Day 294: La Carretera Austral – Day 5
When we woke up, we saw a beautiful rainbow stretching across the horizon – seems like a good sign! We optimistically took our camera out of the rice bag and turned it on…IT LIVES!!! We gave each other a celebratory high-five as we packed up and continued our scenic road trip, jubilant that we had a working camera to document the experience.
A rainbow appears over our campsite as if in celebration over our salvaged camera. With a HUGE sigh of relief, we continue our way down the Carretera Austral
We arrived at the end of the road at Puerto Yungay just in time for the first ferry of the day at 10AM. It’s a bit chilly outside, so Igor stayed in the warm car while Lindsay ran out to ask the Chilean Army guys standing nearby how much and where to buy tickets for the ferry. Their answer? IT’S FREE. How many times can I say that I love Chile?
We reach the final ferry of the road at 9:45AM, just in time for their first crossing of the day. Loving the price tag (“Gratis” means “Free”)
The Río Bravo ferry operators must be Tetris masters – Igor backs into the boat as they yell instructions to him in Spanish
Puerto Yungay fades into the distance during our 45min crossing to Río Bravo, where we only have another 100KM of gravel road to go until the end of the trail
This last section of the road to Villa O’Higgins was basically a dead end street – even though the country of Chile continues further south, the ONLY way to reach the cities of Puerto Natales (gateway to Torres del Paine National Park) and Punta Arenas (the southernmost city on *the continent*) is by crossing into Argentina. Igor noticed some mention of a crossing near Villa O’Higgins called Río Mayer during his research online, but we couldn’t find it on our Google Maps – we made a mental note to ask someone in town about it after we finished the drive. After all, if we could make the crossing today instead of backtracking to where we were yesterday, that would be much more convenient!
There’s not a lot of traffic in this area (it’s basically a dead end road), so the livestock often wander into the road without much care
Water, water, everywhere! We drive past tons of roadside waterfalls and fiord-facing lookouts
Snow-capped mountains and derelict old fishing boats along our final stretch of Ruta 7
We’ve reached the end. Sad – it’s a bit anticlimactic. There’s not much here except a small boat dock with a handful of navy boats and a small passenger ferry
We top off our fuel at the LAST gas station on the road, in the cute and über remote village of Villa O’Higgins
While there was a tourist information booth in the town square in Villa O’Higgins, it was still empty, even 20min after the posted “lunch break.” We found a large hotel with an excursion desk out front and figured they wouldn’t mind answering some questions for us, even if we weren’t guests. We met a really nice American working behind the counter who told us about their boat rides to the nearby Great Glacier (very weather dependent and takes a full 8AM-8PM day to visit – guess we won’t be tacking that on to our activities for today), and the two options for crossing into Argentina from Villa O’Higgins. First, yes – the Paso Río Mayer exists, but the reason it doesn’t show up on Google is because it is a *footpath* only! Second, there is a ferry…but again, for pedestrians only – no cars. Turns out, there are A LOT of tourists who either bicycle or *hitchhike* the Carretera Austral.
(We have seen many of them on the road, and we just shake our heads in confusion. The bikers look miserable: there is way too much car traffic kicking up dust to make it enjoyable. Plus, they are alternately sweating bullets trying to climb steep hills in the sun or drenched in the passing rainstorms. And the hitchhikers? OK, didn’t their parents tell them how fucking dangerous it is to get into a car with someone you don’t know?!? Also, how is it fun to spend half your day standing on the side of the road outside of the nearest town, waiting for hours for someone nice enough trusting enough to pick you up? Finally, can anyone explain to me the incentive for a driver to pick up a hitchhiker? Are they expected to help pay for gas? Or do they just get a free ride?)
Oh well, looks like we were going back to plan A: backtracking to the Paso Roballos. We drove back to the Río Bravo-Puerto Yungay ferry for the final crossing of the day at 7PM. Funny enough, the *one* time we knew the schedule ahead of time was when we arrived 2hrs early AND the boat was running 45min late. We had a loooooong wait in the car.
More gorgeous scenery during our return drive to the ferry
There is one final land crossing into Argentina (X-905) off the Carretera Austral near Villa O’Higgins, however the Paso Río Mayer is not open to cars – only pedestrians, bikers or horseback riders
The last return ferry of the day at 7PM is practically empty (only 4 cars and 4 bicyclists)
Crossing the Mitchell Fiord via ferry boat
It’s the Golden Hour as we cross the fiord – Igor keeps getting out of the car as the light just gets better and better for photographs
When we finally reached the main road, it was already 8:30PM. Unfortunately, there were not many shoulders off this section of the Carretera Austral, and the few miradors we did find were not very private, nor super scenic. We decided to stop for a quick beans & canned veggie dinner before driving along another hour to find a comfortable spot. We got delayed during our search when we were flagged down by 3 farm kids who had a flat tire. (We were a bit sketched out when they started waving us down at 10PM, but we didn’t want bad karma – all the guide books plead with travelers not to be a dick and leave someone stranded in this remote part of the country. The crime rate is almost non-existent down here, and – who knows? – it could easily be us with a flat tire tomorrow.) Unfortunately, we were no help as they didn’t have a spare tire to replace their flat and we didn’t have an inflator in our emergency kit. Luckily, they weren’t in the middle of *nowhere* – they had pulled over in front of a farmhouse and we could see the owner walking around so we knew they could probably ask him for help as well. (Although, the guy was walking around with a running chainsaw, which also contributed to our initial unease…)
We finally found a *very well hidden* parking spot next to a river underneath a bridge. Fully confident that no cars could see us from the road, we finally rolled out our sleeping bags and went to bed.
We are starving by the time we get off the ferry, so we pull over and make dinner at a mirador while we still have a little light. We then drive for another hour before we finally discover an access road leading to a riverbank – it’s well-hidden from the road by a bridge and a thick row of trees so we feel safe crashing for the night