Talia and I spent roughly a week traveling along Rt7 in Chile (also known as the Carretera Austral) from Coyhaique to Villa O’Higgins. The drive was stressful at times and absolutely gorgeous. We flew into Balcemeda and had to take a shuttle from Balcemeda to Coyhaique (there is no airport directly in Coyhaique). Our shuttle actually turned out to be a taxi that charged us the same price of the shuttle (surprisingly) because both shuttles were full. Once in Coyhaique we rented a car. I must tell you renting a car in Chile, especially if you want to cross the border into Argentina, is no small feat. Talia had a contact who basically operated as a middleman between us and the car agency. I highly suggest doing it this way, especially if you want to cross the border. Without him I don’t think we would have gotten the correct paperwork. Even with this middleman we had issues with the paperwork and actually left Coyhaique without it but were promised that the paperwork would be sent within the next couple of days. Thankfully it was sent the next day and we were able to find a place to print it in Cochrane.

From left to the right: On the road between Coyhaique and Puerto Ibanez; First Viewpoint before Puerto Ibanez; View near our farm stay

Once we had the music all set up in the car, because music is key to long drives, we drove from Coyhaique to what is essentially a farm stay near Puerto Ibanez. I think to this day it’s still one of our favorite places we stayed. We loved it so much that we actually spent an extra night here. We didn’t book anything more than a day in advance while we were driving to give us the freedom to do whatever we would like and stay longer in places we loved. The owners had a couple of dogs and a cat that adored our attention as much as we adored theirs. The day we arrived we drove closer to Puerto Ibanez to see the Mirador Del Alto Del Rio Ibanez, which is this incredibly powerful waterfall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like this before and then afterwards we headed into town for dinner before returning to the farm stay. The next day we wanted to go hiking so we drove out to some trail heads near Villa Cerro Castillo but you had to park quite far from the trail head, plus the trail head wasn’t the same as what google maps/all trails was saying. We got lucky in that there was a local on the road who gave us a lift to the trail head. Hitchhiking the ‘short’ distance from where he picked us up to where the trail started was fascinating. The driver was Chilean by birth but had spent 10+ years in South Africa and had the most intriguing accent. He told us about how he had come back to Chile to help his family enter the realm of tourism. Apparently they own quite a bit of land in the South of Chile and are looking at running group trips between farm stays, that kind of thing. Once he dropped us off at the trail head we realized that we had started too late for the difficulty of the trail and then on top of that we didn’t realize that you had to pay to do the trail. Instead we ended up walking to another trail and along the way we saw one of my favorite moments of the trip. I truly wish I could have captured the moment because it felt like a moment out of a National Geographic magazine.

Picture this. You’re walking down a dirt road essentially in the middle of nowhere and occasionally pass a few farms as you go. The mountains are cloudless at the end of the road beckoning you forward when suddenly you see movement coming towards you. It’s a middle aged Chilean native walking towards you with a large stick in hand. Following him are two ox connected to a trailer of sorts and a few border collies running rampant. The photographer in me itched to take a photo but hesitated because some moments are just better to be lived in. I swear I felt like I was looking at the cover of a National Geographic magazine or some equivalent.

So I may have snuck a couple of photos of the Oxen, but this is not the exact moment I’m describing. I wasn’t able to capture that.

When we arrived at the next trail head, it turned out this was also a paid trail and would take longer to hike. At this point we just decided to turn around and hike back to the car (we were a good two hours from the car at this point). We passed our Ox friends again and were able to enjoy some beautiful views of the lupines along a river that passes by the area. We stopped in Cerro Castillo for a lunch in this super cute cafe that operates out of two buses.

