In this central part of Patagonia called Region Aysén I stayed a total of 18 days (Day 50 – Day 67). Cycling distance: 818km; vertical incline: 11’774m
Day 50 (03.01.2024) Oeste River – Puyuhuapi
After a good night of sleep, I observed for a while all the mosquitos that were waiting on the outside of the inner tent-net for me to leave (Vid. 01). By the time the sun got a bit stronger I left the tent, knowing that the mosquitos wouldn’t be that active anymore. Since I had relatively good internet connection I worked for a couple hours on my computer, using my phone as WiFi-Hot-Spot. I got a new booking for my mountain apartment in Switzerland that I had to take care of. Yes, sometimes your glad to have internet, even though you feel yourself at the “End of the World”. One good thing about wild camping is that you don’t have any check-in/-out times and you basically can spontaneously decide whenever you want to come/leave. So, I finally left shorty after 3pm and entered after roughly two kilometers the new Region of Aysén. I had a bit of head wind and so I didn’t advance as quickly as expected. The road was also very nice with lots of sights and interesting things happening. Once and then I had to stop and taking pictures. For example, a goat-family blocked the road while the youngest ones came to lick my legs (Vid. 02). A bit later I came to a zone where rocks were falling on the road. Happily, it was over when I arrived. An interesting phenomenon was also to observe how thousands of caterpillars crossed the street (Vid. 03). I’ve observed this already on other days but this time it was immense. Hopefully there’s no plague going on. On a food truck, around 10k before “La Junta” I ate a nice Churrasco and tried for the first time their home-made Energy drinks which contains wheat and a peach and is extremely sweet. But the extra sugar was good, since I wasn’t feeling too strong that day. Being in La Junta I didn’t know if I should continue or stay there. It was already 6.30pm but I only cycled 40k on pavement which wasn’t a lot. So, I decided to keep on going. Surely, I wanted to reach the next town, Puyuhuapi, because the weather forecast for the next day was rain. The next 45 kilometers I was riding much faster and didn’t stop as much anymore. I especially liked the last twenty kilometers where the Carretera Austral was a bit of a roller-coaster going up and down the whole time. But never too steep, so I could keep on with the good paste and do a bit of an interval training. Once in Puyuhuapi some locals referred me to the Hostal Valentina where I took a room for 20’000. For dinner I went to the bar/restaurant next door where they had a tasty Merluza à la Plancha.
Day 51 (04.01.2024) Puyuhuapi 01
Happy I made it to Puyuhuapi yesterday because today was a day full of rain (Vid. 01). So I decided to stay in the cute hostal Valentina and work all day. They had a very sweed little dog named Pelusa. The dog was already 18 years old and deaf, I was told by Valentina later. Finally I had some time to move on with my Fauna & Flora list, which is by far not finished. In the evening I went to the restaurant I already was the previous night and had again a very nice but a bit pricy dinner. This was the highlight of today.
