Coyhaique

Claudia:
18 de marco de 2011.

Demos de cara com o inverno em Coyhaique. Que frio! Lá vamos nos achar cabana para dormir. A informacao turistica de Coyhaique é excelente. Tem muito catalogo informativo e te atendem super bem. Pegamos alguns dados de cabanas e fomos verificar. O preco alto e as cabanas bem inferior. Mas depois de muito procurar ficamos em uma simples e pelo preco de 30000. O que valeu é que a dona nos deu um guia de viajens bem completo e colocou na cama até edredon de pena de ganso e cobertor eletrico. Fiz uma gororoba para lanche, mas que no fundo é melhor que comer na rua, pois coloquei muitas verduras e saimos ao centro da cidade para comprar algumas coisas. Estava gelado, o ventinho batendo frio e chuviscando. A noite de novo cozinhei uma sopa cheia de verduras. Fiquei pensando nos tres rapazes girngos que encontramos na porta de um restaurante fechado que eu poderia oferecer comida a eles. Sempre quero matar a fome dos outros com meus dotes culinarios.

Gerry:
Friday, 18 March
Filled up with fuel (including the jerry can) there in Puerto Aysen
where it is a bit cheaper even than P Montt but still much more
expensive than it used to be a few months ago – apparently problems in
the Middle East. Still much rain bucketing down but it started to ease
as we drove up towards Coyhaique, the principle town in this region.
Certainly a pleasant town, set about 1,000 ft above MSL, beneath some
rugged mountain cliffs and the place which was snowed in for several
weeks last year. It was pretty cold yesterday and, after eventually
finding a small cabana to stay, we had to don extra clothing before we
wandered into town in the afternoon.

Puyuhuapi, Parque Queulat, Puerto Cisnes e Puerto Aysen

Parque Queulat

Claudia:
17 de marco de 2011.

Pensamento negativos invadiram minha mente antes de sair ao Parque Queulat, pois estava chovendo muito. Pensei que seria um dia em que nao veriamos nada e ainda passariamos as horas dentro do carro. Mas adoro surpresas e a primeira delas aconteceu a mais ou menos um km de Puyuhuapi quando nos pararam no caminho e tivemos que pegar um pequeno Ferry para cortar o caminho que estava interrompido por barreira. Algo diferente, vista diferente, do jeito que gosto. Economizar disel que esta carissimo pela crise no oriente medio…Desembarcamos ja perto do Ventisqueiro no Parque e Gerry decidiu entrar poque eu estava cetica com a chova e o frio. E valeu a pena, que maravilha. Forrando todo o chao com musgo amarelinho (nao sei porque o amarelo, talvez pelo outono) junto a Coigues e a outras pequenas plantas com as montanhas nos envolvendo e o Ventisqueiro ao fundo com o glaciar azualado. Resolvemos fazer a caminhada na chuva mesmo, que por sinal nao estava frio nem incomodo, mas uma delicia. Atravessamos uma ponte pensil e o rio passando por baixo estava super cheio e grande corrente. Muitos jovens de outros paises acampando, me senti mais um deles ou mais ou menos, porque nao fui tao corajosa a dormir em camping ainda que tenho tudo no carro. Quem sabe qualquer hora saio de meu comodismo e ….Valeu o passeio, hora de subir o Parque e descobrir que a chuva trouxe neve em quase todos os picos e pelas montanhas desciam descomunalmente, nunca vi daquilo, agua e mais agua em forma de fios ou grandes cascatas. Que espetaculo!!! A vegetacao do Parque é ainda mais bonita que de outros locais, ainda mais plantas diferentes dividem o mesmo espaco. Esqueci toda minha vida e so admirei aquilo tudo. A parte do Parque ainda esta em estrada de terra, mas depois comeca asfalto e estao arrumando e fazendo quiosques confortaveis com mirantes. A unica coisa que nao gosto é que quando vc faz estas rodovias, afasta toda a vegetacao da vista e só se pode admirar de muito longe e nao da para sentir o local. Mas desenvolvimento, o que fazer? No caminho fomos conhecer Puerto Cisnes e depois dormimos em cabana em Puerto Aysén, onde o disel é mais barato e amanha enchemos o tanque e um conteiner. Os locais de dormir estao caros, mas encontrei uma cabana por 30.000 p boa. A dona da cabana me contou que a maioria dos turistas que dormem em Puerto Aysén vao por causa do passeio até a laguna San Rafael. Como é um passeio muito caro resolvi nao faze-lo pois pretendemos fazer outras coisas e ja iremos visitar glaciares na volta no Navimag.
O turismo esta entrando com tudo nesta regiao pois as casas estao se transformando em Hosterias, Cabanas, hoteis, restaurantes, o povo esta realmente investindo nisto.
Alem de serem super simpaticos e estarem mais preparados para receber turistas que na regiao em que vivo. O Chileno nao só te da a informacao mas te leva até o local.

