Day 787, 15.04.2013,
87 887 km, since the beginning of the journey,
Route: Puerto Aisen – Villa Amengual – Puerto Cisnes – Ventisquero Colgante (277 km).
While sometimes choosing an overnight place at night in complete darkness there could be various surprises in the morning.
Like in Sudan – a more shadowy place was only a hundred meters away, in Morocco (2009) - there was empty and bare land all around and in the morning the bus could be noticed over kilometres already so - the local children were already running over. Or in Kenya – the bus was parked on the main walking path of ants. And this story was funny much time later.
This time the sight was not very surprising, the usual parking place next to the road.
You take your table and chair, make morning coffee and a quick breakfast and have a look around .
When the wind blows the clouds away - from further a kind of steeper hills are visible.
Another sidetrack with a bridge.
One example of why the height of the car is important. It is 2:40 that still fits under - but no sense coming here with a higher vehicle.
I will drive back to the gas station of Puerto Aisen. Diesel will cost almost EUR 1 per litre. The peculiarity of fuelling in South America (and Africa) is that the hose is in the hands of the station worker, not that one fills the tank oneself and then pays the price. Since the vast majority of smaller cars use petrol one must be very careful while wishing diesel. Sometimes it is even good to point out the right hose on the tank. This is the place where mistakes are not allowed. Wrong fuel in the tank could give several hours of unpleasant activities. I have met a motorcyclist who had got diesel instead of petrol inside his BMW in the dark.
Local graffiti.
Next the mountains turn higher and higher.
Turning right one could get over the mountains to Argentina.
Decent road will continue for some time.
Turning off from the main road one can reach the small town of Puerto Cisnes. It is nice and peaceful here.
Next to the road there are some fish farms.
I'll turn back to the main road and immediately the asphalt ends. The usual Carretera Austral begins. Over a long period of time there will be no cars coming or going by.
From behind no one is coming either.
GPS indicates that the road goes over the next mountain pass.
Logically there should open up magnificent view both at the winding road and the surrounding mountains. The reality...
In reality, there is high and impenetrable rain forest on both sides of the road and a lot of "blind"curves. And it is still not completely car-free area because from behind the most devious curve a large vehicle is suddenly coming out.
Actually, I'm not going to drive until the end of day. Today 270 kilometres have been covered already .
The Queulat National Park just next to the road. There is nobody by the gate of the park. The door of the guard cabin door is locked, through the window one can see the tickets ready to be sold and the barrier is raised. The last one is a good indicator. I drive on until the campsites begin which are, by the way, quite decent
The distance between the campsites is about 50 meters and there is a tap and shelter with a table and barbecue facilities at each site.
Before it gets dark I'll take a walk in the neighbourhood, far away there is a glacier but now it is too late to go there.
Further reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queulat_National_Park . and http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/waterfall/Ventisquero-Colgante-Cascada-de-769/
And one more info from Wikipedia – rainfall in some areas of this park is up to 4000 mm per year, which means up to 4 meters.
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