Day 52 (05.01.2024) Puyuhuapi 02
In the morning it was still raining but looked like it would get better in the afternoon. I decided to spend one more day in the region and payd an additional night to Valentina, the owner of the hostal. I rode my bike about 20k south on Careterra Austral before entering the gravel road that brought me to the park. I entered the path to the glacier view point one hour too late, even though they didn’t tell me at the park entrance I couldn’t do the glacier hike anymore. The hike was the reason why I actually went to the park. They also charged me the full price at the entrance, 11’000 Pesos. For Chileans it costs only 5000. I had a nice but short hike to the view point of the famous glaciers. First the path lead over a narrow hang bridge and then through thick rain forest. I walked very fast so it felt a bit like trail running. Almost on top, the park guard was already coming down telling me the last part is closed. To see the glacier you have to go to the very end, so I asked the young woman to let me pass. Only after about 1min negotiating she finally agreed and I was able to go to the viewpoint. It was definitely worth because this view was just astonishing. Knowing that you actually see only a tiny bit of the glacier, which has a surface of over 20’000 acres makes you feel small. After taking several pictures I left around 5 min later to reach the guard on my way down. To my surprise a young couple just past, heading to the view point. Looks like the guard also allowed them to go even though they were much slower than me. About half way down I reached the guard and a bit later we saw a pair of woodpeckers in the trees. After the trail I rode quickly back because I had an appointment for a Sea Kayaking tour. Since no one else signed up for the tour I went alone with the guide named Blas. First he explained me the essntials of Sea Kayaking and then we went on the Fjord. We padelled about 3.5k down the Fjord and went on land on the west side by the Rio Tronador. I saw a nice King Fisher that I filmed a bit before going on land. Then we did a little hike to a nice waterfall of the river. On the way there Blas talked a bit about the Flora and I was surprised that he new all the scientific names of the plants. He also had a small microscope because he was specially interested in mosses and lichens. Later he offered me a small snack. On the way back it was extremely calm and I saw a couple back fins from dolphins. Acording to Blas there are two Dolphin species there: Dolphin Austral and Dolphin Chileno. Since the ones I spotted were extremely dark he guessed that it would be the Dolphin Chileno. We finished our session almost at ten o’clock. I quickly went to the hostal, which was just next door and again to the restaurant for dinner where I had been the previous two nights. I ate one more time the Merluza, which was again very tasty.
Day 53 (06.01.2024) Puyuhuapi 03 – Villa Amengual)
The section I did today is by many people considered as the most difficulty and thoughest part of the Carretera Austral. It supposes to have the longest and highest incline on the whole Carretera Austral. Indeed, the incline was though but not really because the elevation gain but more because of the rather low quality gravel road. I thought until Coyhaique is all pavement but today proofed different. Roughly 20 kilometers of todays ride were gravel which includes the whole incline up to the top “El Paso Queulat”. However the effort was rewarded with an amazing view and some animal spotting and finally with a nice downhill from the pass. I arrived in Villa Amengual around 9.45 pm, just before it got dark and was happy to find a small minimarket that was still open. Even though the products seemed a bit expensive I got a good reference of a Bicycle Refugio. I went there and it was very friendly. Ines, the owner was very kind. I had the opportunity to choose between a room with some matresses where you use your own sleeping bag or a double room with beds. Since there was already one guy in the room with the matresses I chosed the one with bed. It was only 10’000 the night and 3000 more than the other room.
Day 54 (07.01.2024) Villa Amengual – Rio Mañihuales
I woke up very early, around five, because two rooster were having a screaming competition and one of them was extremely close. Actually it was the one from our yard. About two and a half hours later I fell again asleep and woke up around 9.30. As expected from the forecast the day started with rain. For breakfast I had oatmeal with yogurt and bough 4 eggs from the fridge. Ines from the bicycle Refugio charged me 800 for these eggs which was totally fine. The problem however was that I only had 600 left in coins and a couple 20’000 Pesos bills for which she had no change. If I would known beforehand I only would have gotten three eggs. Because now I had to somehow change money which wasn’t easy in a small village on a Sunday. Good that I found a minimarket that was open. Around 2 pm I finally left. I gave up hoping for the nicer weather and so I started the bike ride in the rain cover. It was a good decision because the rain didn’t stop until 4 pm and so I made already a bit more than 30 kilometers. After s coffee break I continued without the raincoat because the rain finished. What followed was a really smooth ride with good tail wind. Only for the last ten kilometers the wind changed and came from the front. Around 8pm and after s bit more than 80k I found a nice spot to wild camp. A sandy area next to a big river. I tried my luck fishing but didn’t catch anything. Good I had some polenta left over. I put it into the friepan with some cheese and laid it on the fire. It tasted delicious and so there was no need to go to bed hungry.
