Now that we have almost 2/3 of the Carretera Austral behind us, it is time to take care of the next section, the island of Chiloe. To do this, we inquire about the ferry options, there are three options (mind you, air distance is approx. 300 km): 1500 km through Argentina plus a ferry for € 15, 1000 km and three ferries for a total of € 80 or 500 km and a ferry for € 140. Everything is pretty violent (and in the end almost everything is equally expensive), but we opt for the shortest variant, but with the problem that the ferry only runs three times a week, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Great, since it is Wednesday, we have to complete our (manageable) remaining program on the Carretera Austral in either 3 or 7 days. Who comes up with such a timetable? Since seven days are too long for us, we opt for the Saturday ferry at 8 a.m. and hurry to get to the next national park.
The Parque Nacional Queulat is mainly known for its hanging glacier, but since we have had enough of it slowly, we are much more interested in the cloud forest that occurs here and we were recommended two hikes to enjoy it. Unfortunately, the attempt to explore the southern Sendero Bosque Encantado ends after a few hundred meters in front of a river without a bridge, because the path is currently not maintained and is therefore officially closed. We are already too late for the second hiking trail at three o’clock that day, because the park closes at 5:30 p.m. and we are no longer allowed in. Sad smile Therefore we spend the afternoon in the village of Puyuhuapi, founded by Germans, directly by the lake and manage to empty our car battery again because we forget to switch off the lights. This time, however, it will cost us a lot more effort to get going again. After the first two attempts with a hectic Chilean and a police car were unsuccessful, a German traveler (somewhat grumpy and pessimistic) rushed to our aid and we got the van humming again after almost 30 minutes. The battery was probably really empty. Somehow not our day today, but of course we don’t let that spoil our good mood. Winking smile
After we set off for the hike the next morning, the anger is almost gone and we simply enjoy the beauty of the forest, which reminds us a little of the Mossy Forest in Malaysia. This is of course also due to the fact that it has been getting warmer and warmer over the last few days and now there is also the high humidity. Patagonia really has something to offer from every climate zone and we are happy to have variable clothing with us!
The next “highlight” of the Carretera, the Park Pumalin, which was also founded by Douglas Tompkins, will be left behind due to lack of time, because we want to go to where supposedly hardly any Carretera travelers get lost. 70km of gravel (yippie !!!) plus free ferry (yeah !!!) to the small town of Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda for a walk along the fjord. There are supposed to be seals, dolphins and orcas (!!!) here. We arrive in the evening and the first attempt at dusk is not yet successful, but the next morning we manage to spot a sea otter and then even a few orcas from afar (we are not sure of it, but we are do not want to destroy the illusion Smile). Finally, a group of dolphins visits us right in front of our parking lot !!! Breakfast doesn’t get any better than this. On the way back we have to wait for more cars on the ferry and start talking to the captain (Erwin). Well, conversation is a bit exaggerated, it asks us a little bit in Spanish about our professions etc. and we try to put together the few bits of Spanish that we have learned in the meantime into reasonably meaningful sentences. But somehow the communication is not that bad Smile
Now it is time for our last section on the Carretera Austral to Chaiten, where the ferry will leave the next morning. We are now slowly coming to the volcanic region of Chile and are also welcomed in Chaiten by the smoking volcano of the same name. Here we end the trunk road 200km before the end (or beginning), but that would be only two ferries anyway and the island of Chiloe appeals to us much more. We spend the evening on a nice beach with a wonderful sunset and clearest starry sky before we arrive at the ferry at 5 a.m. The ticket says 3 hours before departure. We almost realize that this is probably nonsense, but we don’t want to risk it either. Of course there is still no sign of the ship at half past five and boarding only begins at 6 a.m., since nothing is going on we might as well have arrived at 7:30 a.m. But well, in the high season it is sometimes wild, so we prefer it so much. In positive terms, it starts at 8 a.m. and Chiloe is waiting for us !!!