This metropolis of 55,000 calls itself the capital of Patagonia which is truthful sufficient as there isn’t a different neighborhood that comes shut in measurement on the Carretera Austral.
We obtained a late begin parked in our gravel pit off the (paved) freeway, 40 miles south of Coyhaique, and that was partly as a result of the day forward promised nothing a lot too attention-grabbing from a vacationer standpoint.
I needed greater than something to clean the mud and dirt off GANNET2 now that we had been safely on pavement. Layne needed a laundry and an honest grocery store. We each needed sizzling showers. Not significantly attention-grabbing or engaging as packages go however that’s the truth of overlanding.
As you possibly can see from the map Chilean Patagonia is a protracted skinny strip like the remainder of the nation however round right here it’s all indented with fjords. The land is usually preserved as parks that are closed to us with our Rusty, and entry to the ocean and ocean views can be restricted. However the mountains must be lovely, we hope. The factor is when you come to Chile you’re slightly obligated to take a look at this freeway.
This was the sting of the Cerro Castillo (Fort Mountain) Nationwide
Park and you may see it actually is sort of spectacular. Rivers, pine forests and mountains places me in thoughts of Montana or Colorado.
It’s all fenced in and the turquoise scraps on the roadside are the stays of some type of plastic retaining system to maintain the soil in place.
After which we had been in farming nation. It regarded so peaceable and pastoral it felt totally totally different to every other a part of this area of Patagonia, calm civilized, crammed and taken care of by precise farmers.
I simply actually preferred this peaceable productive valley.
And I took just a few images as we drove by the drizzle.
I all the time thought the maté drink d joyed in Argentina ought to keep in Argentina however this statue celebrates the stuff. And I nonetheless assume it tastes like creosote.