Distance traveled, so far.
Looking at the miles we have driven since Cartagena, nearly 3 months ago…8100miles or 13000k’s. We still have another 2500 k’s to go to get to Ushuaia, at the bottom of South America. Then start the journey north again, on the eastern side of the continent.
Our camp last night.
Our host, Cesar, was everything that has been missing from camps in Chile, so far. It was great that we could communicate in English, but he was accommodating in helping us to find shelter for the Caranex. The rain had not let up and we were concerned about fully exposing the Caranex to downpour. As it was, we were able to back Poki right up to a shelter, which did the job perfectly of protecting the Caranex..
Not having to race away this morning, we got some extra sleep and woke to beautiful sunshine.
Thank You iOverlander for guiding us to this camp. Judging by the happy comments of other campers, we found the right camp, among many others nearby. The facilities were basic, but clean and fresh and everything worked. Extremely rare.
A relaxing day, today
We are now on the vaunted Carratera Austral. A road that will take us much of the way to Ushuaia.
However, there are sections of the journey that have no roads. Jen has been concerned about ensuring we are able to book those sections in advance, as some ferry’s do not go every day and booking your vehicle ahead, is important. Cesar was able to direct us to a ferry that we didn’t know existed. It seems it is also reputed to be much cheaper than the advertised route. We have booked this route and are now waiting for the ship to be bought into the berth. The ferry is scheduled to leave at 7pm this evening and berths at 10pm tonight at Ayacara. Then departing at 7am tomorrow morning and on to Caleta Gonzalo, arriving at 9am. We are hoping we can sleep on board, in Poki?
Visiting Hornipiren.
With many hours to kill, and not far to drive, we opted to take the secondary coastal road to Hornopiren. It’s a contorted drive but with beautiful coastal scenery. Salmon farms and boat building sites close to the waters edge.
This one nearing completion.
This one, not so.
The drive, approximately 21ks, is past hobby farms and lots of dilapidated accommodation. This is for those that want to avoid city life.
Again, the sky was looking threatening. A beautiful morning was not going to stretch into the afternoon. By the time we rejoined the main road to Hornopiren, it was raining again. At Hornopiren we refuelled with diesel and bought some food items. It’s quite remote and all the shops have the same stuff. Chippies/crisps, CocaCola and biscuits but we managed to find some oats and fruit.
We had to retrace our journey by 17ks to the small port settlement of Pichicolo, where the ferry leaves from. The drive is very reminiscent of the Haast Highway in the South Island. The vegetation is in full bloom for spring.
Sitting here in the car park watching a a half dozen or so vultures?, sitting looking very forlorn in the pouring rain.
on the fence and lamp posts, I just realized why. They are overlooking a salmon farm and obviously get to taste the captives, from time to time..:)
Right on time at 6.45pm the ferry leaves it’s mooring and nudges into the loading ramp. There are only 9 vehicles, including a few trucks, so we were all on board in 15min and the vessel backed out into the bay, swung around, and we are under way. By 7pm we are dining in Poki.
Also on board, two young Swiss cyclists who are also cycling to Ushuaia. We don’t envy them riding in the rain but admire their tenacity for the journey.
It’s now 9pm and the sun, which came out just as we were boarding, is now low on the horizon. There is snow on the mountains in the distance. This southern part of the Chilean coast is almost an inland sea. There are vast inland harbours. The sea is flat, ruffled only by a slight chill breeze. It’s beautiful, nudging between salmon farms and islands. There are fur seals sitting on pontoons associated with the salmon farms. Perhaps they also taste salmon? interestingly, we have not seen salmon for sale anywhere, though we often dined on Chilean salmon, in Colombia and Ecuador.
Our ship has clearly seen better days around the coat of Greece, as there are Greek stickers on windows. Still, it’s working well and the crew seem efficient.
At 10pm we arrive at Ayacara and are required to drive off the ship and find somewhere to park to set up for the night. It seems others in the past have been able to sleep on board, in their vehicles. Not so now.
We drive a couple of hundred meters up the road to a place where we can pull in. It doesn’t take us long to get the bedding in pace and climb into it. The alarm is set for 6am. It’s starting to ran again. Good night..:)
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