Drive to Rio Tranquilo

I didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 6.30am.  It wasn't as cold this morning and I could have easily slept for longer.  Instead, it was the usual routine of tents down, fried egg sandwiches for breakfast, pack up, and back on the road for 8am.  

Emmanuelle and a couple of others had ended up going dancing in Coyhaique last night.  They didn't get back to camp until 3.45am!  Those days are long gone ...

We said our goodbyes to Ewan and headed south on the Carretera Austral towards Rio Tranquilo.  We had 217 kilometres to go.  The first half of the journey would be on paved roads.  The second half would be on unfinished surfaces and, consequently, would be much slower going.

It was much cloudier this morning than we've been used to.  The landscapes looked moody against the black skies.  As the weather brightened as slightly, we drove along the banks of a river where there were glorious swathes of vivid blue lupins growing wild.

We had a couple of toilet stops and a stop at a magnificent viewpoint.  I should have got the big camera out - I don't think the phone pictures will do it justice.

The drive continued into the afternoon.  We were going at a snail's pace on the unmade road.  We drove past lakes and crossed rivers that were all a lovely turquoise colour due to the minerals in the surrounding rocks.

At one point, we were overtaken by a pick-up truck with Ewan sitting in the back!  At least Barbara knows he got at least one lift today!Read more