Pumalin National Park

The journey along the Carretera Austral ends for us in Chaiten, from where we took a ferry to Puerto Montt. Chaiten is a completely uninteresting town, without any special attractions of its own. But near the town is situated the Pumalin National Park, a good example of Valdivian temperate rainforest. Here we spent an interesting afternoon, walking a well-maintained circuit. Unfortunately, the weather did not allow us to climb the cone of the Chaiten volcano, located in the national park, but reachable only after a route of about eight hours of stenous trekking.

There is a saying in Patagonia, “he who is in a hurry wastes time”. It seems to me to be from the category of “festina lente”. And indeed, here people do not seem to be in a hurry, even in traffic jams no one honks. In Patagonia we realized once again that running from one “tourist attraction” to another makes no sense. We drove relatively slowly and enjoyed the wonders of nature, we had time to talk to interesting people. The journey along the Carrera Austral rewarded us with a fantastic travel experience.Read more