Gerry:
Thursday, 17 March
Rain on and off all day but a truly magnificent and exciting day for us
despite travelling through mostly “old” country. Started off before 10
and drove only a few miles down the road before we found the road closed
and had to take to a landing craft on the fjord. This part of the road
follows along the steep-sided cliffs above the fjord which had obviously
fallen away at one section. We could see the excavators working further
along and, through binoculars, the men working above them – presumably
hacking away at vegetations - on the steep slopes. More and more am I
impressed with the hard work these road people do – so often in day-long
pouring rain - and the engineers who design these roads through the most
difficult terrain. After some twenty minutes we were landed again and
heading into this wonderful Queulat Park

As before, we find this park most stunning and fascinating both at the
viewpoint for the hanging glacier and the rest of the winding road which
goes well up into the mountains. We arrived at the former with the rain
easing and had a slightly longer walk having parked wrongly but the air
is so bracing we didn’t mind. Quite a big and lovely campsite with
several hardy characters staying there. Crossed over the swinging bridge
and along to the lake where we could look on the glacier but this time
we had no luck in seeing it calve as we so fortunately did the time
before. Such lovely country and once again amazed at the power of the
water that roared beneath the bridge. Also, quite different from last
time, was this amazingly yellow grass or moss which adorned the ground
in many places making beautiful pictures.

And so on up the mountain with stunning views and this time, although
raining quite a bit, we had great views of the snowy mountain tops.
Waterfalls just everywhere yesterday with torrents falling down these
cliffs and rivers roaring wildly. (I suddenly think of how we, as young
kids, used to announce the stream at the Downs was “roaring” after heavy
rain.) Down the other side remembering where we had lunched before but
realising that big landslides had changed some things quite a lot,
having obliterated trees that hid the sights before.

Getting down we suddenly arrived at the smart tar road and turned right
this time to visit another port, Puerto Cisnes. Again spectacular
mountains and this fine road heading along precariously until it gave
out to dirt again but here they are constructing a new route which will
make life for the motorist easier. We drove down to Cisnes and had a
look around. A pleasant little town which I reckon we should have stayed
at for the night but it was only 3.30 so we felt we must push on. These
days though, I find that after the odd six hours of gawping at this
amazing scenery, I can’t really properly absorb much more. However, we
went on back and then southwards expecting to find a cabana in the next
village some two hours ahead. There was only one there and no one around
to offer it to us so we had to head onwards ending up in Puerto Aysen
which is the major port in the area. Here too the fuel should be less
expensive than we have come across. It was quite late before we found a
reasonable cabana which the woman had to clean up. In the meantime we
walked a considerable way in pouring rain having left ‘Scamp’ there. We
were soaked once again and actually took a taxi back again. Nice though
to be able to enjoy the fire in the cabana and dry things out while Mon
Lady cooked us a fine meal. Today to dig out our “wet clothing” and
hopefully a short drive.

