Welcome back to the Patagonia Expedition. After starting our hitchhiking adventure along the Carretera Austral, with stops in Chaltén, La Junta, and Puyuhuapi in the last post, we keep traveling by thumb into rural Patagonia. Where, we hike to Cerro Castillo, and take a boat to the impressive marble caves of Puerto Rio Tranquilo in this post. Good morning from rainy Puyuhuapi. Our plan for today is to get from Puyuhuapi to Couhaique. And this is our last view, hopefully, to Puyuhuapi. Friends of hitchhiking and adventures, we just had the most uncomfortable ride on this whole trip. We were in the back of a pickup truck, and thought it’s maybe a good idea to squeeze in between motorcycles and bicycles. How was it? Then, everything went numb. And these are not paved roads. There’s potholes everywhere. So we were justThis bumpy ride took us to the Bosque Encantado, which is here. But it’s also very wet. It’s still raining. We’re totally soaked. Yeah, we’re waiting for the sun now.
Cerro Castillo Marble Caves of Rio Tranquilo Carretera Austral Chile Patagonia Expedition Photo Gallery
Alright guys, we’re again in the back of a pickup truck. And this time, Celine and Stanley took us. They are standing over there. Isn’t it adorable? The ride on the back of Celine and Stanley’s pickup truck turned out to be the most beautiful, as the sun finally came out and we get to enjoy an open panoramic view of the incredible landscape from the Bosque Encantado, all the way down to Coyhaique, a stretch of, all together, km. We make it to Coyhaique. And this is our ride. Bye. We are on the road again. We’re leaving Coyhaique today, after a few days relaxing here, charging up. And we’re heading to Villa Cerro Castillo. Which, is somewhere there in the back. You see these mountains? As we found our ride, it’s Cesar, who brings us to Villa Cerro Castillo. We go hiking tomorrow. Cesar not only made a few stops to show us his favorite spots along the way, he also told us that he’s in the process of building a hostel in Villa Cerro Castillo to share the beauty of his region with travelers from all around the world. So we are now at the construction area of Cesar’s future hostel, which you can see here. Good morning. Today, we’re about to hike to the Cerro Castillo. This is the mountain over there. But first, we’re going to have breakfast. So, we’ve got our water resources. And now, we’re ready to go uphill. The day hike to Cerro Castillo is an alternative to the beautiful -day trek from Horquetas to Villa Cerro Castillo. This is Villa Cerro Castillo. This is where we came from. And now we’re up here. It’s quite exhausting. One-thousand meter of elevation. This down there was pretty impressive, but now, look what I found here. We made it! Cerro Castillo is a jagged rocky peak located within the Cerro Castillo National Reserve. Castillo means castle in Spanish. And the steep basalt walls of the mountain, indeed make it look like one.
On its sides, are a few small glaciers and lakes fed by them. That was nice, but now it’s time to head back down to the valley, to Villa Cerro Castillo. So, this is Cerro Castillo. And we are back in town. We found dinner. And beer. Good morning, guys. We’re up for going down to the next village, to Puerto Rio Tranquilo today by hitchhiking. And rule number one about hitchhiking, never do so on an empty stomach. Oh yeah. Hello. So, we are talking to you from Richard and Penny’s car. They picked us up about minutes into the hitchhike, which was good because the road was going to close in an hour and a half. And we get a beautiful scenic ride. Alright, we got dropped off where we wanted to be tonight, in Puerto Rio Tranquilo. It’s time to show you what traveling really is like when you do this kind of things here. Because, you don’t find lavanderias all the way. You have to wash your stuff. Next door, is Kristin doing her laundry. This is lavanderia de la casa, the homemade laundry. Alright, and here is the situation with the electricity. Most of the times, you just have one plug. So we have the converter in the plug, to plug in the power cube, which has all these outlets. Hola from Puerto Rio Tranquilo. We are back with Pato, who’s down there preparing the boats. And you might remember the place, because I was here years ago when Pato was my last lift when I came from the other side, when I came from Villa O’Higgins. He took me to Puerto Rio Tranquilo. And later on, took me out on his boats. And now, I met up with him again to do exactly the same thing. The marble caves are an unusual geological formation located at the center of the General Cerrara Lake. Which, is also the second largest lake of Chile. They represent a group of caverns, columns, and tunnels formed into monolith of marble which have been formed by wave action over the last, years. So now, we can see the dark. So, we’re back in safe harbor. How was it? It was awesome. Beautiful. Stay tuned for the next post, where we will explore the northern Patagonian ice field, and head down to the end of the Cerretera Austral in Villa O’Higgins. So, comment to this blog for new travel posts every Thursday. And check out my Chile travel guide if you also want to explore this region. Finally, thanks for reading. Hasta pronto. Good morning. Good morning, Kristin. (Together) Have a nice trip! Oh wait. Oh yeah, wait. We have another bag. It’s just the passport inside. Nothing important.
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