From left to right: Bus cafe; view by the water around where we parked the car; Bus cafe

Afterwards we decided to take a different road back to the farm stay, which turned out to be a very questionable decision. We had been told that our car could make it on this road but let me just tell you once I started driving on it I had massive hesitations. By the time I felt like we really should just turn around, we’d already made it too far. It was quite the adventure filled with super steep hills on dirt roads, hares that came running out into the road and a calf that just didn’t want to budge. The car was literally crawling up some of the hills – note to self and readers, if you want to drive the Carretera Austral absolutely insist on a 4X4, that is all. What we didn’t realize was that this was the backroad to the waterfall we had visited the day before. All of a sudden I turned a corner and you could see it in the distance. The anticipation to see it built as I drove around a few curves before we were face to face with it again. Definitely a nice surprise. Before driving back to the farm stay we also asked some locals around town where we could find petrol. Shortly afterwards we found ourselves in an elderly’s man backyard as he used a funnel to pour petrol into our car. I was absolutely loving it though because this man owned countless cats and dogs that were just some of the loveliest creatures you’ve ever met. To clarify – he is the only “petrol station” in town. If you don’t want some elderly man with a whole herd of cats and dogs pouring petrol from water bottles into your car you’ll have to drive to another town for a proper station. I’ll take the elderly man and his animals any day of the week for the record, so much better than a proper station.

When we returned to the farm stay we were able to indulge in their lovely wooden hot tub before cooking ourselves dinner. We actually ended up eating dinner with the couple that was running the farm stay, which was super lovely even though I didn’t know much of what was going on. However there was one very exciting moment. It’s been a running joke since I did my divemaster in Mexico that I only know a couple of Spanish words, one of them being “Tortuga” (which means turtle). Among friends I’ve joked that maybe if I just say “Tortuga” enough to people they’ll understand that I have no idea what they’re saying and that’s the only Spanish I speak (this is genuinely a joke and not something I would actually do just to clarify). Anyways I’m attempting to follow this conversation that Talia is having with this couple when all of a sudden I hear the wife say “Tortuga.” Talia took one look at me and I got all excited. I exclaimed “Tortuga, I know what that means!” We all had a bit of a laugh before I went back to being lost in the conversation. Talia was certainly enjoying practicing her Spanish though and honestly we probably could have stayed there another week if we wanted too, minus the fact that they didn’t have wifi or phone signal, unless you sat at the end of the road. We watched the wife drive down to the end of the driveway multiple times to arrange things for us later on in our drive (like the kayaking in Puerto Rio Tranquilo). We’d have such a laugh when we’d catch her just sitting in her car to use her phone.

From the left to the right to bottom: Waterfall Del Alto Del Rio Ibanez; Talia demonstrating the wind at the waterfall; Some of the cute doggos at the farm stay; The view from near the farm stay; One of the many animals at the petrol station; The view from the hot tub at the farm stay

Once we left our beloved farm stay outside Puerto Ibanez, we drove to Puerto Rio Tranquilo. This stretch of road was, hands down, the worst that we saw during our week driving. It also didn’t help that the weather was miserable as well. I had such a headache from focusing so hard on the road but still went kayaking to see the marble caves as soon as we arrived in town. We got SO lucky with the weather this day. Apparently the lake that the marble caves are on tends to have rougher conditions. In English the name of the lake translates to Lake of Storms. The day we went though the water was glassy as could be. There were some other kayakers on the lake as well but it wasn’t overcrowded the way it apparently can become. If you want to see the marble caves but don’t kayak you can also do so by motor boat.

As we left Puerto Rio Tranquilo to drive towards Cochrane we couldn’t stop enjoying the views. They were spectacular. The road curves along the Lake of Storms, for some time as you exit town. We kept stopping at different curves in the road to take photos with the lake. The blues of this lake were just memorizing especially when the sun would play peek a boo and shine bright through the clouds. We also had some lovely cattle block our way, which always provides for some entertainment. Somewhere between Puerto Rio Tranquilo and before the turn off for Chile Chico we picked up a hitchhiker. According to Talia (and based on what we saw) a lot of people, especially backpackers, hitchhike their way down the Carretera Austral. The woman we picked up was around our age from France. For the couple of hours we were together she told us stories from her South American travels. She had been to some of the places we were heading to so we asked her questions along the day. She was traveling to Chile Chico so we dropped her off at the turn off and then drove the rest of the way to Cochrane. The stretch of road from here to Cochrane was terrifying. The actual condition of the road wasn’t quite as bad as the stretch between Puerto Ibanez and Puerto Rio Tranquilo, but the hills were horrendous. It was slightly terrifying to know that we would have to repeat this section of the road again as we would be crossing into Argentina via Chile Chico later in the trip. In Cochrane we stayed in this really lovely house I found on booking and we absolutely loved it. We were even able to do laundry! Just to be clear, being able to do laundry while on the road is such a luxury and I will always be grateful when I can.

