Chaiten to Coyhaique

Near Chaiten, we visited Parque Pumalin with a guide named Nicolas, who is originally from Canada. The morning started out in a New Mexico sort of way. We showed up at Nicolas' office at 8:30, as instructed. Nicolas showed up 15 minutes later, with a van full of travelers he had just picked up from the ferry. He told us he was having a paperwork problem with one of his vans, and a mechanical problem with the other van, and there would be a little delay. He said his secretary didn't show up, and he asked me if I would run his office for a few minutes while he worked on the paperworkm problem.

So Gary and I, and Grayson from Utah sat in the office. I took a phone message and sold a couple of bus tickets, and we got to know other travelers from Germany and the U.S. who came by to wait for Nicolas and the tour. By NOON, Nicolas had resolved the van problem and we boarded the van, a total of 9 passengers. Nicolas apologized by giving us each a piece of chocolate and playing a lively tune on a traditional stringed instrument.

But the day in Parque Pumalin was well worth the delay. We hiked in an alerce forest among alerce trees, some up to 3,000 years old. We ate nalca, the giant rhubarb plant. Every square inch of space in this rain forest is covered with plant species, moss, ferns, etc. Many of the species here, like the monkey trees, are very very old and existed during the jurassic period. I can imagine the dinosaurs eating nalca and walking among these trees and ferns!

We hiked along a rushing river to several beautiful waterfalls, and we enjoyed getting to know the other travelers in our group. We did not see the pudu, or tiny deer that is a foot and a half tall, but on the way back we watched the sun set over the pacific ocean behind islands.

Parque Pumalin is a nearly 3,000 square km privately owned park in the Patagonian rainforest. It's owned by an American named Douglas Thompkins, who established the park to preserve the environment. From what I heard, Thompkins and his wife started North Face, Patagonia and Esprit companies.

The rainforest in the park is so dense that you could never hike through it without a trail. The trails are really well kept and with wooden steps in many places where it is steep, and wooden suspension bridges over the rivers. But the vast majority of the park is trail free and road free, and I am reminded of how important it is to preserve this space, not only so that people like us can hike the trails but also just so that this place, teeming with life, can exist.

We wouldn't have needed a guide to hike in the park, but the problem is getting there. It's safe and easy to hitchhike in Chile, and we have done it, but on the road to the park you could wait half a day before seeing a vehicle.

The next day we took a 12-hour bus ride to Coyhaique. The driver, Juan Carlos, is a friend of Nicolas. And since Chaiten is such a tiny town, we had already met 7 of the 10 other passengers on the bus. Five were on our tour to the park, and two men from France are the ones I sold bus tickets to.

Many of our fellow travelers are college aged, but we also meet quite a few people in their 30s. We see people in their 40s and 50s too, but often we don't meet them. I think they tend to take package tours and stay at more expensive hotels, while we always travel independently and budget-style. There is a 'bus aleman' or German Bus that is a big red vehicle for 16 people with seats and beds and cooking facilities. It rode the ferry with us to Chaiten. The German Bus makes trips through this area every two weeks, full of German travelers. We have seen few American travelers until now, when there are more US college students on winter break. Some who have been studying abroad in Chile are now on break and traveling.

Our driver stopped every now and then so that we could take pictures of a fjord or glacier or river or mountains. All but one of us are foreign travelers, mostly from Germany, the U.S. or France. One passenger is from Chile. She is going to Puyuhapi, a tiny village, to join her boyfriend who has found a job there driving a backhoe. Puyuhapi is in a gorgeous location on a fjord surrounded by mountains, but there is absolutely nothing there but the hot springs and a road construction project. As it came into view the young woman began to cry.

In our bus, we passed two bicyclists who we had met on the ferry a few days ago. We waved at them, and they waved back, recognizing us too. By bicycle, it takes about 6days to get from Chaiten to Coyhaique on this gravel Carretera Austral. Buses travel the route several times per week, and now are filled mostly with travelers. Juan Carlos said that in the past more Chileans used the route, but now that Asian cars are cheap to buy here, mostly people drive cars rather than taking the bus on this route.

Juan Carlos has to plan his bus route around the schedule of the only gas station, located mid-route in La Junta. We are on the Carretera Austral, the main and only road going south through Chilean Patagonia. This major highway is gravel and 1 1/2 lanes wide. It has washboards like the gravel road I grew up on. Passing cars have to pull to the side of the road. But Chile is in the process of paving this highway. Juan Carlos opposes the paving, as it will change the nature of tourism in this area. This 12 hour trip will become 5 1/2 hours, and people will breeze through the area without stopping. Before the Carretera Austral was built in the early 1980s, this road was a wagon track for horses and carts, and it took a four wheel drive vehicle all day to go 200 kilometers.

Photos are at flickr.com/photos/kimigary under Chaiten to Coyhaique.