Chaitén – El Amarillo – Chaitén

Jan. 9-12

Our first stop along the Carretera technically was not the start of the highway, but since we went to Chiloe and had already traveled enough south, it made sense to just go directly east from the island. A ferry from Quellón dropped us off in Chaitén, a quiet little port town situated at the base of an active volcano. The volcano erupted not too long ago in 2008 and destroyed most of the town. From the ashes the local population rebuilt and the town has served as a major port for the area. We found a little hospedaje or hostel in town and crashed into our pillows after eating from the only restaurant open in town. It was a Sunday, yet again.

We woke up early the next morning to start hitchhiking! We weren’t sure how it would go but everyone we talked to prior to this said that it would be easy, just be patient and start early. The day before we prepped with camping meals and gear to head into the Parque Nacional Pumalín nearby. We walked to the end of town and to our surprise got a ride within 15 minutes of sticking our thumbs out from three Chileans who were working for a non-profit organization protecting the Güiña, a small cat, living in the area. They were heading to Pumalín as well, so they drove us all the way to the trail head! Our first big mistake we quickly realized after starting to hike up the steep trail was that we still had all of our belongings that we brought and did not leave any non-essential trekking stuff behind. It was brutal! The hike to the campsite was only 3 miles and as soon as we got to camp, I think I napped for like the next 4 hours. The campsite was free and had nice bathrooms, showers, running water, and little cabanas to cook in.

The next day we hiked to the Ventisquero Amarillo Glacier. After a few miles Rach and I came to a braided river section and despite hearing from others to head into the forest I thought it was a good idea to try and cross a few glacial river sections. We began to realize this was not the route and spotted a place on the bank of the river to bushwack our way to the trail. That’s when we met Daniel. He saw us crossing and followed us across. We told him our plan and headed back over another braided section when he dropped his puffy jacket in water and it quickly floated down stream and out of sight. Sorry Daniel! I felt bad that he followed us through the poor guiding and lost his jacket. We all found the trail again in the dense, jungle like forest and eventually arrived at the base of the glacier. The landscape looked like something from prehistoric times with a very active glacier above us and the baren u-shaped valley below scattered with glacial till, thorny plants and flies bigger than my thumb! Daniel lugged his mate mug and thermos with hot water up and we passed around mate for the first time since being in South America. Daniel wanted to physically touch the glacier so we parted ways and headed back down to camp. I ended up finding his puffy under a pile of drift wood and left it next to where we first lost the trail. We messaged him a few days later and he never found it! 🙁 Sorry again Daniel!

Rach and I wanted to catch a bus from Chaitén the next morning so we attempted to hitchhike back into town. A local guy gave us a ride in the back of his pick-up out of the park to the town of El Armarillo where we tried to flag down another ride, but a bus picked us up after an hour. We didn’t really know where to camp since there was not any paid camping in town. So, despite the “no camping” signs near the dock, we walked a bit down the sand and tucked our way into a little nook on the edge of the beach hidden behind the bushes. We woke up before the sun rose over the mountains to make our way off the beach and to the open air bus station, where we would spend a few hours waiting for our bus. Next stop: Futaleufú.