I had no idea what the Carretera Austral was.
I figured all the ‘places to go’ in Patagonia were in Argentina and in Chile’s Torres del Paine. I had no idea there was a single 1000km+ road that would take you through a complete diversity of natural beauty, from glaciers to arid mountain landscapes, lush forests to gigantic lakes (eventually connecting 17 national parks together), and passing through quaint small towns throughout.
I had no idea I’d end up spending 3 weeks here… and that having no idea about anything would be such a gift.
To be fair, I didn’t know about the “Southern Road” because there wasn’t much information (…even finding a decent map online was a chore). All I knew was that buses ran infrequently, hitchhiking was common, locals didn’t speak English, and oh… it was OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Paralyzed in indecision on whether to venture into the unknown, I left El Chaltén for Los Antiguos, thinking I’d check out some ridiculously old hand prints to buy myself some time. I arrived at the bus station early in the morning, groggy from the overnight bus journey, and soon realized these hand prints required a major time and $$$ investment. Hmmm what to do…
Suddenly all the travelers around me rushed to buy tickets to Chile Chico and I had to make a game time decision on whether to cross the border or be Queen Indecision alone in this bus station. Thankfully I chose the former 🙂
With no idea of where I was going, I asked around and found out most people were heading to Puerto Rio Tranquilo. Phew, at least I have a name! Unfortunately, the only bus there had already left and the hitchhikers weren’t having much luck, leaving many of us with no choice but to spend the night in Chile Chico.
Our bus driver put us up in his home-converted-to-hostel – the beginning of several such accommodations – and the reliable WiFi felt like luxury after El Chaltén. I was tempted to be lazy inside all day but decided instead to be lazy at the town’s mirador. 200 steps later, I was greeted with views of the town, Lago General Carrera, a bunch of flags in my way, and no place to chill ugh. But… further on, I spied with my little eye a purrrfect little open area on a cliff… jackpot 🙂
I ended up spending over 3 hours here, watching the light change on the beautiful calm waters, reading, snacking, and randomly seeing some dude go at it on a dirt bike…???
That evening, the strangers from the morning had a big family dinner. We were from all over the world – Spain, Panama, France, Denmark, Portugal, California, and of course yours truly from India/US/who knows where. Strangely enough, 7/8 people were women! Even stranger, 6/7 women were solo travelers! Take that you worrying skeptics 😛
The next day I followed the group to Puerto Rio Tranquilo – the drive was eventful to say the least… We passed large mines and had two flat tires on the mostly on gravel road -__-
We moved up and down and all around into blind turn after blind turn as we went over the Paso Las Llaves with more views of Lago General Carrera. I had no idea how large this lake was! The largest in Chile and where the Doug Tompkins, the founder of North Face, had passed away surprisingly only a few months prior.
When we arrived in the tiny town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo, I was clueless once again on what to do next, as were some of my new traveler friends. Enter Juan. The middle-aged cheeky man immediately befriended my two Spanish speaking friends and convinced us to take a boat to the Capillas de Marmol (“Marble Chapels”), the only known marble caves in the world.
Accessible only by boat, these caves formed from 6000+ years of waves washing up against calcium carbonate. Not only is the azure water ridiculously clear, reflecting all sorts of blues onto the cave walls, the walls themselves are so finely detailed! What a natural wonder!
… And while the rain created quite the wet bumpy ride back, the rainbow made up for it 🙂
That evening, our boy Juan hooked us up with a cabin that ended up being our home for the next few days. By the next morning, our group of 8 from the border had come down to 4 solo female travelers, with whom I traveled with for much longer than any other travelers I met during my year.
Given that Ornella – from Barcelona – spoke mainly Spanish, Rachel – from California – was practically fluent from her travels, Sarah – a fellow avid hiker from France – was just starting to learn, and I was desperately trying to practice, we created the perfect Spanish classroom. It was with these ladies that I had my biggest learning curve, thank you my loves!
We spent the next two days relaxing in town, cooking delicious food from the pitiful selection of vegetables (thanks to chef Rachel), learning how to sustain a fire with no supplies, befriending the neighborhood dogs, doing yoga in the park, and playing with an adorable 4 year old girl with the longest eyelashes.
Why did we spend so much time in this nearly deserted town? Turns out there was a cheap glacier hike at the nearby Glacier Exploradores. Trips only went out on fine weather days; apparently our sunny day lounging in the town didn’t make the cut, but the following rainy grey day somehow did…?
It was a strange experience, completely different from my hike on the Perito Moreno:
- It was rugged – we hiked through muddy forest and wet rocks, tested our balance and stamina on the icy terrain, and were practically the only ones there
- It wasn’t clear when we even hit the glacier – much of it was covered with colorful rocks that eventually cleared to ice, making it difficult to appreciate just how large it was
- It was eerily beautiful – sure the cold rain sucked and I couldn’t feel my hands, but the weather created an unforgettable view and the most exotic lunch I’ve ever had inside a tiny ice cave!
We were unsure on where to travel to next – we’d heard of some places further south but continuing north seemed like a more efficient use of time…
And then I saw this poster in the store of our glacier tour operator… There were so many beautiful places we’d never heard of! The locals weren’t very helpful in giving us more details, but their excitement around what lay further south was enough to convince us to go exploring 🙂
With no luck hitchhiking we opted for the bus to get to our next destination: hello Cochrane!
MJ & the world 
A fortunate turning point in your travels…! What an amazing adventure… with great company!!
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