From left to right to bottom: Talia with the Marble Caves in the distance; The Marble Caves; Me instead the caves; Talia and I with the Marble Caves; One of the views between Puerto Rio Tranquilo and the turn off for Chile Chico; One of the views of the Lake of Storms shortly after leaving Puerto Rio Tranquilo

We left the sleepy, yet already decorated for Christmas, town of Cochrane and drove to Caleta Tortel. This time instead of cattle we had a large herd of goats block our path. We also enjoyed some beautiful waterfalls along the way. In Tortel no cars are allowed into the actual town as all of the ‘roads’ are staircases or boardwalks. You park up at the roundabout at the top and then walk down towards your accommodation for the evening. Tortel grew on us and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay an extra day. Part of why we wanted to stay an extra day was so we could go on a boat trip to the Jorge Montt Glacier. When we booked it we originally thought it was a bit pricey for just a 6 hour trip but once 3pm arrived and we weren’t even remotely close to home it became evident that our 6 hour trip was actually a 12 hour trip. It takes approximately 3 hours to reach the area that you can see the Jorge Montt Glacier. Along the way our guide Seb was talking to us in English and Spanish about everything we could see as we were moving. The morning of the trip I woke up with no voice. I felt completely fine except I couldn’t speak any louder than a whisper. Seb found this completely hilarious and would occasionally just speak to me in a whisper to make me laugh. He was such a good sport about the whole thing. We moved through the ice field until we couldn’t go forward any farther because of the ice. We then docked in a small peninsula that juts out creating a bay in the river. Once we disembarked, we were able to enjoy the ice field and glacier from a different view point. Afterwards it was lunch time. The food was incredible, definitely not what I expected at all. There was soup as a starter and then mushroom risotto as the main. After lunch we took off on a slightly longer hike to the other side of the peninsula where we were able to enjoy some Pisco sour with ice from the glacier. The boat also picked us up from here so we didn’t have to walk back. The water conditions had been absolutely glassy on the way out to the glacier but as the wind did what it does best, the swell had picked up a bit on our way back. Thankfully nothing too bad, but by that point we were just ready to get home. I booked this tour with Waeskar Expeditions. They can be found on Instagram, Trip Advisor or simply by finding their office in town. Please tell Seb I say hi if you book with them!

From left to right to center to bottom: From a viewpoint in Caleta Tortel; Taken near the Jorge Montt Glacier; On the peninsula near the Jorge Montt Glacier; Lunch on the peninsula; One of the lakes on the peninsula; Taken near the Jorge Montt Glacier; Pisco Sour with the Jorge Montt Glacier in the background; Me and the Jorge Montt Glacier; One of the many dogs of Tortel

We walked back up the torturous hills in Tortel to our car so we could drive to Villa O’Higgins and then past Villa O’Higgins to the final stop to the Carretera Austral, Bahia Bahamode. The worst part of the road on this entire trip was the last five minutes at the entrance to Villa O’Higgins. At the time that we were traveling through you couldn’t drive on the main street of Villa O’Higgins due to construction. So there was a big detour around the main street to get anywhere in town. The sign for the end of the Carretera Austral is in Bahia Bahamonde, which is why we drove down there. The views from O’Higgins to Bahia Bahamonde were some of my favorites of the trip at that point. And of course, we took photos with the end of the road sign, because why not?

From left to right: Talia and I with the End of the Carretera Austral sign; Views between Villa O’Higgins and Bahia Bahamode; Me with the End of the Carretera Austral sign

If you choose to do the same section of the Carretera Austral as us, it’ll work out to be a total of 670km. If you do what we did and dive back up to Chile Chico to cross into Argentina it becomes 1,085km (just until the border). Stay tuned for Part Two of our roadtrip when we crossed the border into Argentina for even more adventures! Have any questions? Drop them in the comments below.