Roadtrip through Chilean + Argentinian Patagonia (Part One)

travel

Jan 4

This month marked a year since we took an incredible, month-long road trip through Patagonia (through both Chile and Argentina) in January through February of 2020. My partner Jesse and I had recently reconnected in Oaxaca, Mexico in November 2019 where our relationship blossomed (we’d met for the first time in San Francisco, California in 2015 but had lost touch over the years until then).

Jesse had planned to travel to Argentina after Mexico to visit a friend living in Rosario, Argentina. He knew I loved to travel and that I had family in Santiago, Chile. So he figured he’d shoot his shot and asked me to join him on the adventure. I had no hesitations or reservations and took off from Kauai to join him in Argentina.

After a month-long jaunt through Argentina (Santa Fe, Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, and Mendoza) and Chile (Santiago, Valparaiso, Viñas del Mar, and las Dunas de Concón),we began the Patagonia portion of our trip by flying into Puerto Montt, Chile. This town is situated at the headwaters of the Reloncaví Sound (el Seno de Reloncaví), where we took an overnight ferry south to the town of Chaitén, which is the gateway to Chilean Patagonia. The Northern half of Patagonia is known for it’s green and lush landscapes, contrasting with the southern region’s rugged, land of glacial-fed lakes and snow capped peaks that give way to “the end of the world” at the southern tip of Chile.

We tried hitching from Chaitén to Coyhaique (approx. 400 miles) unsuccessfully. So we bought 2 overnight bus tickets in town at the end of the day. We rented a 4x4 Truck (highly recommended). It helped us survive all of the “zonas de baches” or pothole zones and unpaved dirt roads throughout the region.

We spent a weekend in Coyhaique meeting up with a dear friend from the U.S., hanging at the river (Río Simpson), walking the town, buying groceries and last minute supplies for the road trip.

From Coyhaique we departed in our beloved VW Amarok truck headed for the town of Rio Tranquilo via Cerro Castillo, Chile. The first night of the road trip was spent car camping in a tent pitched in the bed of the truck and we woke up early the next morning to kayak to Las Cavernas de Marmol (The Marble Caves) on Lago General Carrera.