La Junta, Lago Verde e Puyuhuapi

Camino a Lago Verde

Chilco

Claudia:
16 de marco de 2011

Belo dia fez ontem, com muito sol. Saindo de nossa cabana que ficava antes da ponte em La Junta, passamos por uma placa que dizia Lago Verde a esquerda. Olhando para aqueles lados as montanhas estavam convidativas e resolvemos ir ate Lago Verde a 77 Km dali. A estrada de chao era muito boa e a paisagem lindissima. Passeamos por vales e fomos beirando um rio verde, verde e de praia com pedras brancas. A vegetacao luxuriosa, o Chilco, uma planta de florzinha vermelha que parece um cininho esta em floracao e preenche o caminho por tudo junto a Nalca uma folha verde grande que parece reminiscencia da idade primitiva de tao grande. O tempo todo passear pela carretera Austral me da a impressao de estar dentro de um parque. Pouquissimos carros avistamos, pouquissimas casas, quase nao se ve gente. O tempo todo passamos por florestas de Coigues e outras arvores que desconheco. Muita agua, muitas cachoeirinhas e rios de pedras. O Sergio, dono da cabana, comentou que estao vindo muitos estrangeiros morar aquí pois dizem que a agua do Planeta ira acabar e aquí na Patagonia tem a vontade.
Lago Verde e uma pequenina populacao na divisa com Argentina. So paramos para almocar, nosso piquenique e voltamos em direcao a Puyuhuapi. Ate que ainda tem alguns turistas por aquí. O camping cheio e alguns motoqueiros pela cidade. Puyuhuapi e uma delica de pequenina cidade. Dormimos na Hosteria Alemana (27.700) que estava bem confortavel com as camas deliciosas. Na vez passada dormimos no Hotel da Luiza, estas duas Hosterias sao casas antigas Alemas que ampliaram para fazer o Hotel. E muito bom ter esta oportunidade de entrar nestas casas antigas, onde o dono ainda mora e a da Luiza e a primeira casa da vila e conta a historia da colonizacao do local pelos Alemaes. As casas sao muito bem construidas em madeira, por dentro os moveis que eles mesmo construiram sao fortes e de otima madeira. A casa esta cheia de flores e impecavelmente limpa. O café da manha ao estilo Alemao com pao feito em casa, salames, queijos, suco valem a pena.
Vamos sair em direcao ao Parque Queulat que e o meu chodo. E um lugar lindissimo.

As aguas verdes do rio no Camino a Lago Verde

This is what could happen (Camino a lago Verde)

Nalca

Gerry:
Wednesday, 16 March
Packed up and on our way before 10. the mountains to the east looked
fascinating and we decided to take a look along the road to Lago Verde
and by Jove, it was something else and we ended up getting “hooked” and
going right there. Ranges of sharp high mountains, many scarred with
great slashes of rock-falls, through which we wended our way with the
views of green waters below. The usual displays of waterfalls and twisty
roads along which we admired the mass of those huge leaves and the
bushes with lovely very red hanging “bells” with a blue inset. We have
been seeing a lot of these recently and, though we have both in our
garden at home, we found these even more special. Lovely bracing air and
we were fortunate to have a reasonably fine day with some sunny periods
so stopped often to walk a bit along the road.

We finally came to the chirpy little town with its neat, clean concrete
streets after the long dirt roads we had followed. It is virtually on
the border with Argentina and has some nice long treks to follow but, of
course, we don’t have the time nor the energy to tackle these. We took
our picnic lunch down to a clear spot before returning down the road.
Back at La Junta we carried on south to reach Puyuhuapi, a delightful
small town on one of those long fjords that come in from the west. Found
ourselves in a clean and comfortable small hostel where we have spent
the night. Unfortunately we seem unable to work the heater and so have
been under the splendid blankets provided. Always new places and new
ways of going about life.