Day 55 (08.01.2024) Rio Mañihuales – Coyhaique
Today was the first time in a long time that I started my biking session before noon. Reason for this was that the sky didn’t look so great, and I was a bit afraid that my tent etc. would get wet if I wouldn’t pack quickly. I left around 11.15am but then right on the street met a couple from Netherlands and started talking to them for about 15 minutes. Finally, I left around 11.30am. I had some headwind but after roughly 10 km it turned into tail wind. The road was all paved and generally I could ride very quick. Towards the end was a steep uphill that I didn’t really expect because I had no internet at the previous campsite to check the road in detail. Furthermore, part of the road was not paved asphalt but covered with paving stones, so it made me feel like being on the bike race “Paris Roubaix”. On the side of the street was a sign that this section is constantly under deformation, which must have been the reason for the stones. Anyway, it wasn’t a problem to ride on this part of the road because they made a good job, so it was in a very good condition (Vid. 01). The view was once again amazing, and I was happy because I was exactly riding in the window before the rain so basically heading into the sun but when looking back facing clouds with rain. Sometimes I could feel a couple of drops, but it was more like a refreshment than bothering. The refreshment was good for the last incline before riding down into Coyhaique because it was a long one. In the end I had more than 1000 vertical meters before entering the largest city in the area. For the first in a long time, I entered a city that even had some traffic and lights. First, I went to the central place to look for an apartment online and found a really nice place that was rated with 9.8 in booking.com. So, I checked the directions and went directly there because normally you get better deals when you pay in cash instead of booking over a platform. I ended up paying 25’000 and saved 5000 from the regular booking.com price. Indeed, the rooms were very clean and neat. Being there already quite early, around 5.30pm, allowed me to go downtown because I urgently need sunglasses for bicycle riding. The Ray Ben’s I’ve been using for the past couple days are just not ideal for cycling and my eyes hurt after every session. Soon I’m facing only gravel roads and then I will need better protecting glasses. I found different ones but didn’t buy anything yet. In the evening I checked them out on the internet and decided that I will get the Adidas Evil Fly, since they are Photochromic and can also be used for cycling. Hope it will be a good buy. They cost 109’000 Pesos which is extremely expensive compared to other ones that are only 10% of this price. But I think it’s good to invest in quality sunglasses, especially if your eyes are already a bit infected and red.
Day 56 (09.01.2024) Coyhaique – Villa Cerro Castillo
After an extremely nice breakfast offered in the Hostal MariaElena I packed my bike and went Downtown to buy the Adidas sunglasses. I was very lucky because just after me they closed the doors for a two hours lunch break until 3pm. Afterwards I got some cash from the ATM because there won’t be any until V. O’Higgins which is around 600k gravel road away. I finally left around 1.30pm and had a very nice riding with lot’s of tailwind. It was good because I was constantly moving uphill until I reached around 1000m above sea level. After roughly 65k I made a coffee break. I met a guy from British Columbia (CA) earlier on the way and now he passed me again. About one hour later I continued but had now extremely strong head wind. After a short downhill the route was continuously going uphill until I reached the pass 15k before Cerro Castillo. Now it was extremely cold and shortly before going downhill again I dressed warmer. Two pairs of socks, headband, thick gloves etc. The downhill to the town was in the very last moment just before it got completely dark. The view over mountains and the extremely large valley was interesting and extremely beautiful. Around 22.15 I found a nice hostal. There were already some other travelers. One of them, Leonardo I already met in Santa Lucia.
Day 57 (10.01.2024) V. Cerro Castillo 01
Today I went for a hike in the National Park Cerro Castillo. I’ve heard many people talking about this wonderful but though hike to the Laguna Cerro Castillo, so I gave it a try. To the park entrance I rode my bike. It was around 5.5k, mainly on a really bad gravel road. As bad as it was, still faster than walking. At the entrance a guard explained me the trail and said that there is no entrance fee by the National Park yet. However, I must pay at the next house 5000 Pesos because the beginning of the trail goes over private property. So I registered and went to the other place, payd and started my hike. It was a moderate uphill with around 1100 vertical meters on a distance of 6.5 kilometers. The higher I got the nicer was the view over the extreme wide valley behind me and the nice looking rock formation ahead of me. Then a huge Condor flew just next to me sailing down the rocks. He was so fast that I had no time to take a picture. Unfortunately I didn’t see any further Condors. But once on the top ridge I had an amazing view over the blue lagoon to the glacier on the other side. Then I took the challenge and went down to the lagoon. There was no trail and so I had to push myself through thousands of rocks. Mostly they were loose and some even started rolling down. Good, there was almost nobody. Once by the lagoon I made a break and hadca snack. I also filled my water bottle without even filtering the water because it was so clean. The way up to the ridge was easier and then I went down all the way to the entrance. The last part of the trail was extremely dusty. In the evening I had a tasty Pizza in the nearby restaurant.
