Since I arrived in Chile, I had one conviction regarding Patagonia: it had to be done by car! From top to bottom, through Chile and Argentina, this area has more than 2500 kms length, two mystic dirt roads (Carretera Austral in Chile and Ruta 40 in Argentina) and a tempting lack of regular connections and civilization in general. With a 4WD vehicle you can go (almost) everywhere and, with time, it is the perfect companion to discover the true unexplored Patagonia, far from the tourist traps. This adventure started taking shape when two friends from Portugal came to visit me and we decided to go to Patagonia. A 17-day road trip through the entire Patagonia was the plan, from Chaitén to Ushuaia, driving more than 5000 kms across the most remote parts of this remote place. Another friend from Paranal joined the group and the four of us departed to the end of the world. We flew to Coihaique, in the middle of the Carretera Austral and there we rented a vehicle, which played one of the main roles on this trip. Suzuki Grand Vitara 2010, 4-Wheel Drive (4WD), air conditioning, 7000 kms, 2400cc, manual transmission and a lot of character!
The first unexpected event happened already before the trip started. One of my friends had his bag lost somewhere on the way to South America and we had it sent to Coihaique. Fortunately, it arrived the day after and we didn't lose much time with that. We spent one night in Coihaique, the capital of the XI region of Chile and the center of this part of Patagonia, and went the next day to Puyuhuapi after getting the bag from the airport. We basically went North through Carretera Austral, which is paved around Coihaique but soon becames an exciting and dangerous dirt road. Distances here are large and the road conditions are bad, so every 300 kms we have to drive takes not less than 6 hours and this is the normal distance between villages. In between, the landscape changes quite often from high basaltic snowed rocks to deep green forests, always sided at some point by rivers or crossed by water streams. The road traffic is barely existent, we could drive for 6 hours and pass by just a couple of vehicles. Mobile phone coverage is zero and sometimes phone coverage in villages as well...
We reached the first checkpoint of the trip. Puyuhuapi, a small village by an amazingly calm lake, known in Chile for its top level hot springs (which we didn't visit) and for the big Queulat National Park, which we trekked the morning after, to try and see a glacier. It was covered with the typical morning mist, so it was a flop, but the trek was very nice, through dense woods. We met the first israeli group of the journey. Like every other group we met, they were hitchiking, but we had the car full, so no luck for them. We went back to the village, filled the tank (Petrol is another big issue in Patagonia) and departed to the next stop: Futaleufú, known by its world-class rapids, the best rafting in South America. We kept going North through the Carretera Austral, until the second unforeseen event happened. One of the girls asked to drive, full of confidence, and after 15 minutes we had the car sent outside the road and landing on a considerable rain pond and several wood trunks. Result: A bad wheel, a damaged door, the front bumper heavily damaged and a car in the water without any hope to get out of it, in the middle of nowhere! First thought: How the f*ck do we get out of here?! Second thought: This is it, concerning holidays!
Luckily, after a few minutes, we stopped a car passing by and asked for help. They went to get a rope and came back to help us get the car out of there. A second car stopped as well to help. The plan was quite simple: tie a rope to our jeep and pull it out of the pond with another jeep. Easier said than done, the car was stuck with some logs underwater and it took a while and one broken rope to get it out. I was helping with the independent 4WD torque, but while in the water it was useless. We finally made it, thanked the people who helped (they were priceless), changed a wheel and it was on the road again, though we thought it wouldn't be possible. We drove to the closest village and called the rent-a-car company to report the event. They advised us to get back to Coihaique to have the car properly checked... Ok, we didn't get any further and went back. On the way we stopped at a proper garage to see if the car would make it to Coihaique and to report the event to the police, for insurance matters. We slept another night in Puyuhuapi and the next day drove all the way to the beginning. We arrived at noon, thinking the trip had come to an end... Miraculously, at 5 pm we had the car checked and they told us we could still use it for the rest of the trip. The tire we changed was actually good, though the steering was a bit damaged, however the car was able to continue. We got back on the road immediately, with a damaged door, a couple of lights less and a front bumper half ruined, but happy and grateful that we could go on with the plan. We slept close to the Argentinean border and prepared to cross it the next morning. We didn't get to raft, but in the end we gained one extra day to spend elsewhere... Who would have thought?...
Since I arrived in Chile, I had one conviction regarding Patagonia: it had to be done by car! From top to bottom, through Chile and Argentina, this area has more than 2500 kms length, two mystic dirt roads (Carretera Austral in Chile and Ruta 40 in Argentina) and a tempting lack of regular connections and civilization in general. With a 4WD vehicle you can go (almost) everywhere and, with time, it is the perfect companion to discover the true unexplored Patagonia, far from the tourist traps. This adventure started taking shape when two friends from Portugal came to visit me and we decided to go to Patagonia. A 17-day road trip through the entire Patagonia was the plan, from Chaitén to Ushuaia, driving more than 5000 kms across the most remote parts of this remote place. Another friend from Paranal joined the group and the four of us departed to the end of the world. We flew to Coihaique, in the middle of the Carretera Austral and there we rented a vehicle, which played one of the main roles on this trip. Suzuki Grand Vitara 2010, 4-Wheel Drive (4WD), air conditioning, 7000 kms, 2400cc, manual transmission and a lot of character!
