What a view to wake up to ! The snowcapped peak on the other side of the
lake to the west was no bathed in the morning sun, and the lake was almost
millpond smooth, reflecting all. This
central / southern part of Patagonia is certainly very dramatic scenery-wise,
and the tropical forests of further north are slowly getting less dense. I topped up the water tank in Troopie
because the girl in the camp site said that the water out of the tap came
straight down off the snowcapped mountain peak behind us – No tanks, no
treatment – Just a 2000 metre drop down the mountain and into the tap !
Just as I was filling my tank a guy came down off the
road to fill up his water bottle – A Dutchman on a bicycle (now there’s a
surprise !) called Cornelius – Or would that be Kornelius ? Anyway, we had a long chat – he has just come
over for a couple of months to escape the European winter, and on this occasion
flew into Puerto Montt and is riding down the length of the Carretera Austral
to Bernard O’Higgins. With only a
bicycle he can then catch a boat from B O’ Higgins to Punta Arenas (not
possible with a car), from where he will fly home. He does a trip like this every year, and has
been doing it for 20 years or more !
Today was basically driving down through the gorge or
valley of the Rio Simpson, and it is really dramatic, with not only snowcapped
peaks, but also many enormous monoliths and boulders along the way, some of
which are so high that you can’t see the top of them as you drive under
them. I just so enjoyed the drive that I
don’t think I went over about 80 kmh all day – I was just pootling along,
stopping frequently for photos or just to soak up the view. Rio Simpson is a big fly fishing river and
many people have rods on their cars and whenever they pass an interesting section
of river, they stop and try their luck.
In Manihuales I saw a French small van stopped beside the road, so I
joined them for a chat – His name was Hervé , and he leaves his car in
Argentina then comes over from France for 4- 6 months each year to escape the
winter, and to go fishing !
The valley slowly widens out until there are fields and
meadows with lots of cows and horses, and hay already cut and wrapped. I decided to take a detour down to Puerto
Aysen down on the west coast, but it turned out to be a bit of a
disappointment. I expected a port of
some kind, probably on a kind of fjord, maybe a bit like Stavanger or similar.
But there was nothing there – Just a river with a few small boats tied up along
the river bank. So I drove around town
for about an hour looking around, and remained un impressed ! Except for the price of fuel – After being
really expensive further north on Ruta 7, it suddenly was less than a $ a litre
here. So I topped up with grateful
thanks !
I then headed east towards Coyhaique, and after a little
while stopped for lunch at the “Virgin’s Waterfall”, with a lovely waterfall
and then a crucifix and a statue of the Virgin Mary along with candle areas and
similar – Quite a set up for a picnic spot ! One Chilean family on holiday came
over while I was trying to make my sandwiches and wanted to chat about
everything I had seen – They were a lovely family, but why do they always come
over when you are trying to make a sandwich ??!
The dad was fascinated with my “Police” badges and medallions from the
USA, and he came over later with a little key ring figurine of a local Chilean
Policeman to add to my collection – It turned out he was himself a Policeman !!
I eventually ate my lunch !!
Then it was down more steep sided valleys, following the
Rio Maniguales towards Coyhaique. As we came over a hill just before Coyhaique
there were 3 wind turbines (seems odd to just have 3 ?) and then a magnificent
view over the rest of the valley to the little town of Coyhaique itself. After the rainforest wilderness of the last
few hundred kilometres, it is a sudden return to traffic lights, busy streets
and semi trailers everywhere – both in
town and on the highways. Apparently
hydro-electricity is the next big thing that is going to happen here, so I
guess they are gearing up for it. We
shall see – At present it seems a bit run down – The shopping area I went to
had a lot of vagrants sitting outside in the car park with their brown paper
bags, and that is the first time I have seen that for quite a while.
Anyway, my hunt is on for wifi. I found a nice Parque Nacional campsite just
outside town, but it had no wifi. I then
found another camp site right on the edge of town, down a very steep driveway. They say they have wifi, and the drive is so
steep I really didn’t want to go back up again, so I will find out whether or
not their claim is true later. If not, I
will have to go back up into town and try to find a library or something
tomorrow, because I now have a lot of days posts to put up !
From here, it is hard to know what to do and what to go
and see. There are so many great
National Parks, and it is hard (make that impossible !) to stop at all of them,
so I think I will just keep wandering, and see what happens.
Remember, all who wander are not lost !!
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