Day 58 (11.01.2024) V. Cerro Castillo – Puerto Tranquilo
That was too much, never again! Initially I wanted to go around 60k because after the first 14k the Highway Carretera Austral turns into a gravel ONLY Road until it ends 350k later in V. O’Higgins. The first kilometers of the gravel were just awful, the worst I’ve seen so far. I even had to step down from the bike going downhill and push in order to not wipe out and crash. But then the gravel road condition got better and better. I passed many bicycle tourers and that motivated me keeping up with the pace, even though there was intermediate head wind. But what really bothered now were the trucks and cars putting all the dust in the air and of course the never ending attacks of the horse flies. Once I passed the 60k I wanted to take advantage of my good shape and go for another 15k. When I passed the 75k, the head wind turned into tail wind and so I decided to go another 10k. Afterwards I started looking around for good wild camp sites with access to water. At 90k I found one but the river was a bit too hard to reach, because there was a 5m drop right into the water. I decided to cycle further but didn’t see anything nice unless it was fenced in. After I passed the 100k I got really tired and annoyed of not being able to find something. By know I would have taken almost any spot. Finally I decided to keep on riding until the next village Puerto Tranquilo which is famous for the Marbel Cgurch. But now the road got very bad again and I had to slow down in order to control the bike. Last but not least a couple sharp inclines towards the end kicked my motivation in the ground. Finally around 10pm and over 8h on the saddle I reached the town and luckily found a nice Hospedaje referred by another one that was fully booked. Tomorrow I will join a Kayaking tour to the famous Marbel Church.
Day 59 (12.01.2024) Puerto Tranquilo – Lago Bertrand
At ten o’clock we gathered for the Kayak tour to the Marbel Cathedral. Besides Cesar the instructor, there were two more guys goin on the trip. Cristian from Santiago, who is my age and Paul from France who retired already. It was a coo troop and we had lot’of fun. With a pick-up we rode around 5k south from where we started the excursion on Sea Kayaks. I had a similar one that I used already in Puyuhuapi. To paddle to the Marbel Cathedral it took us around 1 hour. On the way there Cesar explained us a bit about the marbel cathedral and the lake (Vid. 01).. Besides us, there were many speed boats that were filled up with around 20 passengers each. It was a bit annoying because they were loud, stinky and produced lots of waves. Seems to be a good business to bring tourists to this place. Behind the Marbel rocks were extremely high cliffs. I spotted later a pair of Condors cruising up there and could even record them a bit (Vid. 02). After the tour Cesar brought us to some food place where whe had something like a Kebab, which was very tasty. The tour costed me 40’000 Pesos and didn’t include a snack. So I was very hungry after the tour. Afterwards I went back to the hostal packed my bike, went to buy some food in the grocery store and left around 15.30. Today I had the first wipeout followed by a microcrash. It happened after about 25k on a rather bad section of the gravel road. Because of the cars passing there are always tracks that are a bit better (less stones and sand). So I’ve been following this line and didn’t take enough attention when the road suddenly dropped a bit to the right side. My front wheel then pulled to the right into the part with sand and loose stones. Immediately I steered to the left which was a mistake because the front wheel wiped out. I pulled the breaks what even worsened everything and finally crashed on the side. Luckily I just scratched my left leg a bit but wasn’t injured and so I checked my bike and equipment which also seemed to be ok. I continued riding for another approximately 30k where I found a nice wild campsite next to Lago Bertrand. It wasn’t fenced it and easy accessible. However, by the time my tent was set a man came, the land loard and told me that it would be fine to camp butI shouldn’t make a fire because of the drough and not leaving behind garbage. When I then asked to give me permission to light a little fire right by the water he agreed. He made then pictures of tent and bike and left. In the evening I did some fishing but didn’t catch anything. There were a lot of small flies flying around my face which wasn’t covered by cotton. Some of the baited me which hurt very bad. Somehow they couldn’t bite through cotton, so my legs, body and arms were safe. But my face was still exposed to them.
