From Puerto Montt, the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) stretches over 1000km south through the wettest, greenest, wildest and narrowest part of Chile, ending its journey at the tiny settlement of Villa O'Higgins. Carving its path through tracts of untouched wilderness, the route takes in soaring, snow-capped mountains, Ice Age glaciers, blue-green fjords, turquoise lakes and rivers, and one of the world's largest swaths of temperate rainforest.
Construction of the Carretera, initiated by earlier governments but with most progress achieved under General Pinochet, was a colossal and incredibly expensive undertaking. The first section was completed in 1983, two further sections in 1988 and the final 100km to Villa O'Higgins in 2000.
We would be coming in from Argentina towards the southern part of the road but already knew that the road condition was poor from other travellers so we decided to see how far we would get.
The border crossing into Chile took only 40 minutes including the 6km drive between the two check points. We got to Chile Chico, the border town, just after 6pm and went shopping. We found a spot for the night next to the lake (Lago General Carrera) and had a hot meal.
We set off the next day along the connecting road beside the lake to get to the Carretera Austral. We weren't even on the famous highway but it was absolutely beautiful. The view over the lake surrounded by snow capped mountains was superb. The road was winding and curvy and very rough gravel. It was slow going to begin with but then it got better and finally we got to a stretch that they are working on and, despite the roadworks, it was a lot better to drive on and enjoy the magnificent scenery.
Driving along Lago General Carrera - 360° Panorama
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The view over the lake surrounded by snow capped mountains was superb - 360° Panorama
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We had lots of photo stops and a coffee and cake break at Quebrada de Diablo (Devils Gorge). We found a spot for the night and decided to stay an extra day to sit out the rain. We had the heater on for most of the day as it only got up to 9 degrees max and went lower than minus 3 degrees overnight!
We got to the Carretera Austral the following day and headed south. We didn't get very far because the Carretera was a lot worse - lots of washboard and slow going - and the clouds were coming in so we stayed in Puerto Bertrand for the night and it went down to minus 5 degrees.
It was still below freezing the next morning at 9am. We drove further south to the confluence of the rivers Baker and Neff and did a short walk to some rapids and saw the beautiful turquoise of Rio Baker mixing with the silt and mud of Rio Neff.
The river would just be a muddy brown colour further south and the road was getting worse so we decided to turn around and head north. We already knew from others who had travelled along the road recently that the road condition would just get a lot worse.
So we drove back north and past the turn off for Chile Chico. Unfortunately the road condition did not get any better and it was exhausting to drive. At least it was beautiful going past the turquoise blue of the river surrounded by the mountains that all had fresh snow on them. We stopped numerous times for photos and finally got to Puerto Rio Tranquillo at 5-45pm. We'd managed to drive 87km!
We arranged to go on a boat tour the next day sharing a boat with a family from America to see the Capilla de Mármol (Marble Chapel), an impressive limestone cliff looming out of the water, streaked with blue and white patterns and gashed with caves that we could enter with the boat.
The tour lasted about 90 minutes and cost just over $12 each. It was bitterly cold and we really had to dress up warmly. Our guide only spoke Spanish and explained a great deal about the caves but we couldn't understand all of it. After a while we just shut out his voice to concentrate on looking at the impressive formations.
He pointed out various things to us - Look! A dog. Look! A shark etc, etc. Some of the name descriptions needed quite a bit of imagination to see but at least we got a chance to go inside a few of the caves with the boat. There was also a group of kayakers gliding through them.
Boat trip to the Capilla de Mármol (Marble Chapel)
We got back at 1pm and were frozen icebergs! We dashed to a local bakery before it shut and then made ourselves hot water bottles to thaw out our feet! We chatted to the American family and gave them tips as they were driving south and doing the stretch we had just done.
We headed further north and travelled at around 14 miles per hour along the bad road! It was still bitterly cold and started to get dark. We were quite high up but the road didn't look like it would descend any time soon so when we found an area on the side of the road where we could park we pulled off for the night.
It went down to minus 6 overnight and the next morning we had to put the heater on for an hour before it was warm enough to get out of bed! Our windows were covered in frost on the inside!
We finally set off just after 11am and got blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the wet road. The road condition hadn't improved and then we hit 32km of road works which took us 2.5 hours to get through. We scraped the cover under our engine compartment several times. But after the road works we got onto tarmac - Yippee!! We can breathe again!
We checked out a few possible overnight places on the way to the large town of Coyhaique but most of them either didn't exist anymore or were unsuitable. We finally found a pull out near a shrine about 10 km south of Coyhaique. Apparently everyone toots their horn as they drive past the shrine rather than stopping and getting out to pay their respects. Fortunately we got used to it and managed to get some sleep.
We spent the next day in Coyhaique, handed in our laundry - really expensive at $11 for one bag but we needed our winter clothes washing - and sat on the supermarket car park to use the internet. I looked up sights etc along the rest of the Carretera and made us a plan which we put into the GPS. After picking up our laundry at 5-30pm we drove out of the town on bad tarmac and found a spot for the night near the turn off for Puerto Aisen.
