Southern Chile Road Trip

Big thanks to lashonharangue for taking us along on his trip to Chile!  I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have.

On the Road: Week of October 5  (5 am)
Albatrossity – Summertime in Scotland – #3
Jim Appleton – A life behind the lens
?BillinGlendaleCA – ?
Warren Senders – Life in India in the 1980s – #1
MollyS – Paris After Dark, off the beaten rue, mostly …

Parks After Dark: Week of October 5  (10pm)
randy khan – Mirror, Mirror – Crater Lake National Park
Dagaetch – Acadia National Park
Dagaetch – Harold Parker State Forest
Wag  – Parks and Recreation Areas in Utah
1 slot is still open

As you can see, we are sticking with the 10 pm time, which was my preference anyway, so that definitely works for me!  Get your submissions in for Parks After Dark, and start sending Fall Colors and New Orleans, as well!

lashonharangue in Chile

We left El Chalten and spent the next day driving. We drove south, recrossed the border into Chile, and checked into our hotel room in Puerto Natales. The ferry we had booked for the return trip to Puerto Montt didn’t leave until New Years Eve. So we had a couple of days to do day trips.

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip – Part 8Post + Comments (18)

lashonharangue in Chile

This series is called the Southern Chile Road Trip. However, the next leg of the trip took us into Argentina. We had booked passage on a ferry from Puerto Natales to carry us and the rental car back to Puerto Montt, thus avoiding driving all the way back. The Carretera Austral ends in Villa O’Higgins where it runs into a large ice field. Puerto Natales is south of the ice field. So after seeing Puerto Tortel we drove east along Lago General Carrera to a border crossing into Argentina and then headed south. 

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip – Part 7Post + Comments (12)

lashonharangue in Chile

The Carretera Austral was finished in 2000 in the small town of Villa O’Higgins. Puerto Tortel, further north but on the coast, did not have a connecting road built to it from the main road until 2003. Until that point it could only be reached by boat or horseback. The port was not always accessible because of stormy winter weather.

So we turned toward the coast after leaving Puerto Río Tranquilo and stopped about halfway at a farm that had a campground according to our guide book. First we had to get there.

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip – Part 6Post + Comments (19)

lashonharangue in Chile

Arriving back in Puerto Río Tranquilo we found the weather perfect for touring the Marble Caves (in Spanish Capillas de Mármol​, literally marble chapels). There are many tour boats that hold about 20 people each. They leave about every 15 minutes in a staggered schedule so they don’t all crowd around at the same time.

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip – Part 5Post + Comments (15)

On the Road: Week of September 28 (5 am)
Albatrossity – Summertime in Scotland – #2
lashonharangue – Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA
?BillinGlendaleCA – Warp Speed Ahead and into the Vortex…
dmbeaster – Joshua Tree National Park
way2blue – Palawan Province, Philippines #2

After Dark: Week of September 28 (10pm)
We have the final 5 installments of lashonharangue in Chile!

Parks After Dark: Week of October 5 (10pm)
randy khan – Mirror, Mirror – Crater Lake National Park
Dagaetch – Acadia National Park
Dagaetch – Harold Parker State Forest
2 slots still open

As you can see, we are sticking with the 10 pm time, which was my preference anyway, so that definitely works for me!  Get your submissions in for Parks After Dark, and start sending Fall Colors and New Orleans, as well!

lashonharangue in Chile

Driving south from Villa Cerro Castillo we headed for Puerto Río Tranquilo on Lago General Carrera. This is the site of the famous Marble Caves. Unfortunately when we got there it was too windy to take a boat out on the lake to see them. We found a nice private campground in town and decided to reshuffle our itinerary.

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip Part 4Post + Comments (8)

I need to pose some questions to the On The Road peeps:

• How would you feel about moving After Dark from 10pm to midnight?
• Would that work just as well for most of you?
• Work better for some of you?
• Would it eliminate After Dark as something you read at the end of the day?
• Would you only see the midnight After Dark in the morning along with the regular On The Road?
• Anything else I should be asking related to a time change?

Please answer in the comments.  Thank you!  ~WaterGirl

lashonharangue in Chile

Continuing south from Ventisquero Yelcho we took a short detour off the Carretera Austral to Futaleufú. This is a small town that has become an adventure destination for white water thrill seekers from around the world. Since we didn’t fit that demographic, after a night stay in a cabaña we headed back to the Carretera Austral and made our way to the tiny port town of Raúl Marín Balmaceda. 

Unfortunately that involved a ferry crossing in the smallest vessel of our trip. Unlike the others it was not roll on roll off. It had only one ramp. The ferry had room for just one other truck and our SUV. There was no place to turn the car around near the ferry ramp. I had to turn around about 200 feet up the hill, and back down onto the ferry using the side mirrors (the back was filled with our gear). I managed after several attempts that included some jerky stalls trying to work the clutch.

When we didn’t want to camp we usually found a hotel or cabaña using the internet and Bookings.com. We have a neat wifi hotspot device that we pay a flat fee for cellular based internet access regardless of carrier or country we are in.  

We arrived in Raúl Marín Balmaceda and it was pouring rain. The village is built on a sand bluff above the surrounding water. It had about four streets and none seemed more than about three blocks long. Unfortunately there is no cell service there and we had no reservation. We started driving around looking for a lodging sign and saw a man walking down the street. In our broken Spanish we asked about where to stay. It turned out he had a lovely cabaña available next door to his house. Yay!

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip Part 3Post + Comments (34)

Thanks to everyone for all the ideas this week!  I read all the comments in real time last night and then read them again today.  After this lovely road trip to Southern Chile is complete, let’s go with Parks After Dark for our next series.  National parks and state parks are good – that gives more people an opportunity to submit their photos.

Parks After Dark will start in just over a week, so start your engines start sending in your photos! Also, I don’t know how long that series will last, so please also start sending in your photos for Fall Colors and for New Orleans.

We’ll have another powwow in a couple of months to figure out where to go after that.

lashonharangue in Chile

We drove off the ferry in Caleta Gonzalo and arrived in a temperate rainforest. Thick wet vegetation closed in on both sides of the gravel road. A few miles after disembarking we arrived at the Sendero Cascadas Escondidas campgrounds. This is at the northern end of the million acre Parque Pumalín. It was early season and there was only one other camper there. We set up our tent and started hiking up a wet trail that left from near our campsite.

On The Road After Dark – lashonharangue – Southern Chile Road Trip Part 2Post + Comments (19)