Day 60 (13.01.2024) Lago Bertrand – Cochrane
When I stepped out of the tent I got immediately attacked by these small blood sucking flies again. I hoped they would have disappeared by day light but they didn’t. Therefore, I was once more wearing all my long clothes including the beanie. But this time they were so agressive that they got me like 7-8 times in the face. One bited me close to the right eye which then caused a big inflammation and swelling so it partly closed my eye during the rest of the day. As fast as possible I packed my things together in order to leave this place. When I wanted to fix the front rack a bit better I noticed that my rear back was also loose. The screw was lost on the bottom right that fixed the rack to the bike. Then it flipped the aluminum pole on the inside, closer to the wheel where the screws from the brake-disc where scratching on the aluminium. It looked very bad and roughly half of the aluminium was scratched off and it would never be solid anymore. I fixed then the pole again with a spare screw and hoped it would at least hold until the next small town, Port Bertrand, which was about 13k away. On the way there I was riding extremely careful, so the bike wasn’t shaking too much. In the town two bikers told me that they would have a repair place in this tiny town but in Cochrane, which is the hub on the southern part of the Carretera Austral would be surely some mecanics. After a quick lunch and small grocery shopping I left Port Bertrand and rode towards Cochrane, which was another 50k to go. The gravel road was rather bad, so I generally rode very small. But I had plenty of time so it was ok not to hustle there. In Cochrane I found a bicycle mechanic named Miguel who recommende me to replace the back rack. Luckily he had a good replacement. He seemed trust worthy and competent and so I brought him the bike after I put my gear to the hostal and asked to do also some maintenance and andjustment on the brakes and gear shifters. For the evening I went to Feria where they celebrated 70 years of Cochrane. It was very nice and I enjoyed Patagonian food and culture (Vid. 01, Vid. 02). Around 00.30am I left and went to the hostal to sleep.
Day 61 (14.01.2024) Cochrane 01
Today I tried the first running session after a bit more than 2 months enforced break due to the damaged Achilles tendon. I started in Cochrane right in front of my hostel “Cero o Cero”. First, I was running on the asphalted street until shortly before entering the National Reserve Tamango which is the southern part of the National Park Patagonia. After I paid the 11’000 Pesos entry fee I continued running on a trail. After the long running break, it felt like a Porsche engine in a Fiat. Heart and lungs at its best but running muscles, joints, and ligaments totally rusty. At some point I had to slow down because in my motivation I tend to exaggerate. That would be bad because I’m still in the recovery process of the Achilles tendon which takes somehow forever. I was not constantly running because sometimes it was very steep and rocky, otherwise I took some minutes to rest and take pictures of the nice are (Vid. 01). After approximately 8kilometers I was running back to town. In the end I felt the tendon a bit and hopefully I didn’t stress it too much. In the afternoon I picked up the bike from Miguel, who put a new back rack on it. Somehow it wasn’t centered well, and he told me that he would do it a bit better on the next day.
Day 62 (15.01.2024) Cochrane 02
In the morning I spent some time looking for a kayak tour which wasn’t easy, since the tour operators were generally harder to reach online. In the end I decided to the tourist office downtown, where I met Silvia, a woman from Switzerland which is traveling by buses. She had similar interests and so we looked together a bit what tours they offered in the surrounding. Finally, we decided to go on a day tour the next day which included mainly a bus ride to diverse stops in the National Reserve Tamango and visiting the local museum. For the day I decided to rent a Kayak from the rental place on the campground by the entrance of the National Reserve. Since they didn’t reply my WhatsApp message I decided to go there directly. No one was there either and the woman from the park entrance told me that the guy from the Kayak rental would come in less than 20minutes. After waiting roughly two hours I left a bit disappointed and went back to Cochrane where I did a work-out in the park. In the evening I went for a nice, huge Pizza.