We drove for quite a stretch on tarmac going through forest and everything was very green. It didn't really feel as if we were in Patagonia! We took a look at a bright orange shingled church with a blue roof which is the immigrant Chilote style and then we hit gravel road again! Oh well, it was peaceful while it lasted but now we were back to shake, rattle and roll again!
We didn't drive very far because we stopped at the Bosque Encantada (Enchanted Forest) and did a 2 hour walk (4km) through thick rain forest with moss covered trees and it was very dark as the sun could hardly penetrate through to us. It was a very wet walk and steep in places. The entrance fee was just over $4 each and we had to be out by 6pm as they close the gate so we turned around about 15 minutes before we got to the end and then we stayed on the car park for the night.
Continuing further north we drove passed a number of hanging glaciers. The road to the largest (Ventisquero Colgante) was narrow with only space for one vehicle and had low hanging branches. We had already seen it from the road and decided not to risk the road up to it.
After more gravel road we stopped and saw that our cover under our engine was hanging down on one side - a bracket had broken! Not really surprising seeing as we had been driving on bad roads for so long but there were only small villages along the route so finding somewhere for repairs didn't look very promising.
We pulled into the next village, La Junta and the next day found a mechanic who managed to make us a new bracket for $15. On our way out on the gravel road I was so excited to see a sign saying that tarmac road would start in 100 metres that I shouted "Look!" Kirsten was listening to her MP3 and I made her jump - she thought I had seen a Puma! It must be bad when I can get really excited about a tarmac road!!
Unfortunately the tarmac only lasted for 31 km and then we had a really bad 12km stretch of road works which took us almost an hour to get through. Then another short 10km stretch of tarmac followed by another really bad 2km of roadworks. We hit tarmac again 4km before Chile's first suspension bridge at Puerto Cardenas where we stayed for the night.
At this point we were a bit disappointed by the Carretera Austral. The best part was the road from Chile Chico to the Carretera and not even part of the famous highway but we were coming up to the final part and Parque Pumalín and hoping that it would be worth the really bad drive to get there.
We had tarmac road all the way to Chaitén which is quite a large town at the northern end of the Carretera and the gateway to Parque Pumalín. On the way we stopped for photos of Casa Avion - an air force DC3 that crashed in 1974. A local farmer used ox carts to bring the fuselage to his property and lived in it until 2000. Then he traded it for a 4WD Jeep! Now it's just an empty fuselage with a story - the highlight of our day!
We used the wifi in Chaitén for a few hours and then drove further north to a little sandy beach at Santa Barbara for the night. We even saw two dolphins but it was too dark to take photos. Just a little further north we hit gravel road again going into Parque Pumalín and it would remain gravel for the final 50km to Caleta Gonzalo the end of the Carretera Austral and where there is a ferry to get across to the other side or to get to Puerto Montt. We would only be driving along the road to the end and then returning the same way back and then heading into Argentina again.
We spent 4 nights in the Parque Pumalín and the first trail we did was up Volcan Chaitén that erupted in 2008. The pyroclastic blast burnt out all the trees which were still visible as we walked the trail. At the time both Chaitén and Futaleufu were evacuated. It was still steaming today!
Burnt trees at Volcan Chaitén - 360° Panorama
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It took us nearly 3 hours for the approx 5km round trip hike with the last part being very steep. It was about 400m of ascent.
View from the top of Volcan Chaitén - 360° Panorama
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We got back just as it was getting dark. It was quite a tough walk so the next day we just drove to the end of the Carretera which took quite a while as the road was bad and slow going.
We met a lot of ferry traffic coming south that included large trucks and double trailers so we had to pull over to let them pass. It's a one way road really, with not enough space unless one vehicle pulls over to the side and almost in the bushes!
The end of the Carretera in Caleta Gonzalo was an anti climax - the information office was closed, there was no bakery and the only café just did sandwiches. The lady in the café also told us that the trail we wanted to do was very dangerous because of all the rain and there had been an accident just last week.
It rained overnight and most of the next day so we stayed put. Our highlight was watching the 12 noon ferry load up!! Oh boy! This is what we've been reduced to!
The following day it was actually sunny so we were hoping that the motor home would dry out a bit. We are definitely in the rain forest and everything is dripping wet. We were fighting a losing battle constantly wiping down windows and our alcove got so wet that we knew we'd have to do something to stop the condensation. This wasn't going to be the only rainforest we would be driving through.
We took advantage of the sunshine and did two short hiking trails. One was on a slippery boardwalk and wet tree steps through Alerces trees that can live for 3,000 years. These particular trees were mentioned by an explorer in 1540. The second trail went to waterfalls and through more Alerces trees. The rainforest was a lot thicker and it was extremely slippery underfoot with lots of steep step ladders. Kirsten slipped and her left foot went through a hole and into the mud but fortunately she was fine - just a bit dirty!
We drove back to Chaitén on a very grey day that made for some great reflections in the lakes and fjords with all the low clouds. So, despite the fact that it rained all day, there were lots of photo stops en route.
We drove all the way back through the construction zones and then turned off onto a gravel road to get to Futaleufu where we crossed the border back into Argentina.
