unique.
To get further south we had to go back north, along Lago General Carrera to the small town of Chile Chico, near the border with Argentina.