Day 63 (16.01.2024) Cochrane 03
The bus tour started at 09:00am from the Tourist office. Next to Silvia and myself there were three people from Germany and a guy from England. The bus driver, Lisandro brought us then to the museum, where we stayed 2 hours. The guys from Germany and England started their trekking trip there while Silvia and I went to the museum. It was a natural museum that explained the animals and the origin of the park and showed a lot of general things about animal extinction. It was a rather small but very good museum with lots of interactive things to do. After about an hour I went outside, where a lot of Lamas were resting, to take pictures and video. There were also two hawks looking for food in the middle of the grassing Lamas. At 12:00, Lisandro brought Silvia and me to another place called “Casa de Piedra” where we did a small hike. I took a wrong turn and so we ended up climbing up a very steep hill. Later we could pass to the original path. After our small adventure we returned to the bus around 16:30. We drove back to pick up the others that finished their way by the museum and drove back to Cochrane. All in all, a very nice day. I had a good chat with the Lisandro, the bus driver who likes to fish a lot. He explained that he’s a typical “Gaucho” and owes a dozen horses. In the evening I went to have Mate with Pame on the side of a small river.
Day 64 (17.01.2024) Cochrane 04 – Refugio Rio Ñadis
I left the hostel around 11am in order to buy groceries and essentials for the next couple of days since I heard that there are not too many opportunities to buy groceries and so on until Villa o’Higgins. The first 5-6kilometers out of Cochrane were still paved until the surface turned into gravel. I went on moderate speed, knowing that I must go only about 48 kilometers until the “Refugio Rio Ñadis” where I reserved a bed. The weather was cloudy and not too hot to ride and for once there were no horse flies bothering me. After riding 38 kilometers on the Carretera Austral I arrived to the Rio Ñadis where a big wooden board with the text “Wilkommen/Bienvenidos/Welcome to Rio Ñadis” indicated that I had to follow another road for the last ten kilometers. Before going there, I made a coffee break for roughly 30 minutes even though it looked like it would rain very soon. Indeed, for the last 10k I had a bit of rain until I reached the Refugio. To get there I followed the Googlemaps link that Lilli, the German owner, sent me on the previous day. At the destination, the daughter of Lilli, around 15 years, explained me the way to the Refugio which was about 300m away. The Refugio was a very neat and cozy duplex building, one part with a couple beds, the other part with a small traditional kitchen. I was warmly welcomed by an older French couple that worked there for a couple weeks to get free food and shelter. Further there was a Chilean couple and one more couple from Germany that traveled also by bike. Alain, the French man explained me how to use the wooden stove in the kitchen to cook and heat up water for the shower. Later, Lilli came and said hello. In another building, there was a Sauna, working on a wooden stove as well. Ater putting my gear to the bedroom for six persons, however I was the only one because everyone else slept in tents, I went to the Rio Baker to fish. The Rio Baker is already very huge at that place and because of the erosion on the side it was hard to get access to the water. After about 30 minutes I walked then a bit upstream, where Rio Ñadis turned into Rio Baker but the fishing wasn’t too great either. Both rivers were extremely milky, and it was impossible to see how deep they were. In Rio Ñadis were a lot of submerged trees and branches and so I stopped fishing after another 30minutes because I was afraid to catch them instead of fish and to lose my wobbler. On the walk back to the Refugio I lost a bit orientation and needed to navigate with my phone to find the hostel. After my Tortellini dinner I went to the Sauna, which was already heated up by the German couple. Still, I put some additional wood into the oven to have enough heat for two rounds. A candle was the only light source I had inside the sauna. To sweat a bit more, I pored a big cup of water on the stones. To wash and cool-down and wash off the sweat after the Sauna a hoe was installed on the outside the was constantly running with cold water from the river. The night was very quiet, and I slept very well.
