Cochrane

After leaving Patagonia National Park, we continued along our last leg of the Carretera Austral where we came across a hidden gem 'Refugio Rio Nadis' a beautiful campsite on a working farm nestled in the mountains just a 10km detour off road across a long suspension bridge. As we arrived, all the local farmers were out in the yard celebrating with an asado and lots of beer after a day of coming together to brand the farm's cattle. We watched on as they played taba, a game where a talus bone of a cow weighted with copper is thrown to the air. Upon falling, they make bets and guess if it will fall upward (suerte) or backward (culo). The famers wife Lily from Germany brought us down to their rustic refugio which had a lovely fogón wood stove, a bucket shower and beautiful tree house.

We would of loved to stay longer here and hike some of the nearby trails, horse ride or do some volunteering on the farm but with the deadline of the ferry we only had one night. Here we met a couple from Santiago who had recently been to Ireland and loved it as well as french siblings Alex and Céline. The following day, before leaving we bought some fresh veg from Lily's garden. We then drove on to Caleta Tortel with the french in tow. Alex who has spent the past five years living in tortel, filled us in on all the interesting history of the town on route.

Caleta Tortel is a tiny town, isolated at the bottom of the Gulf of Sorrows (Golfo de Peñas), nestled between ice fields from north to south, at the mouth of the beautiful Rio Baker. The town was founded in 1955 to exploit the wood of the Guayteca cypress, abundant in the area.

It's access road was only developed in 2001, before this inhabitants had to take a boat ride five hours down the Baker River to an outpost along the Carretera Austral where they then would have to hitchhike or horse ride another 80km until the nearest town of Cochrane. To enter the town, cars have to park at the small entrance at the top of the hill. There are no conventional streets, instead there are 8km of wooden walkways built with Ciprés de las Guaitecas. The wooden walkways and stilt houses give the town its distinctive look and unique culture.  The town also only got internet connection in 2019 and a new generator January 2023 which ended the daily scheduled powercuts.

The climate is rainy and cold all year even in summer with an average annual temperature of 8°C. This was very true for our one night visit which we spent mainly looking for warmth in cafes and a quirky family run restaurant with no menu where we listened to some sing songs from others waiting for the ferry and accordian playing by the owner.

Recommendations:
Refugio Rio Nadis- worth the detour
Caleta Tortel- nice to explore the stilted walkways
Island of the dead- boat tour from caleta tortel (we didn't have time)

23/02-25/02Read more