Queulat

(Coyahaique, Chile) I thought I was getting the idea of what patagonia is all about, but now I know that one doesn’t really know Patagonia until he has walked a few kilometers uphill with a 40 pound backpack in the rain. This week Sergio and I went for a little camping trip to Queulat Nacional Park. Again we relied solely on thumb power to get us there. We had some pretty good luck getting rides on the way there but also did some rough walking on forest roads. Finally some park workers picked us up and told us we were crazy to be walking in the rain and that we still had 40 km

to go. Lucky for us they stopped.

This trip we stayed in a more organizad campground with bathrooms and running water. It rained most of the time, but we found some other travelers to hang out and drink wine with. The main attraction of the park is Ventisquero Queulat, a glaciar hanging off a mountain. We took a boat trip out to get a closer look. The park worker was telling us that in the 1970s the glaciers reached all the way to the lake but you can see from the picture how small it is now. So we’re likely the last generation to be able to see it.

We didn’t do too much hiking in the park. We mostly just chatted with the neighbors ate and cooked. We got to Queulat in record time and so had plenty of time to find another place. The return trip to Puerto Aisen will always be known as “pickup de la muerte” to us. A group of three 20-something gringo fishermen, drinking beer and listening to Van Morrison told us to hop in back. It was great to get a ride all the way to Mañihuales but it was cold and uncomfortable. You don’t know Patagonia unitl you’ve rode for two hours on a potholed gravel road in the back of a pickup in the rain and sleet. The view, of course, was amazing. Mountains, waterfalls, rivers, fjords. But my hands were too cold to bother with taking pictures of any of it. From Mañihuales we got a ride from “pickup de la muerte II” all the way to Aisen. We had planned to get a ride to another lake to camp but it was getting late, and we were cold so we wimped out and stayed in a Hostel that had cable TV.

Monday I’m hitting the road for solo travel. I fly to Puerto Montt and then I don’t have any plan, only to meet up with Sergio in Santiago in a month or so. The time here in Coyhaique really has flown. The family I’m staying with is a special group of people, each person a real character. They are bummed that I’m leaving. “Why can’t you change your flight?” It really has been nice staying there and getting to know them all, and I always wanted to have a home stay. Oh... and the food. I'm not starving for sure.