Bek’s favorite place to date! It took us a full day of hitching just to get to the trail head from whence we could start the five day trek. From Coyhaique we needed five rides, two from Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo (100km) where we dumped some of our excess baggage and a further three rides to get back 25km to where the trek started. A bit of a complicated day, but we got there in the end – thanks to all the people who picked up two random hitch-hikers.

The first 2 days were mostly trekking through an estancia (ranch) to actually reach the national park. We encountered only 3 people those first 3 days. The first was a park ranger who had spent 3 years in the US working on ranches in Fresno CA, Colorado, and Wyoming. The other two were hikers doing the trek in the opposite direction; they were also accompanied by a cute little dog. This dog allegedly followed a cyclist from Ushuaia all the way up to Cerro Castillo and the cyclist had somewhat adopted him and gave him a bandana and fed him. When these trekkers met the cyclist, the dog decided to join them instead and ditched the cyclist. Unfortunately the dog then decided to join us. Up and over the same steep & snowy pass and down a dodgy (doggy?) descent that it had just completed. It was a long day for us, longer for pooch!

The following day the dog stuck with us for an hour or two, then ditched us!!!! Kinda floored us after the hospitality that we had extended to it. Fed him from our meager rations, let him sleep under the fly of our tent, cleaned the burrs from his fur, and then he ditched us? The third day of the hike was the most magnificent. We spent the day trekking in the shadow of ragged peaks cloaked in glaciers. There were at least 4 different glaciers we saw that day; each one precariously perched on to the sides of these intimidating peaks. Waterfalls gushing & forming gorgeous lakes and ponds. The main peak, Cerro Castillo had a huge hanging glacier and protected an intense blue-green lake. It was magnificent. From the lake we hiked up the opposing mountainside to enjoy a wonderful view of Cerro Castillo and its lake and glaciers, and the river valley on the other side. Words can’t describe the solitude and beauty of this place. We had a very steep descent through loose rocks then down a very very dusty path to the river and our next campsite. Two more days of trekking brought us back to Villa Cerro Castillo and some very welcome and much needed hot showers. It was with quite a bit of reluctance that we left this beautiful locale behind us. It was only the promise of future adventures that lured us forward. Otherwise we may have done the entire trek over!!

We had no idea of what to expect for our journey on the Carretera, a 1200km mostly gravel road through Chile's deep south, but so far we have been well impressed. The road itself took some 15 years to complete during General Pinochet's reign in the '60s and '70s. We arrived in the early hours one foggy morning after an extremely uncomfortable night on the ferry to the town of Chaiten. It was hours before any shops were to open so we entertained ourselves by sitting on the waterfront watching people disperse through town, only to return 15 minutes later to wait for the town to wake up. Chaiten is half ghost town, half sleepy fishing village. In 2008 a bump in the earth 5 miles north of town that no one had given much regard to commanded respect with a month long eruption of ash and a pyroclastic flow that scorched the western hillside! The town was partially destroyed by flooding and ash from this eruption. Many people have returned to thier homes to resume life as best they can, but as the town has been officially closed there are no services such as the hospital, school and other infrastructure. We saw one portion of the town that was still buried in over 4 feet of ash. Interesting to say the least.
Next on the agenda was a visit to Doug Tompkins (think North Face & Espirit) very own private park, Parque Pumulin. During the three days of camping we went on a number of enjoyable  hikes - through rainforest up to waterfalls and lakes. It was quite hot but we were able to cool down with cool dips into the crystal clear water. The highlight of that trip was when we saw 4 baby owls on the side of the trail. They were just as interested in us as we were in them and each time we moved to get a better camera angle they cocked and bobbed their heads to make sure they could catch everything we were doing.
Our next stop was Futaleufu, home to one of the top white water rivers in the world. Totally by chance we happened to be there on rodeo weekend and saw the cowboys strutting their stuff in traditional garb. A few days spent lounging by the river and taking some short hikes and we were amped up for our trip on the Fu. It was a fantastic trip on the water. We have each been rafting a few places before but we have never encountered waves so big, or so many rapids in quick succession. It was absolutely fantastic! We may have to return one day to spend more time on the river, I could run the same section of the river 5 times and still find it exciting.
Destination number three, National Park Queulat. Home to a huge hanging glacier as well as a beautiful blue lake filled with icebergs! We camped for 2 days and were serenaded to bed each night by a talkative fox. It was also a place of reunions. We bumped into a couple we had camped with in Pumalin who are biking the length of the carretera as well as the couple we shared our Futaleufu rafting experience with.  This park also reminded us of the extreme generosity of people. One day while hitching to a trailhead we had a car roar past us, only to return a few minutes later to see where we were headed. Fifteen minutes down the road and he was offering to drive us to his home town to host us for the weekend while a festival was on. Another family who had offered us a ride the day before gave us a ride back from the trail to our tent even though it was out of thier way. And our rafting friends let us ride with them the 4 dusty hours to our next destination.
The Carretera Austral, althoug mostly dirt/gravel, is much nicer than we expected. We even hit the pavement for a spell on the way into town tonight. The vistas are absolutely stunning. The road winds its way along a river valley between two sets of parallel mountains. The mountains, or more realistically big hills, are covered in rainforest -quite unexpected a this southerly latitude- and topped by glaciers! The rivers are extremely clear but with a nice-icey blue hue. It is beyond beautiful and we are so grateful to be able to experience this part of the world.
We are now in the metropolis hub of the south, Coyhaique, boasting some 50,000 people. Although it may sound small to most of you it feels huge to us at the moment. There are two, yes two, big grocery stores that actually have fruit and veg! Up to now most of the towns have had a few corner stores for our grocery needs; it is quite easy to find beer, wine, soda, cookies and pasta or other dehydrated foods, but anything fresh is difficult to come by. It has really opened our eyes to have fortunate we are in the US and Australia to have the quality and selection of food available to us that we usually take for granted.

We were drawn to Chiloe as we had heard that it had a uniqueness quite unlike anything on the mainland despite the close proximity of the island. The inhabitants of Chiloe maintain a distinct culture with a unique belief system as well as comida. We were able to experience curanto al hoyo - a meal prepared by cooking chicken, pork, potatoes and shellfish in the ground on hot stones covered by palm leaves and soil. While Dale was in heaven eating all that shellfish, Bek put on a brave face and suffered through it, and unfortunately continued to suffer for 3 days afterward with food posioning (it is not all kittens and sunshine on the tourist trail :). At least we held a mutual interest in Chiloe's religious beliefs.
The natives had/have a history of mythology: witches, gnomes, ghosts and pirates are all alive on this island. And the Jesuits who came to Chiloe to convert the inhabitants many centuries yonder decided to minister to them by melding together the Christian beliefs with those of the natives. Hence the churches have many interesting quirks such as paintings of Jesus surrounded by these mytholigical creatures, and a wood carving of a Saint defeating Satan, in the form of a goblin. Quite unexpected. The churches themselves were quite beautiful as well, some built as early as1740 and others as late as 1912 Some were quite plain on the outside, just weathered wooden shingles, but absolutely stunning on the inside - amazing hand carved woodwork. While still others were bright and engaging on the outside yet plain and simply functional on the inside. And the largest church, in Chiloe's capital city ofCastro, was amazing on the outside and in; gothic in style but created completely out of wood. It was a very tranquilo ten days we spent on the island but by the end we were ready for our next adventure.