Rainy Carretera Austral
01 January: on the boat crossing the Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in South America.
The crossing is only two hours and will save us quite some driving on gravel roads…definitely worth it as we will soon realize how rough the famous Carretera Austral can be!
02 January: first day on the carretera, considered some years ago to be one of the most challenging road in South America. The road is now partly asphalted here, but we are now in Chile, on the rainy side of the Andes...and the rain will follow us the whole day.
The landscape is very different from what we saw in Argentina: mountains, huge rivers and a lot of green, green, GREEN everywhere.
When the sky clears up a bit, we distinguish huge glaciers at the top of some of the highest mountains.
The next day, the weather is cloudy but no rain; we make the most of it for a short hike to see the Ventisquero Colgante, a hanging glacier emerging from a jungle-like vegetation.
Crossing huge rivers on wooden footbridges.
Views on the glacier and the surrounding waterfalls
A must after hiking in the humid forest…las termas del Ventisquero, hot springs ideally situated on the seaside. Three pools between 35 and 40 degrees Celcius, and an ice-cold but large swimming pool.
Perfectly still water in the fjord and Emile enjoying the cold swimming pool!
The next day, the rain is back and we drive most of the day to get closer to Chaiten where we want to climb the Chaiten Volcano. Here, the road has lost its asphalt and can be very rough in some places.
07 January: we make it to the volcano and are so lucky to enjoy a dry hike to the summit! The very steep climb starts in the humid rainforest and ends in a desolated landscape, where only remains of trees are left after the 2008 eruption.
The view of the crater is mind-blowing, and we stay for a while admiring the smoking, multicolored mountain.
Running down the path…those kids don’t seem to have knees!
The rain is back, and we go for more hikes in the dense forest of the Parque Pumalin. The park protects very old Alerce trees, a slow-growing and long-lived species which has a very narrow distribution in Chile and Argentina.
Some very old and funny-looking Alerce trees…
Another wonderful hike to Las Cascadas Escondidas. The path goes from stairs to rocks through a very dense and humid forest, following the river to impressive waterfalls. Alone for the whole hike, we feel nearly like the first humans reaching those grounds.
Last evenings on the pretty Santa Barbara beach, where fur seals play in the waves and Sebastien enjoys nice fishing.
09 January: an ultimate dip in the termas El Amarillo. Under the rain again, but it doesn’t feel as bad when plunged in the hot water!
