The Carretera Austral, or Route 7 as it is otherwise known in Chile, is a legacy of the General Pinochet era. It runs south for 1,240 km from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins, passing through rural Patagonia. It provides road access to the southern parts of the Los Lagos and Aysen regions. Amazingly, for such a huge area in length, only about 100,000 people live there, highlighting the remoteness. The road itself has only a little over half of the surface paved, the rest being unpaved or “ripio” as it is known locally. Important to note that we were not aware of this last sentence until we were well and truly in the thick of it alot further south…
Our decision to take this road as far as we could south was one born out of our sense of adventure, excitement and nativity, the order which will be debated in our home for many years to come.
The fun began as we prepared to leave Puerto Montt. This is a fairly non-descript city that serves as a staging post for those brave enough to proceed south. We had been inundated with stories of lack of basic necessities along the Carretera Austral, and of those available being extortionately priced. So we stocked up the campervan to the absolute gills, carrying with us enough food and water to last a few weeks. Gas and diesel tanks were refilled, and a couple of million Chilean pesos were withdrawn (the exchange rate is a very generous 1,000:1 with the Euro, so not as lavish as it may sound)!
The journey south would not only entail maneuvering the vehicle around remote and difficult roads. We would be required to take three ferries along the way where the economics of bridge building or additional road surfacing still don’t make sense. The first of these came on day one at La Arena, where we enjoyed the novelty of a 30 minute sea crossing in our beloved Grandullona. Having successfully managed this, we drove to our next port at Hornoprien, where we would take two back-to-back ferries totaling 5 hours, leaving us at the remote Caleta Gonzalo port.
As we waited to drive our campervan onto the first vessel, a friendly American struck up a conversation with us. Dan was a Pennsylvania native with a keen interest in Southern Patagonia, having married a local many years ago. Himself and his wife Mariela were back visiting family in the area. The ferry journey flew by, as we learned all about the trucking and farming businesses they ran back in the US. As we departed, they were insistent that we come and stay on their farm, if and when we make it up to that part of the world. Them being big Pittsburgh Steelers fans, we may have to time any visit to coincide with the the NFL season schedule!
After the second ferry of the day, we got our first taste of Carretera Austral ripio road for about 15km. After the one hour it took us to complete this journey, we could confirm that our vehicle does not “travel well” on this surface, as per horse racing terminology. Every bump, jolt, rattle and bang is magnified when your vehicle doubles up as your home. Our camper van weighs over 3,500kg, is not 4×4 and was built the same year as Ireland last went to the FIFA World Cup (2002). But we survived this initial test of driving (and patience) and pulled into a remote spot just off the road. To describe the remoteness, probably a total of 3 vehicles passed us in the 15 hours we spent there.
The next days drive brought us to El Chaiten, a remote village that would come to epitomize those we found on our journey south. While trying to top up some fruit and veg supplies, we learned that the village only gets stocked once per week via the delivery truck from Puerto Montt. Unfortunately for us, we were closer to the next delivery than the last, so it was mushy bananas and mouldy apples on offer. Leaving empty handed, we eyed up the press full of tins we had in the campervan with a little more gratitude.
That night we slept beside a river and the start of a walk to a local glacier. Unfortunately for us, it lashed for most of the night and the walk would not be possible. Moreover, the river was becoming louder and louder, so as dawn broke, we decided to make tracks and not test the nautical capabilities of our own vehicle. Later that morning, we stopped at Villa Santa Lucia, a town flattened by the force of a huge volcanic eruption in 2017. A very sad sight, the town had clearly not recovered from this event and would likely still be recovering for many years to come.
Click here to read the “Learnings On The Carretera Austral Part 2 of 3” blog post
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