Chegada em Chaiten e Carretera Austral ate La Junta

Claudia:
14 de marzo de 2011

Um pouco de dor de cabeca e uma tonteirinha sao reminescencias de uma noite mal dormida no Ferry Naviera Austral. Resolvi nao pegar cabine e dormir em cadeira e foi no que deu. Nao dormi nada com a barulheira dos outros e o desconforto. Mas fora isso a viagem sucedeu a maravilhas. Saimos de Puerto Montt a meia noite e chegamos a Chaiten as oito da manha. Estava chuviscando e o ceu encoberto, mas dava para avistar as lindas montanhas de Chaiten e seu majestoso Vulcao. Resolvemos sair de Chaiten e ja ir viajando. Nossa primeira parada foi para o café da manha no Parque Pumallin. UaUUUU!!! Ja a entrada do Parque se avista um Glaciar e montanhas nevadas. O Parque esta muito bem cuidado e ate com grama cortada. Tem lugares deliciosos para pique-nique, camping e caminhadas. Tomamos nosso café e viemos ate La Junta. Vamos passar a noite aquí em uma cabana. Antes de chegar a La Junta pedi aos ¨Senhores do Universo¨ que gostaria de encontrar uma cabana boa, bonita e barata. Queria no preco de uns 16 mil, mas minha intuicao disse vinte mil eu encontraria. E dito e feito, a primeira que paramos o simpatissisimo senhor pediu 25 e fez no final por vinte mil pesos. Eu trouxe matula de casa, frango com arroz e verduras, uma verdadeira farofada. Me senti bem saindo da rotina, parando para pique-nique e comendo ao ar livre.

Parque Pumallin

Gerry:

Tuesday, 15 March
We are now well into our travels already but couldn’t actually write
yesterday as we were about to get off the ferry. This had taken us
overnight to land in Chaiten in the morning, having arrived aboard the
previous evening about 9 pm. Then we had the long wait until midnight
when the ferry left and before the lights were dimmed. We were in the
large seating area with seats that could tilt back but it was difficult
to sleep there easily even though the lights were dimmed. The chairs got
awfully uncomfortable after a few hours and then people near us had to
start some inane chatter, especially the fellow who must needs talk into
my left ear to the ladies behind. Not the most restful of nights and
very similar to the awful overnight flights. Still, it was quick and we
were off the ferry by 9, feeling sleepy but excited to be heading south.

The town of Chaiten appeared to have been improved after the Govt
relented and brought back services and no further eruptions of the
nearby volcano had taken place. We didn’t linger there but drove out
awaiting some convenient spot to breakfast. Eventually came to a very
well-kept park – I think privately owned - which had this huge glacier
on the mountains beyond. We hadn’t noticed this on our previous drive
north a year ago, presumably because it was raining and cloudy. Now,
although a slight drizzle, the clouds were higher but really not good
enough for spectacular pictures. In the park we found a nice grassy,
lawn-type area to make a gorgeous place to have our breakfast. Lots of
various fruits we had brought as well as muesli and tea.

Drove further up this neat park past several beautiful camping areas
but, at this stage, no campers and we too would have no desire to pull
out a tent. Although we have brought our camping equipment with us
neither relish the thought of huddling in a wet tent. At the end I took
a short walk into the forest but, although very luscious around, no time
to reach the area of the glacier and anyway by then the drizzle was
increasing and clouds coming down. We now took to the dirt roads going
south with again those huge spectacular mountains around with many a
high up glacier. Quite slow going with so much to see but uninviting
weather and we found ourselves very tired. Had intentions of going
further but by La Junta, after lunch, found a pleasant little cabana to
stay and rest during the afternoon. As always on the first day of the
trip, one has much to sort out and organise but I am happy to say our
vehicle isn’t badly arranged and I feel we are ready.

So pleasant to sit and read with a good fire burning in the cabana
though I must admit to find myself wanting desperately to fall asleep.
Started my beer earlier than usual – I had had nothing the night before
– and enjoyed my wines before a really early bedtime and before it got
dark. Had to re-light the fire this morning but, with the aid of the
faithful old pocket knife, managed to shave off bits of kindling and
success was had. Wild and wet country this and can’t imagine how Beryl
Smeeton fared when she rode on horses through this area in 1938, when it
was virtually road less!

Preparando para sair hoje

Gerry:
Sunday, 13 March
All nice and exciting to be heading off on our journey south tonight. We
have all day to finish mowing bits of lawn and pack up everything. I
have already started putting things in the back of ‘Scamp’ and behind
the drum of water that is extra weight to help keeping the back down. We
are taking the tent and camping articles but I really don’t see us using
them unless really necessary. The weather has just recently turned a lot
colder but we are taking lots of comfortable clothes. Just hope the
rains don’t get too much over this next month although this will provide
the kind of weather that one must expect.