Carretera Austral, Day 10.

Day 791, 19.04.2013
88 280 since the beginning of the journey,
Route: Hornopiren – Puerto Montt (112 km).


The settlement of Hornopireni through the morning mist.

Carretera Austral, Day 9, Galeta Gonzalo.

Day 790, 18.04.2013,
88168 km since the beginning of the journey,
Route :  Caleta Conzalo – Letepu -  Fiordo Largo - Hornopiren (40 km !!)


Next to the road there is a signboard introducing another walking trail. It`s about 10 more kilometres to the port and more than two hours left until the departure of ferry. So – why not!

Carretera Austral, Day 8, Chaiten.

Day 789, 17.04.2013,
88128 km, since beginning of the journey
Route:  Rio Frio – Villa Santa Lucia – Chaiten – Camp.El Volcan (120 km).


The hillsides are still covered with dense rain forest.

Carretera Austral, Day 7, Ventisquero Colgante

Day 788, 16.04.2013,
88 008 km since the beginning of the journey,
Route: Ventisquero Colgante – Puyuhuapi - La Junta - Rio Frio (121 km)

One will not come over of a waterfall of 549 m high every day, even not every week. And especially in such a combination as a glacier-waterfalls-rain forest.


The Ventisquero Colgante waterfall and glacier were discovered only in 1875. Without special equipment the waterfall and glacier are not accessible, but for the usual visitors there is a three-kilometre path that takes a little bit closer.

Carretera Austral, Day 6.

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.

Carretera Austral, Day 5.

Day 786, 14.04.2013
87610 km since the beginning of the journey,
Route: El Canelo – Cerro Castillo - Coihaique – Puerto Aisen (266 km)

A morning view at the river and mountains.

Carretera Austral, Day 4.

Day 785, 13.04.2013,
87 344 km, since the beginning of the journey
The route: Puerto Rio Tranquilo - Bahia Exploradoes - Puerto Rio Tranquilo - El Canelo (234 km)


Local church in Puerto Rio Tranquilo ...

Carretera Austral, Day 3.

Day 784, 12.04.2013,  
87 710 km, since the beginning of the journey
The Journey: Villa O'Higgins - Rio Bravo - Puerto Yungay - Cochrane - Puerto Rio Tranquilo (325 km).
   
In the morning I went to the gas station, as generally around here the tank should be filled at every opportunity, and started my way back.

Carretera Austral, Day 2, End Of The Road.

Day 783, 11.04.2013
86,785 km since the beginning of the journey,
The Journey: Caleta Tortel, Puerto Yungay - Rio Bravo - Villa O'Higgins (153 km).

As I couldn`t wait for better weather there are no nice coloured and sunny pictures of Caleta Tortel. Of course there is always a possibility that during the day the sun will come out and the weather will change prettier, but much more likely it will be turning even worse and starting to rain.

And the ferry traffic had to be taken into account as well – so no waiting for nicer weather. The barge was scheduled to leave at 12, which meant in short that at 10 it was the highest time to start moving. So - the breakfast was eaten, coffee was dunk and dishes were washed and all the things in the car were properly fixed.


I drove 23 km back and turned southwards towards the road which takes to Puerto Yungay.

Carretera Austral, Day 1, Caleta Tortel.

Day 782, 10.04.2013
86 632 km since the beginning of the journey
The route : Puerto Rio Tranquilo - Cochrane - Caleta Tortel (236 km).

Next a small choice had to be made, namely - whether to drive straight northwards or drive a little (!)southwards and look over the village named Villa O`Higgins - which is in the end of the legendary road of Carretera Austral Carretera Austral – with the longer name - Carretera General Augosto Pinochet or shorter name - Ruta 7 - is a 1240 kilometer-long road in the south of Chile.

And this road has also been called - "Road after the end of the world" Link. From the internet I looked at the pictures as much as it was possible, I read Wikipedia and wikitravel, etc., and every piece of info confirmed that all of this area was worth visiting.

Marble Caves

Day 781,
86 396 km since the beginning of the journey,
Puerto Rio Tranquilo, Chile.

Marble Cave is one of the places that could be classified as "this kind of place cannot exist", it is computer-generated or something similar. But it exists. And that`s what it looks like.


Frankly, I do not remember exactly when and from whom I received the first information about this fantastical place. It is possible that while searching in the net I happened to come across of the information about the caves and pointed out the place on the map - "must see" . As usual. So you mark the interesting spots on the map and then try somehow to adjust them with the route so that not to miss anything worth seeing. Marble Caves is located in Chile, in the region of Aiseni, about 5 kilometres from the town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo. The lake is on the border of Chile and Argentina. On the side of Chile the name of the lake is Lake General Carrera and on Argentina`s side it is called - Lake Buenos Aires.