The first unexpected event happened already before the trip started. One of my friends had his bag lost somewhere on the way to South America and we had it sent to Coihaique. Fortunately, it arrived the day after and we didn't lose much time with that. We spent one night in Coihaique, the capital of the XI region of Chile and the center of this part of Patagonia, and went the next day to Puyuhuapi after getting the bag from the airport. We basically went North through Carretera Austral, which is paved around Coihaique but soon becames an exciting and dangerous dirt road. Distances here are large and the road conditions are bad, so every 300 kms we have to drive takes not less than 6 hours and this is the normal distance between villages. In between, the landscape changes quite often from high basaltic snowed rocks to deep green forests, always sided at some point by rivers or crossed by water streams. The road traffic is barely existent, we could drive for 6 hours and pass by just a couple of vehicles. Mobile phone coverage is zero and sometimes phone coverage in villages as well...
We reached the first checkpoint of the trip. Puyuhuapi, a small village by an amazingly calm lake, known in Chile for its top level hot springs (which we didn't visit) and for the big Queulat National Park, which we trekked the morning after, to try and see a glacier. It was covered with the typical morning mist, so it was a flop, but the trek was very nice, through dense woods. We met the first israeli group of the journey. Like every other group we met, they were hitchiking, but we had the car full, so no luck for them. We went back to the village, filled the tank (Petrol is another big issue in Patagonia) and departed to the next stop: Futaleufú, known by its world-class rapids, the best rafting in South America. We kept going North through the Carretera Austral, until the second unforeseen event happened. One of the girls asked to drive, full of confidence, and after 15 minutes we had the car sent outside the road and landing on a considerable rain pond and several wood trunks. Result: A bad wheel, a damaged door, the front bumper heavily damaged and a car in the water without any hope to get out of it, in the middle of nowhere! First thought: How the f*ck do we get out of here?! Second thought: This is it, concerning holidays!
Luckily, after a few minutes, we stopped a car passing by and asked for help. They went to get a rope and came back to help us get the car out of there. A second car stopped as well to help. The plan was quite simple: tie a rope to our jeep and pull it out of the pond with another jeep. Easier said than done, the car was stuck with some logs underwater and it took a while and one broken rope to get it out. I was helping with the independent 4WD torque, but while in the water it was useless. We finally made it, thanked the people who helped (they were priceless), changed a wheel and it was on the road again, though we thought it wouldn't be possible. We drove to the closest village and called the rent-a-car company to report the event. They advised us to get back to Coihaique to have the car properly checked... Ok, we didn't get any further and went back. On the way we stopped at a proper garage to see if the car would make it to Coihaique and to report the event to the police, for insurance matters. We slept another night in Puyuhuapi and the next day drove all the way to the beginning. We arrived at noon, thinking the trip had come to an end... Miraculously, at 5 pm we had the car checked and they told us we could still use it for the rest of the trip. The tire we changed was actually good, though the steering was a bit damaged, however the car was able to continue. We got back on the road immediately, with a damaged door, a couple of lights less and a front bumper half ruined, but happy and grateful that we could go on with the plan. We slept close to the Argentinean border and prepared to cross it the next morning. We didn't get to raft, but in the end we gained one extra day to spend elsewhere... Who would have thought?...
7 comments:
So tenho uma coisa a dizer disto tudo... mulheres.. não deviam fazer certas coisas.
Muito fixe a viagem que fizeram e as fotos que tiraram.
Não vou comentar! :p
Olá,
Isto são já os preparativos para o Dakar? :P
É esse o espirito. Apanham-se sozinhos num jeep novo, condições propícias ao TT e pronto, só carregar no acelerador. :P
Continuação de bons passeios pela américa do sul. :)
Parece a introdução ideal para um filme de terror!
Hi there,
Your trip sounds amazing and I am planning on doing something similar.
However, I am finding it hard to figure out just how much a rental car costs - can you enlighten me?
Thanks a bunch,
Peter from Denmark
Hi Peter,
sorry for the delay, just saw your comment. This blog is kind of idle at the moment.
The rental of a 4WD for the 18 days was around 1200 Euro, as far as I remember, plus a deposit of around 500 Euro, in case you crash your car (as we did...)
Check Hertz website for chile. It's the largest company over there, especially in Patagonia. And bring a lot of extra tires as well...! :)
Good luck with your trip!
Post a Comment