Equipo Williams

We’re headed down to Villa O’Higgins at the bottom of the Carretera Austral. The southern most cities of Chile aren’t connected by road to the mainland: you either have to go through Argentina or take a ferry. We opted for the Argentina route and now we’re doubling-back on the Chilean side, driving to the bottom of the mainland road network.

We crossed over from Argentina at Chile Chico and the had 100 kilometers of rough road to meet the Carretera Austral. The southern most section of the Carretera is not paved and is fairly narrow in places. Meeting oncoming cars can be a bit of an adventure as the shoulders are steep and soft. The road is generally in good condition, but we’ve taken some air out of the tires for a smoother ride and we average about 45 kph.
It is also stunningly beautiful: the road hugs lakes and rivers with mountains and glaciers on either side. The pictures don’t capture it all.

The highway isn’t continuous either: in three places the road is interrupted by ferries. We’re currently at the southern-most one from Puerto Yungay to Rio Bravo. It’s a 45-minute crossing that operates four times per day. Our sailing is full with seven cars and a bus, which gives you a sense of how much traffic there is on the road.

The towns along the Carretera are small and widely separated. We took a side road down to Caleta Tortel which is an old fishing village hugging the hills of a cove. All of the streets in town are boardwalks, so after leaving the car at the parking on top of the hill at the end of the road, it’s down the stairs to the the boardwalks through town.

Villa O’Higgins has more of a “town at the end of the world” vibe than either Ushuaia or Punto Arenas did. Ushuaia had cruise ships, and Punto Arenas was clearly a city and had a large Antarctic support base, but Villa O’Higgins is just a small town at the end of the road. The town can easily be walked n about 15 minutes, and with a population of about 600-700 it’s very relaxed. We hiked to an overlook behind the town in the afternoon and could see the whole town with lakes and mountains around it.

After Villa O’Higgins, we’ll turn back north and head back up. We’re aiming for Santiago in a few weeks but we’ll probably cross back in to Argentina one more time around Bariloche, but our plans are fluid. We’ll see how the road goes.

Final note: I’m sitting on a backlog of a few posts from the kids. Wifi connections have been hard to come by; once we get something fast enough I should be able to post those.