Day 65 (18.01.2024) Refugio Rio Ñadis – Galeta Tortel
I left the Refugio quite early, around quarter to eleven to catch the last Ferry which leaves Puerto Yungay and takes you to Rio Bravo. This Ferry is part of the Carretera Austral and free of charge because there is no other way to cross the lake. The plan was to catch the Ferry at 6pm, which was around 90 kilometers away and then to cycle more towards Villa o’Higgins until it gets dark and to camp out. I felt myself being in a very good shape and was riding quite fast. But then, after 18 kilometers I heart a strange noise coming from my front rack. It sounded as something would push on the tire. I stopped immediately and checked it out. Everything was ok but then I saw that the sound must have come from the back rack, which fell on the rear wheel. First, I thought that the screws were loose, and I could easily fix the problem. But then I realized that the poles that connect the rack to the bike were totally bended. I tried to straighten them but realized very quickly that they would break immediately if I would do so. Then I saw that also the other aluminum parts were bended and deformed. I was shocked because I was only riding 70 kilometers with this new rack. When I looked closer to the rack, I realized more and more that the quality is extremely low and that it’s probably a cheap imitation “made in China” which will not suit for heavy bags. Since I was in the middle of no where I tried to stop a car which would bring be further South. Going back 60 kilometers to Cochrane wouldn’t make any sense because there was no place to get a better rack. The first pick-up already stopped, and the young guys helped me to put bike and gear into the back. They were three brothers. Luis the driver and his younger brother Diego in the front. Both are around 25 to 30 years old and owe a small travel agency. Later I found out that I already knew that company, because I met their cousin in a Kayak and got referred to their Instagram page. However, they never replied to my message. I was sitting on the back seat, together with their youngest brother. They have two more brother that were not in the car but not a single sister I’ve been told. They were very nice, and Diego even offered me two breads with jam. They were going to Caleta Tortel, which is a small town about 70 kilometers away. After about 40 kilometers we turned right and left Carretera Austral. Going to Tortel wasn’t really my goal, but this town offers more than Puerto Yungay and I would find for sure a hostal there. They also have a ferry that leaves once per week towards Puerto Natale, which is a larger city with bicycle stores. After this incidence I knew, I would completely need to change my plans. Luckily, I already made the reservation for this Ferry as well because I met lots of people on the way that would take this 41hours ferry which includes two nights. They told me that it would be very nice. I always considered it as an option. In Tortel I wanted to give the driver 20’000 but he refused. I gave it then to the younger brother which was very happy. It was probably the most money he got in his life since he was only about 13 years old. After they dropped me off, I realized that I forgot my fishing rod. Therefore, I went to a restaurant and tried to find their phone number with the little knowledge I had about them. As small as the world sometimes is, I contacted Roberto that I made in Cochrane, and he told me that these were his cousins. So, I contacted them, but the fishing rod was nowhere in the car. I explained them that I probably forgot it on the place where they took me from the road. I explained them the exact place and they said they would look for it on the way back. Good that I recorded my bike traveling with my Garmin Navigation System, so I knew exactly where I broke down. And indeed, they found my rod on the side of the road and would send it the next day by bus. I contacted then Miguel, the guy from the bicycle store to also send me my old half-way broken bike rack that still is better than the new one that totally broke down. This one I might could fix if I wouldn’t find anything better in Puerto Natale. In the evening I was checking out Tortel, which lower part consist only of wooden path and bridges made from Cipres trees. So, it’s very special and totally car-free. For the night I took a room in the hostel Rio Bravo.
