Photo Album: Austral Rt 7 north of Coyhaique
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The weather continued to be cold and wet when we left our B&B at Coyhaique. It was a quiet Sunday morning, we had a quick drive around, fueled up, and continued on the scenic Rt 7 going north.
Soon after we left town, we had to negotiate a very winding road up to a hill top with a viewing area, where the road turned to gravel again. Here we could have a grand birds eye view of Coyhaique, a fair sized town.
Gradually more and more farm lands with tall tree boundary, and mountains became greener as well, it seemed that we were easing out of the colder part of Patagonia.
Eventually, the road turned into a two lane sealed highway about 60 Km out. It should be easier on fuel and on the back side as well. But a new problem surfaced, as we gathered speed on the first length of long straight roads, the steering wheel started to shake, a good indication that the front wheel was out of balance. It would be a simple fix, but finding the shop to fix it is another question. So it was just a case of putting up with the discomfort.
Further down the road, more tall mountains became a standard feature, and small lakes.
And a beautiful lake for a bite and a reflective moment.
By mid afternoon, we reached our major attraction for the day, the Hanging Glacier at Queulat National Park, clearly visible from the road.
It was a long hike up and down, a 300m or so up a muddy steep mountain track, to the viewing point. First we have to cross a torrential river on a hanging bridge.
After an exhilarating hour, we have this close up view of the Hanging Glacier.
With climate change, I wondered how long will this last. In the meantime, enjoy.
It was late afternoon when we left the Hanging Glacier, and drove along a long bay, at the end of it, lies Puyuhuapi.
And found a small and comfortable hostel in the small fishing village.
Early, the next morning, With not a sound in the house, we weren’t too sure when our host will wake up for breakfast, so we stayed put until nearly 9. Unbeknown to us, they were actually waiting in their own quarter in another house, and we them here…. funny ! They must have explained to us in the previous night...we probably misunderstood it, with the language barrier. So it was well nearly 10, before we had breakfast and said ciao and gracias.
After a nice breakfast, we left our hostel at Puyuhuapi just before 10. The mist were still hanging around from yesterday's wet weather, but when we got onto Austral Rt 7 going north, the sky started to clear up like the forecast. After about 10Km of good road, we soon hit the big goat track again, doing no more than 30 – 40 Kph, but not quite bone shakingly.
There seemed to be quite a few cycling travelers on Austral Rt 7 , but probably the same was true during the whole time we were in Patagonia.
Three and half hours later, and 115 Km after leaving Puyuhuapi, it was time to say goodbye to Austral Rt 7, and head east towards the border town of Futalefu.
We had to go through a few mountain passes, some alongside rapid rivers which,
seemed to be white water rafting haven, and definitely we can see activities going on.
Futalefu is the last village / town in Chile we saw on this trip. We just need to cut through a few more mountains passes, on some narrow corrugated gravel roads.
And finally, the village of Futalefu, a small border village only with a few people. By now we are down to the last 10,000 Chilean Pesos, about $20, and just as well, since we'll soon be crossing back to Argentina anyway.
So far, we still had not came across any tyre shop that could balance the front tyre for us, hoping to the spend the last lot of our Chilean Pesos, but we could travel too fast anyway, so it hadn't been a problem at all.
After a small rest at Futalefu, 11 Km later, we arrived at the border post.
About 7 Km before the border post, it was grade A highway to the border, perhaps that's how the Chilean wants to show the Argentinian what good roads are about.
A few hundred meters away, the Argentine flag was waiting for us.
This must be a popular border post, it is quite a bit bigger than the previous at Cerro Castillo, down south next to Torres del Paine National Park, and they were slow, because the officers were very talkative. Possibly they were a little bored that day, late Monday afternoon.
Knowing that I came from Australia, the immigration officer kept asking me about Soccerooes, which I ashamedly do not know much except a few names, because, I don't follow soccer. Between his broken English and my minuscule Spanish, fortunately, I did not commit any big faux pax, for example, mentioning Ronaldo, who actually led the Brazil team in demolishing the Argentine a few times.....that much I know ! Phew !
We left the border post with all the requisite stamps, and left for Esquel, the nearest town for our night.
This was to be our last border crossing with Chile, so ciao to Chile. On this trip, we had only traveled through the beautiful and majestic Patagonian region of Chile, it certainly left an excellent impression with us, everything seems to work well, she certainly is not a first world country, but in many ways, it seemed a much safer country than Argentina with very friend people, especially after the saga of having our luggage stolen in El Chalten.
Along Rio Futalefu, we continued for a while through some mountain roads,
before a great wide plain, like that along the Altantic coast appeared. We are now back in Chubut Province, along the western borders with Chile, but still in Patagonia.
An hour later, on arriving Esquel, along the main boulevard, we were pleasantly surprised to find the Tourism Information office was still opened well after 6 pm.
With their help, we were able to locate a comfortable hostel, on the hills above the town.
So it was another long day, with 10 hours covering a pretty average distance of 270 km. We were poised to travel through another scenic lakes district of Argentina over the next few days.
Next Post : Lakes districts of Argentina ( Bariloche )
Other Posts: Index - 2013 Argentina-Chile self drive.
Other Posts: Index - 2013 Argentina-Chile self drive.
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