Carretera Austral Day Two....Chaitén to Coyhaique

Early the next morning, after a great breakfast of toasted homemade bread with thick butter, bittersweet blackberry jam, scrambled eggs, ham, and coffee with rich whole milk, we departed Chaitén.  The skies were clearing, and in the bright, cool morning air the still-smoking volcano, an imposing threat lurking above the town, was a spectacular sight to behold.

As we started out, our plan for the day was to get as far as Puerto Cisnes, a little less than 300 kilometers south of Chaitén.  The road was paved for about an hour south of Chaitén, until we reached the southern end of Parque PumalÍn, where we were treated to a most magnificent view of Volcán Michinmahuida to the north.  Further along, again on firm gravel roadway, we drove along the RÍo Yelcho, crossed one of

the attractive suspension bridges as we left Puerto Cardenas at the northern end of beautiful Lago Yelcho, crossed another where the waters from the Ventisquero Yelcho Chico run into the lake, climbed through the Moraga Pass (highest point on the road), eventually reaching Villa Santa Lucia.  At this point you can turn eastward towards Argentina, to the towns of Futaleuf
ú

Lago Yelcho

 

 or Palena, both of which are about a two hour drive from the Carretera Austral, located just before border crossings into Argentina.  This whole area is well known for excellent salmon and trout fishing, spectacular mountain hiking and camping, and white water rafting.

Passing up the  opportunity to visit Futaleufú or Palena , we continued south from Villa Santa Lucia where the road begins to border Parque Nacional Corcovado, and Rio Frio, until it finally crosses into the 11th Region, Aisén, where it borders the Rio Palena that flows westward from Argentina eventually into the Pacific Ocean’s Golfo Corcovado.  About 140 kilometers south of Chaitén we reached the town of La Junta, a relatively new town previously called "Medio Palena” of somewhere around 1,200 inhabitants. 

La Junta

market in La Junta

 La Junta is named for its location at the confluence of two beautiful rivers, the Rosselot that carries crystalline waters from Lago Rosselot to the sea, and the Palena.  Before the Carretera Austral was built, towns like La Junta associated more with Argentina and Argentine culture than with the rest of Chile, in spite of the fact that the area was used to raise livestock that were taken down the line to Puyuhuapi and then by boat to Puerto Montt.  From La Junta, if fishing is your objective, short trips east to Lago Rosselot and Lago Verde are highly recommended.  La Junta offers gasoline and a couple of stores selling all sorts of food and supplies, so it is becoming an important stopping point for travelers at this point of the Carretera Austral.  We picked up a couple of bottles of Cousiño Macul Don LuÍs (appropriately rustic for the location) and ingredients for ham and cheese sandwiches, and enjoyed a light lunch on the shore of Lago Rosselot.

Lago Rosselot

We were making good time, in spite of the fact that through this part of Aisén the road was becoming rougher and we were not able to drive as fast as we would have liked.  As we left La Junta, we left the beautiful RÍo Palena behind, and drove through an area of pastures along the RÍo Risopatrón that flows north from Lago Risopatrón, near Puyuhuapi, our next destination, to join up with the RÍo Palena near La Junta.  As we proceeded, we were driving through two other beautiful protected natural areas, the Reserva Nacional Lago Rosselot and the Parque Nacional Queulat, along the narrow Lago Risopatrón.

Entrance to Puyuhuapi

As we drove into the small town of Puyuhuapi, it became very clear to us that we were now entering an area of Chile very different and incredibly spectacular.  This town, located in the middle of continental Aisén, less than 100 kilometers from the Argentine border, sits comfortably at the tip of the Ventisquero fjord and offers a very mixed bag of lodging, from rustic camping to very comfortable resorts, several boasting therapeutic hot springs.  Of special interest also is a well-established, high quality artisan rug factory, worthy of a visit if they happen to be open when you are visiting. 