Day 66 (19.01.2024) Tortel 01
The day started extremely windy and wet. This was the reason why the tour to the “Glaciar de Jorge Montt” would take place on Saturday. By the time the rain stopped, I put my clothes outside that I washed the previous evening because they were still quite wet. In the wind they would dry quicker I supposed. But then some gusts were that strong that it was blowing my clothes away. One shirt landed one story lower on the ground while another ended up in a pot full of rainwater. Great, now it was totally wet again. In the afternoon I went running on all these wooden paths, bridges, and stairs of Tortel. It was unique to run on this cypres wood and sometimes I wasn’t sure if the wood would keep my weight. One path was going all along the shore, while another one brought me over the hill to the Rio Baker. The later one contained the longest incline with 335 stairs. After my running session I went to the main place to have late lunch. It was also right by the stop where the autobus from Cochrane would wait. At 5pm the bus came, and I got my fishing rod and the old broken rack. Then I brought these items to the hostel and wait straight down to the tourist office from where I booked the Glaciar tour. For the evening they planned an excursion to the nearby “Isla de los Muertos” which is a historic Monument. The tour was quite informative. First, Diego our guide, explained us the two theories that led to the death of the over 50 workers. After the official theory from the government the dyed due to the illness Scorbut. This theory seems to be wrong because there was enough Vitamin-C around. So most probably it was the second theory after which one the company poisoned the workers with Arsene because they didn’t want to pay their salaries. The tour took around 2.5 hours. In the evening Herbert from Germany came as an additional person in my room that contained 3 beds. It was nice because he didn’t have a ticket for the Ferry in Villa o’Higgins. He told me that he would try to transform it into his name the next day and then pay me the 55’000 Pesos.
Day 67 (20.01.2024) Tortel 02 – Ferry
I woke up around 6:45am because the tour to the Glaciare Jorge Montt started at 08:00am. The meeting however was already at 7:45. As usual I arrived a bit late, around 7:55, but as I knew from previous tours, they never left on the hour either. The guide Diego I already knew from the previous day as well as the boat driver. Some of the guests, this time we were a total of eight came already on the tour “Isla de los Muertos” the previous day. The weather was cloudy but very calm and so it took us the normal 2.5h to arrive to the first ice junks swimming in the water. Glaciar Jorge Montt lays on the very north end of the Southern Ice Field. Since I’ve never seen swimming ice, I was astonished by all these different shaped and colored floating ice junks that we passed. Some of them were bigger than out boat and this was just the part above the water. Underneath the water surface lay the other 80% that you can’t really see. Now the boat was cruising very slow, and the driver allowed us to go on the roof from where I had a wonderful round view. In front of us a huge ice field and the water full of pack ice. A bit later, the boat landed on the left shore on a small beach with round stones. While Diego and the captain were preparing our snack, the tourist had time to go around. Since there were no trails and the terrain was extremely rocky, no one went far. A half an hour the lunch was ready, and the highlights were the Whisky on the rocks, made out of ice from the glacier and Pisco with Calafate-Berries. I was the only not-Chilean person and so the tour was fully in Spanish language. They were nice and talked to me and were very happy that I spoke Spanish. The weather got better and better and finally the sun was shining through which transformed the beauty of the water with the floating ice in a dream-like landscape. After all the Whisky and Pisco as well as most of the salty and sweet Apéro-Food was gone, we jumped back to the boat. Conditions were now perfect to drive the boat as close to the pack ice as possible. I couldn’t stop taking pictures and videos because after each little iceberg I took a picture from, an even bigger and nicer one showed up. After approximately half an hour we started to head back to Tortel. On the ride back I was reading the Children book “El viaje de Charles Darwin” which I began reading the previous day. After the excursion I went back to the hostel, took a shower and packed all the bags. With Hermann, the German Cyclist I agreed that he could give me the money back by the time it was sure the ticket-transfer was possible. He helped me then taking down my luggage to the shore from where I continued pushing my bike until I reached the embarking place of the ferry. I was happy to see lots of people I already met on previous days, especially Caroline, who was travelling with her rucksack that I have met in Cochrane. After boarding the ferry “Transbordadora Austral Broom” we went on the upper deck to watch the milky way and the rising moon.