Chaiten to Hornopiren

Day 482.

With the clouds swooping in we packed up and drove north, passing through a remote village half destroyed by a recent avalanche, sad to see the terrible impact on such a small place with the only remaining house now doubled up as a functioning museum.

It wasn't long after before we arrived at Pumalin parque, our last national park of Patagonia, but we had no intentions to trek in this one. We were here for the hot springs and only the hot springs only, on a cold and cloudy day it couldn't have been more perfect. They had the added benefit of doubling as our weekly shower, making up for the last few days of uncleanliness. Bathed in the 40 degree pool on the edge of the river, watching the world go by and feeling fresher than we have for a long time!

Our spot to sleep tonight in the coastal town of Chaiten was right on the beach, and was thus the perfect spot for wildlife watching. For the first time in a long time limbster turned out to be a keen seal spotter and we spent the evening watching them play and splash around. That being said it wasn't all 100% accurate however and I don't think our fellow campers ever did catch those 'dolphins' limbster announced....

Waking feeling fresh we set out for a morning stroll on the black volcanic sandy beaches, it seems a simple stroll is now the extent of what our patagonia trekking life has become - were seemingly all trekked out! Headed to our much anticipated ferry, 4 hours of sailing through the fjords to hornopirén. Super slow journey but scenic nonetheless, even allowing time for a cheeky nap in the back of the camper - why not.

Unexpected guests tonight at camp, just as it turned dark, two truck loads of local Chilean gypsy's turned up. Within 5 minutes they had whipped up 3 huge circus like tents, about the same amount of time it took us and the rest of the nearby campers to hide all our belongings and lock down every door. It would turn out this casual racism was to be justifified when we saw firsthand said gypsy's robbing the local stores the following day - this coupled with the fact apparently nobody in this town understands my Spanish meant it was a swift goodbye to hornopirén for us and back into the mountains.

Something is up with limbster today, lagging slightly and not feeling her finest. Early self diagnosis puts the cabbage to blame, it turns out eating cabbage based meals exclusively (on account that we bought a giant one) can cause a number of stomach upsets. Based on history I'm expecting to catch up with these feelings ellies having no more than one day later. It would prove this time it wasn't even that long - who woulda thought it.

Nonetheless we had a hike to do today, after a slow start (with plenty of panting) we were up and down the 14km in no time. Granted limbster needed some swaying to keep going but she smashed it in the end, if you could call hobbling down 6km on one knee 'smashing it' I guess.

Interesting to see the abundance of illegal logging for the first time, and exactly why so many national parks are being created. Granted they werent quite what you expect illegal loggers to look like - 60+ year old men with machete in hand and facing an hour uphill walk to work every day. Safe to say these forests won't be going anywhere anytime soon..

Craving an afternoon nap after this mornings activities we headed back out to the coast, finding the perfect spot to crack the boot and drift off for a few hours to the sound of crashing waves. Energy was much needed as we had a good few hours of off road driving in store today - boy did I forget to appreciate tarmac roads enough.

Came to the conclusion that we did not want nor physically we were able to eat more cabbage, and Limbsters face at the thought of a stir fry said it all. So tonight we treated ourselves, stopping in a local town for fresh pizza and two pints of Stella of all the beers! If we didn't already deserve it enough the slight scare only a few minutes before with jengibre becoming well and truly stuck down a sheer gravel slope made sure of it.

Even with our new sense of teamwork, me limbster and jenggers in escaping all danger it seemed silly to venture back to our planned camping spot (with that sheer gravel cliff) I don't think the clutch would have last a second punt. Opting therefore instead to pull off the main road and rest our heads, after todays activities we were asleep within seconds!

P.s We've lost the horse flys but have made it into bee territory. Fortunately they're friendly and just result in abundance of delicious honey for sale - much better than horse flys!Baca selengkapnya