Patagonia on stand-by

Let’s start with yesterday. We spent our last day in Puerto Varas and took the opportunity to go halfway up Volcan Osorno. What an amazing place and what stupendous views!

In the afternoon we took a complete tour around the vast Lake Llanquihue, which took several hours. The scenery was most serene, and we were amazed at the number of ranches we saw. There must be more cows here than anywhere outside of Texas!

While cows outnumber sheep 100 to 1, I liked this photo where the wool of the sheep is the same color of the grass.

The town of Puerto Octay

And now let’s talk about today. We began the day full of insecurities. Finally entering Patagonia, we were told that it may be quite difficult to find space for our vehicle on the ferries; consequently, we avoided making any lodging reservations. What if we can’t get on?

We lucked out on the first ferry, a short thirty-minute sail. We then joined the famed Carretera Austral and immediately the scenery turned majestic!

A fishermen cove

Waiting for the ferry in La Arena, kitty hitched a ride

The town of La Arena

From ferry #1

But after driving for about an hour along the Pacific at low tide, the road came again to an end and another ferry was required for a three-hour journey to Caleta Gonzalo where we could resume our car travel. Lamentably, the ferry to Caleta Gonzalo was booked until next week. A lovely person told us that if we backtracked to the miniscule port of Pichicolo, there may be a ferry leaving from there which many people do not know about. That’s what we did.

Driving the Carretera Austral

Fishermen at the town of Pichicolo

A group of friend we made. We were all on stand-by for the 2nd ferry

There was in fact a ferry departing at 8PM, but that too was booked; however, it was recommended that we put our vehicle on a stand-by list and chance getting on. We were told to come back at 7PM and pray.

We used the available hours to go back to the bigger town of Hornopiren, which was buzzing with activity and quite lovely. Also set below a volcano, the place exuded Patagonia. We opted to have dinner there instead of visiting what we were told were beautiful waterfalls in the area, assuming we will be seeing plenty more as we continue to head south.

Arts and crafts fair in Hornopiren

Luck would have it we did get onto the 8PM boat, however it does not go as far as Caleta Gonzalo, rather it will deposit us on an island, at the even more miniscule place that goes by the name of Ayacara (it’s not on any map). We will arrive at 11PM, and mind you, no lodging secured. In the morning, at 7PM there will be another boat to take us to Caleta Gonzalo, but that ferry too is booked, and we will have to repeat the same stand-by procedure. Fingers crossed.

Departing close to sunset from Pichicolo

Moonrise from the ferry. Cellphone photo.

At the dock, before boarding, we found the phone number of an individual renting a room in Ayacara. We were lucky it hadn’t been booked. We have no idea what the accommodation will be like, but we have a place to sleep until 6AM when we will be up and ready, hoping for luck. We are writing this from the ferry, so we don’t yet know the outcome.

What can we say? We wanted to make it to Patagonia, and here we are. We have no bookings and no real plans (usually we plan our trip in the most minute detail), but we’ll go with the flow, and as always, we’ll keep you posted. No one had forewarned us that Chilean Patagonia would be so difficult to travel through, but I believe that no matter where we’ll end up, this segment will end up being the most memorable of all.