The Carretera Austral Patagonia got it's name from Magallanes. When he first arrived to these latitudes, started the legend of existing giants whom he started calling Patagones (for their big feet).
Before this trip, I associated Patagonia with Argentina only, but the truth seems to be that Patagonia is both the Argentinean as well as the Chilean side; at least some pamphlets and maps refer to the Patagonia as the whole region. We actually got into an interesting argument with some Argentines that claimed Patagonia for themselves only, you know the typical regional rivalries that exist everywhere in the world…
The Carretera Austral is a dirt road that starts in Puerto Montt and covers the north of the Chilean Patagonia, 1,000 kilometers that drives you through multiple turquoise lakes and lagoons, hanging glaciers, fiords and national parks, a scenery worth seeing. At times I though a certain view resemble the Swiss Alps, but I turned around and I saw Alaska and a little bit down the road it was clearly Scotland or Ireland… I know comparisons are not good, but I hope that by describing you the feelingsI got driving this road you could imagine in your minds what is like…
We got rain, temperatures of 5ºC (40ºF) and wind of 100 kilometers/hour but we still enjoyed the scenery. Driving was a blast, even in these weather conditions, the road sharply climbs while turning, bends as you crest, then it quickly drops as I negotiate potholes and rocks… but I would not say the road was dangerous. Maybe my motorcycle driving buddies will understand these feelings!
The amount of fauna that crosses our way keeps amazing us: we saw multitudes of ostriches and Guanacos (Llamas), condors, falcons, rabbits, horses, fox, cows, bulls, even an armadillo…. The condors where huge! 3 meters long with their wings spread open.
Enric
"Notes from the back of the bike"
The day we began the Carreterra Austral, I did not think we would drive. We arrived late at night in Chaiten, and it was raining. In the morning it was still raining. We tried out the disposable ponchos that Tere and Pepe (Enric's family) gave us at our pre-wedding party, and walked around town constantly adjusting ourselves in our transparent orange plastic. Chaiten is not much of a town, and after Enric snapped a couple of rainy day shots, restlessness won out and we decided that we should not wait for the sun, but instead try to drive through the rain.
It turns out that our Gortex is much more effective than our stylish orange ponchos (that we are still keeping for another occasion). Once packaged into our motorcycle pants, boots and jackets, we slid the industrial strength rubber gloves over our biking gloves and we were ready to jump into a river and stay dry. As soon as we left Chaiten, the clouds lifted, the green trees stuck out, and the rain faded into a light drizzle. This is when we realized that weather in one town indicates little about what is down the road, and if we wait for sun, we will surely wait forever. Thanks to gortex, fiberglass and rubber, a little rain never gets in.
Enric told me later that this was the day that he began singing the sunshine song (Check the Argentine page for the story of the Sunshine Song).
Torres del Paine....
We had to pinch ourselves again as we drove into Torres del Paine on a hard dirt road. Actually, when we are excited we both usually just slap our legs and raise our hands in the air (while on the bike). Despite the miserable weather of summer, the clouds had lifted and we could see the Torres peaks. This is a road trip, and it is by chance that sights like the glacier Perito Moreno cross our path (we had seen that the day earlier). Basically, we will see what naturally crosses the path we carve through South America, and we can make some strategic deviations. But running into this site so soon after the impressions of the glaciers made me think that we really really really are having a lot of luck. We hiked around the park and up and over a few thousand rocks that lead to the viewpoint of the Torres - 4 massive walls of rock, each 2000 meter tall peaks shoot straight up out of the ground! They are nestled in a valley of other mountains and along side "2 horns". Together these formations rise up from the floor of the mostly flat Patagonia and from far away, the Torres del Paine looks like one big mountain fortress alone in the middle of nowhere. We look pretty well coordinated looking couple on the mountain with our Dainese motorcycle jackets (we did leave the helmets behind). We should look into company sponsorship.
Torres del Paine was full of Americans, French, Spanish, Germans, Chileans and Argentinans of all ages. Many stay there and take day hikes, and others, like our friend Juan, venture out around the park for 5 and 10 day treks where they camp along the way. The groups of "more mature adults" were staying in the rustic, beautiful and expensive hostel in the park. We chose to camp. After all, this is what every other person our age seemed to be doing - and in the snow! I don't know if the years living in San Diego and Guadalajara are making me "soft", or it was just cold, but I woke up once an hour so that I could shake my body around inside of my sleeping bag in order to warm up. The next night I was so thankful for the hospedaje we stayed in and its great hot shower!
The cold has numbed my fingers and toes, but the experience is still amazing. We keep going south, keep meeting warm and interesting people, have hilarious interludes with the motorcycle and dream about reaching the Southern most tip of the world. I may not be the robust for all weather type of person, but the thrill of this experience is ever present.
I still knock on wood for the weather and for no flat tires. Hopefully Enric will keep singing the sunshine song. We had to leave the dog Olaf behind, despite the suggestion by the local "empanada" shop owner that we buy a sidecar and bring him with us.
We are about to cross the Straights of Magellan and make the final loop to the Southern most city in the world. The temperatures are dropping, and the trees in the Patagonia all grow in one direction - that of the wind, that we have crossed, followed and to into which we have driven headlong. I have my eye on the sunny skies of Buenos Aires.
Kelly.
What Kelly doesn't know is that you can not sing the song at all times!, instead you have to carefully select when to use your magic!. If it's a terrible rainy, windy and cold day, even if you ask the sun to come to visit you, he may have not the necessary strength to fight with rain, win and clouds to illuminate you. You need to be reasonable or you lose your credibility with the sun!
Enric.
