Chile
Adventures
Chile
“Chilling (not) in Chile"
Chilling (not) in Chile
“Criss Cross Mish Mosh: Choosing the Path of Least Resistance”
After escaping from Bolivia right before the 2019 elections and resulting violence, we headed toward San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, a small town located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
The Estallido Social
As we sipped on Pisco Sours in a hip bar on the main dirt road in the bohemian town, we celebrated our escape from the political unrest of Bolivia, knowing that Chile was probably the last place in South America that would experience the political unrest that we had experienced in Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia.
After all, Chile was a first world country that had been politically stable since the resistance to Pinochet’s regime in the 1980s. Just then we heard a crowd coming down the street banging loudly on drums and chanting “¡Chile despertó!” (Chile has awakened!). As it turns out, the day before a wave of protests had begun in Chile. These protests, which would become known as the Estallido Social or Social Outburst were initially sparked by a subway fare increase in Santiago but quickly evolved into a broader movement against economic inequality and privatization and became yet another uprising in South America that collectively became known as the Latin American Spring. But at that point in our journey, we had had enough of the Latin Spring. Not only did the protests, and the associated roadblocks, make travel difficult, but they also made it difficult for us to get the paperwork we needed to get Oz across borders. So instead of heading south toward Santiago where the protests were especially violent, we decided to head east into Northern Argentina and to return to Chile over 2,000 miles to the south in Patagonia where we had heard the impact of the protests would be limited.
Futaleufú
After an amazing time in Northern Argentina, we crossed back into Chile through the deep valley formed by the Futaleufú.
Locals refer to the valley as “un paisaje pintado por Dios” – a landscape painted by God. And as you drive through the valley, with the summits of glaciated peaks towering 6,000 feet above and the turquoise Futalefú river flowing below, it’s easy to see why. Despite offering world class fly fishing, hiking, kayaking and rafting, relatively few tourists explore the Futaleufú valley. The first settlers, who today live in tiny farming and fishing communities, began arriving to the densely forested region in 1912 and have maintained their fierce independence and gaucho culture. When the clouds lifted, we also explored the glaciated mountains surrounding the Northern Carretera Austral including Parque Pumalin and Parque Nacional Quelat. But the highlight of our time in the Futaleufú valley was the week we spent rafting the Futaleufú with Bio Bio Expeditions. We had been introduced to the owner of Bio Bio when we were in Peru and he made space for us on one of his one week river rafting trips. What makes the Futaleufú so special is its continuous class IV and V rapids.
The Carretera Austral
The Carretera Austral is a 770 mile road in Patagonia Chile from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins that was built by Pinochet in the 1970s as part of an effort to promote economic development in the 1970s.
When we completed it it was mostly dirt, making it an adventurous romp through forests, around fjords and over rivers. The Carretera Austral is full of adventures, including world class fishing, glacier tours, hiking in National Parks like Quelat and Torres Del Paine, hot springs and kayaking. You could spend a few months exploring the top adventures on the Carretera Austral but we had less time so we focused on a few select adventures including exploring small Mapuche communities, hiking in Queulat National Park and soaking in the Termas de Puyuhuapi.
One of the unique characteristics of the Carretera Austral, and all of Patagonia, is the ever present threat of natural disasters including floods, earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions. For example, one town we visited had been covered in 6 feet of ash when a nearby volcano had erupted and then suffered a devastating mudslide when a lake at the base of the volcano collapsed, causing ash infused mud to slide into the town, killing many residents. As we drove past the volcano and observed the path of the mudslide and entered the partially abandoned town below, we crossed our fingers and hoped that we wouldn’t experience any natural disasters on our journey south through Patagonia.
We skipped the last few hundred miles of the Carretera Aust ral, choosing to head east along the southern part of the huge Lago General Carrera where for a boat trip to the beautiful “Catedrales de Mármol” or Marble Caves. These beautiful blue and white marble caves were sculpted by the waves on the lakes over thousands of years. If you do this trip, we would recommend doing this in the morning before the wind picks up and the waves become huge, and sometimes dangerous on the river. In fact, Doug Tomkins, the CEO and founder of North Face who had led numerous environmental initiatives in Patagonia died of hypothermia on the lake after he went kayaking on the lake and got caught out on the water on a windy day.
Criss Cross Mish Mosh: Choosing the Path of Least Resistance
After the Marble Caves, we crossed back into Argentina on our way south toward Ushuaia and the end of the Panamerican Highway although we would cross back into Chile one more time on our way south.
Despite the fact that we had to skip northern Chile due to the protests, we nevertheless felt like we had experienced a lot of the best of what Chile has to offer, although we know that we could literally spend 10 years in the country pursuing all of the amazing adventures that the country has to offer. Will we return to Chile someday? Only time will tell. But we are certainly tempted.
Here are a few of Our Chile Favorite Adventures.
