The Northern Carretera Austral

Chaiten 7 - Blue Skies.JPG
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After a couple nights in that dump of a hospedaje in Coyhaique, I boarded a colectivo with Buses Queulat for the ride through the northern half of the Carretera Austral, which included passage through and a few stops along the way in Villa Amengual, Parque Nacional Queulat, Puerto Puyuhuapi, La Junta, Villa Santa Lucia, Lago Yelcho…and finally coming to a stop in Chaiten, a “yawning outpost” (Lonely Planet is poetically worthwhile again) of 3,500 people at the northern end of the Carretera Austral and situated on the Golfo de Corcovado.

Chaiten 14 - Blue Skies.JPG
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Photos (Carretera Austral): http://flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157604261912026/

Hung out with a former Alaska backcountry park ranger named Gabe for the duration of the time, before we both boarded a Navimag ferry christened the Barcaza Alejandrina on Saturday morning for the 5-hour trip across the Golfo de Corcovado, a spectacular body of water with beautiful views of the surrounding volcanic peaks, including Volcan Corcovado (2,300 meters high) and Volcan Michinmahuida (2,404 meters high).

Golfo de Corcovado 14 - Volcan Michinmahuida (2404m).JPG
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Photos (Chaiten): http://flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157604262006186/

I spent a couple nights holed up in Chaiten at the Casa Hexagon, a newly-constructed, very modern and artsy 8-sided wood-and-stone hostel-home owned by a German origami artist named Stefan who works back home in Germany during the winter (i.e. “low”) season in Chaiten. Hung out with a former Alaska backcountry park ranger named Gabe for the duration of the time, before we both boarded a Navimag ferry christened the Barcaza Alejandrina on Saturday morning for the 5-hour trip across the Golfo de Corcovado, a spectacular body of water with beautiful views of the surrounding volcanic peaks, including Volcan Corcovado (2,300 meters high) and Volcan Michinmahuida (2,404 meters high).

Golfo de Corcovado 17 - Barcaza Alejandrina & La Isla Grande de Chiloe.JPG
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Photos (Golfo de Corcovado): http://flickr.com/photos/timothyshoup/sets/72157604273884945/

Arriving into Quellon, a dumpy port city at the southern end of La Isla Grande de Chiloe, we boarded a bus north for the 1.5 hour ride up to Chonchi (Gabe continued on up to Puerto Montt) and I checked it at the beautifully named Esmeralda by the Sea, a crumbling Victorian-esque wood structure/house situated on the Chonchi bay and owned by an expat Canuck named Charles who used to do derivatives work for Credit Suisse in London before he somehow ended up here (the story is muddled at best), which fails miserably to even live close to its moniker…before grabbing a large Quilmes Stout and some cold cuts, cheese and bread at a corner market for dinner to eat back at Esmeralda…where I hung out with a former roadie for KISS from London who was in his 50s and 5 crazy lunatic females in their 20s from Germany, the Netherlands and some other Euro-zone country (I can’t remember where now).

Trying to fall asleep in my room on the shifty mattress supported by wood planks not attached to the bed was indeed “trying”, so I tossed the mattress on the floor and drifted off with a stale funk perforating my nostrils (yes, I know I’m still a spoiled, whiny unbroken American tourist but I won’t be staying here any longer than I have to either)…