In A Van Through South America

Part Two: Patagonia to Tierra Del Fuego

- A. Hegenbarth

In their exploration of the contrasts of Patagonia (which straddles the Andes range), travellers Helga and Ernst Hegenbarth move between temperate, grassy Argentina and glacial Chile until they are finally just short of Antarctica.

Chile is a very long country. From the border with Peru in the north, to the southernmost point of the Americas at Cape Horn, it extends 4270km along the Paci c Ocean yet averages only 177km east to west.

After spending many weeks in the Atacama Desert in the north, our next destination was legendary Patagonia. At the office of Transportes Austral in Puerto Montt, we bought tickets for the ferry from Hornopirén to Caleta Gonzalo.

The road from Puerto Montt to La Arena is a short drive of about an hour, followed by a 40-minute ferry crossing to Pulche but the climate had changed dramatically. It was cool and wet, and we experienced the first touch of Patagonian wind. Little did we know that the wind would become our constant companion.

The Carretera Austral adventure

The famously scenic Carretera Austral highway’ an optimistic description runs for 1240km from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins in the south.

Although we hadn’t had any rain for a long time, the drive to Hornopirén (the next little hamlet along the coast) was extremely muddy and slippery, and we had to drive very carefully in the deep tracks caused by construction lorries.

We could not find a decent campsite when we finally arrived at this small village, so decided to park our Sprinter not too far from the ferry landing at the rocky beach.

The rain fell harder and harder, but we felt warm and cosy in our vehicle. We cooked ourselves a meal and enjoyed it with a bottle of excellent Malbec from Argentina.