sorry, only google translate…
The small Chilean town of O’Higgins is the end of the “legendary” Carretera Austral, the South American counterpart to Route 66. Of course we will not miss that!
The distance between El Chalten and O’Higgins is about 120 km as the crow flies. We need 
almost four days for this … To cover this distance, we drive about 1100 km, around 800 of which on gravel roads, cross a border crossing and use a ferry four times a day. In addition, as already mentioned, it is the route that we were warned about due to lack of petrol. And it comes as it should, the third and most important gas station for us is empty and we have to wait a whole day for new gasoline … 🙁
It all sounds a little more negative than it actually is. The waiting for the petrol in Bajo Caracoles can be partly filled with a visit to an impressive human cave (Cueva de los Manos) with paintings dating back around 10,000 years. The petrol announced by the attendant at 3 p.m. is delayed indefinitely and we are waiting at the petrol station in the middle of the pampas together with other travelers, among others. another German couple who jet around with the same camper as we do. At around 8 p.m., the tank delivery finally appears and all waiting people cheer unanimously.
From then on, the route will just be bombastic. A large part runs through national parks or nature reserves, with jungle, green meadows as far as the eye can see. Always framed by the ever increasing peaks of the Andes. Among other things, the trip takes us through the National Park “Parque Patagonia”, which was first built up by the Americans Tom and Kris Tompkins with their own funds and later transferred to the National Park Administration of Chile. This is particularly astonishing because around 170,000 hectares of agricultural land have been restored within 20 years and that across borders between Chile and Argentina.
After we have to use up all the fruits and vegetables again at the border crossing to Chile (and have to be so careful that we don’t run out of pages in the passport at all the border crossings), we stock up in the small Chilean town of Cochrane. Then the most beautiful part of the journey begins. First 120km of gravel road to a (free) ferry that takes us across a fjord in just over an hour. Then another 70km to O’Higgins, along a beautiful fjord and picturesque lakes. We can not believe that we have this great stretch of road almost to ourselves.
Few tourists do this “ordeal” to themselves – O’Higgins had around 1,300 holidaymakers this season. Accordingly, it is very quiet, most visitors are cyclists and motorcyclists who want to make it to the end of the Carretera Austral. This road is said to connect the southern regions of Chile with the capital Santiago. Currently this is only possible with a boat or via Argentina. Its end is just 10 km south of O’Higgins, so there is still a lot to do with a 400km straight line to Puerto Natales …
In O’Higgins we stay two nights, take a short hike and (of course) take a photo with the street sign, which testifies to the end of the Carretera Austral.
On the way back to Cochrane we take the small town of Caleta Tortel, which is built into the slope with stairs and footbridges at the end of a fjord and can only be explored on foot. There are countless tourist buses in the parking lot, but the place is surprisingly quiet. They are probably all on one of the boat tours starting here to one of the many glaciers.
Our journey continues northwards, let’s see where we go next …