We continued south, along the fjord, and stopped at a simple but pleasant hot springs spa that offered outside hot baths situated right on the water’s edge, with incredible views across the water of Isla Magdaleña and Volcán Mentolat in the distance in the center of Parque Nacional Isla Magdaleña.  The temptation to stay put for a while and take advantage of this beautiful spa was almost irresistible.  A discussion ensued between the four of us, as to what was best; stay here for a good soak and drive in the dark to arrive late in Puerto Cisnes, or proceed.  The opinion was split down the middle; two of us wanted to stay, two wanted to proceed, but we passed up what would have been a very refreshing hiatus in our journey, because our main objective of this trip was to drive the entire length of the Carretera Austral, and if we were going to go all the way to Villa O’Higgins at the end, we could not stop for very long in any one spot, regardless of how tempting.  So we pushed on.



Ventisquero Colgante

Just a bit further south of Puyuhuapi there is a large aquaculture center producing Atlantic salmon you find in the US at Costco, and a pier from which, if you are fortunate enough to have reservations a boat will take you to the Puyuhuapi Lodge and Spa, located on the Magdaleña Island in the middle of the lush native forest that contains not just trees but also those big, Jurassic ferns.  Clearly, a stay at this lodge would be a wonderful experience, so as we sped by on our journey to the end of the road we all felt slightly guilty that the four of us were having such a wonderful time seeing for the first time such a beautiful part of Chile, and we vowed we would return to spend more time here, but next time with our respective wives.  This idea was further cemented in our minds a little later when we entered the Queulat National Park and took a short hike to a lookout with an amazing view of the Ventisquero Colgante, a huge glacier that seems to hang precariously over the lush valley below.  We spent quite a bit of time just taking in this sight, such an imposing mass of ice, thrusting itself out of the Andes Mountains, feeding impressive waterfalls with fresh water from the melting ice.

As we drove through Parque Nacional Queulat, we were greeted with remnants of an earlier snowfall, making the road a little dangerous but the surrounding forest a wonderland.  On the downside of the pass we went through Piedra Del Gato, where a road to Puerto Cisnes branches west from the Carretera.  This road, paved earlier but being repaved and therefore mostly firm gravel for the moment, follows

the winding RÍo Cisnes through the Andes Mountains that at this point are very close to the Ocean, to Puerto Cisnes. 



O'Higgins in Puerto Cisnes Plaza

Eugenia Pirzio Biroli

I have always wanted to visit Puerto Cisnes, because way back during the years I worked in Chile with the Peace Corps, there was a woman mayor (something of an anomaly at the time) of this extremely isolated town in Aisén, Eugenia Pirzio Biroli, who made herself famous by forcefully taking her town’s and her people’s needs directly to the national government in Santiago, at times sitting in the anterooms of powerful officials including Presidents until her persistence paid off with an audience so she could appeal face-to-face and usually successfully for more services and infrastructure for her town and her people. 



Library in Cisnes

School in Cisnes

Puerto Cisnes is the main population center of a vast area of islands with small fishing villages and totally untouched natural areas some of which are included in huge national parks.  It is a welcoming town, but they may still feel somewhat neglected; as we enjoyed a walk through the lovely central park, a car with a couple of matronly citizens stopped to encourage us to visit their port-side restaurant for some of “the best seafood empanadas you have ever eaten”.  We passed up the invitation, not knowing what all might be involved in those empanadas, but we did enjoy how civilized Puerto Cisnes seems to be, with a prominent municipality building, colorful and obviously active  cultural center and library, surely due to the influence of the prior mayor.  But, in spite of finding the town quite interesting and pleasant, we did not see any obvious places to spend the night, so again we decided to continue our travels, this time all the way to Coyhaique, the capital of the 11^th Region.

Coyhaique is not only the capital of the 11^th Region of Chile; it is the kick off point for most people who visit the Carretera Austral.  For years tourists have been flying to Balmaceda airport, about 50 kilometers southeast of Coyhaique, joining tours or renting cars to visit Puerto Aysén and Puerto Chacabuco, and from there to go by boat to Laguna San Rafael where, by water, one can get close up to a monumental glacier, even have a glass of scotch cooled with millennial ice from the glacier.  Or, from Coyhaique you can continue south on the Carretera Austral, which is what we had planned to do, so we left the Puerto Aysén, Puerto Chacabuco, Laguna San Rafael excursion to a later date, “with our wives”, we promised again.