Chaiten to Coyhaique: Riding the Carretera Austral (part 1)

After our stint on the Island of Chiloé it was time to join the famous Carretera Austral.  It´s sort of a to-do ride if you are cycle touring in the Andes of South America, linking previously isolated communities with a (mostly) dirt road which sweeps past some of Chile´s most impressive lakes, rivers, and mountains. 

As much as we love Argentina, Chile has so far offered much better cycling, or rather, the kind of cycling we know we enjoy. Some may argue that the Austral is no longer what it used to be: remote, authentic, and wild. And sure, in recent years it has become busier with all sorts of tourism, including short-term cycle tourists and plenty of hitchhiking backpackers. Wild it is not either, as much of the carretera is either fenced, farmed or both. The further you ride on the Austral, the more remote it feels though, and we certainly never felt it was anything but authentic. The ripio is also of excellent quality by Chilean standards, and as you progress South, the scenery stunning. 

Riding the Austral was a unique experience and one we were glad to be able to have enjoyed. As probably the most famous road for cycle touring in South America, it is a social event, even if like us you do it late in the season. Every day we waved and talked to many cyclists, and nearly every town had an area where free camping was tolerated. The terrain was not at all challenging, with a few hills but nothing to plan your day around, and in general we found it a relaxing and pleasant ride. Of course, it helped that the famous rains of the Austral did not make much of an appearance!

A 5 hours ferry ride and we arrive in El Chaitén, where we settled down for the night

Riding on the Austral we really feel we have reached Patagonia.

 We pedal briefly North instead of South for a hike up the Volcan Chaiten, now a part of  the controversial Pumalin National Park (owned by gringo Douglas Tompkins)  which erupted in 2008 leaving a crater which you can now easily access in a day hike.

We are joined by Martina and Lucas, an Italian-Spanish couple cycling from Santiago, who would be our great compañeros for almost the whole Austral.                       

On our way back South, we camp by the beach in Santa Barbara, enjoying a great Pacific sunset.


After doubling back through Chaiten on our way South now, our stint on the Austral is finally truly underway.

More and more sections of the Austral are being paved, but the nice views remain.

Although we do generally prefer dirt, quiet pavement can make for quite an enjoyable ride as well.

Passing through towns everyday it is easy to get creative with the camp cooking. We cook up all kinds of dishes like this potato stew. 

With camping so popular on the austral, there are plenty of free camp spots with fire pits, making for really pleasant camping.

Although we think it is a great feat of road engineering, we learn that because the Austral was built by the military (during Pinochet´s reign) it is actually relatively badly designed. Aerial photos of the austral showed the mess it left....

Riding the Austral relatively late in the season we expected plenty of wet weather. But we only got a few light showers - and usually the sun came out soon enough!

Camped after the Cuesta del Quelat, disaster strikes. An O-ring on our stove has broken and the stove leaks gasoline and then ignites the dry grass around us! Fortunately we are able to put it out, and in the light of day the next morning we quickly locate the problem. Guess the stove´s field maintenance kit wasn´t dead weight after all!

We arrive in Villa Amengual on the day of its fiesta costumbrista, featuring a rodeo amongst other delights.

We like the feel of the place, but decide to carry on rather than try to sleep through the party that is sure to follow the rodeo.

We find a great lakeside campsite, although later the lady from the campsite a few km´s away showed up to try and charge us as we were technically inside a national reserve. Oops.

One of the best parts of the austral is that you never have to worry about where your water will come from. Glacial streams are around every bend!

From Villa Mañihuales we divert off of the Austral for a bit of dirt....up a killer of a hill and through Ñirehuao.

Just one valley over, the rivers and humidity are gone and the land is much drier. 

Our diversion takes us past a small Valle de la Luna,  although it doesn´t look too lunar to us.

Our last day into Coyhaique from Villa Ortega is delayed by Alberto and Lucas getting roped into running a ´5k` (actually more like 2k) race in honor of the town´s anniversary. 

Despite their poor performance, Alberto won the international divison! (There were only two participants and both came near the back of the pack...)

Arriving into Coyhaique, we are fortunate enough to be intercepted by Boris, who runs the casa de ciclistas in Coyhaique, who shows us the way..

... and we set up the tent for a few days in the super-busy casa for a few days of errands in the biggest towm on the Austral.

Route notes:

There is an abundance of information online about the Austral so we won't go into detail. The wikitravel entry was particularly useful. For our diversion via Ñirehuao, we followed route notes from While Out Riding. 

Puerto Montt to Chaitén via the Island of Chiloé: A slice of Island life

A few days of resting in Sebas´ comfy apartment in Puerto Montt was exactly what we needed to keep going South. The past few weeks had been incredibly scenic, but also frustrating, with some of the worst traffic of our trip. Many days we wondered whether we were burnt out with all the cycling and travelling, and whether it was worth to keep pushing to Ushuaia. Puerto Montt, by far not the favourite of places amongst travellers, offered a few days of living in a real city, where there was not much to do or see but to simply enjoy life in the good company of others.

With rejuveneted spirits, our decision was whether to start the famous carretera austral right from Puerto Montt, or whether to detour via the less popular Chiloé. Many chilenos kept insisting that we must not miss the Isla Grande, that the place remains more authentic than the rest of Chile, the people super friendly, and the scenery different. It also boasts a great amount of seafood, which, at least for Alberto, was also a big attraction.

It wasn´t until the morning that we left Puerto Montt that we finally decided to tackle the 90 km of ripio to the short ferry crossing to Chacao, where our days in Chiloé would start. Being February, the busiest travel month in Chile, we feared hordes of tourists on the dirt roads that take on the coast South to Castro, but instead, we found the quietest ripio south of Santiago. Our short time on Chiloé lived up to the hype and lifted our spirits, and definitely showed us that we were not ready for the riding to end...

Sebas´house in Puerto Montt was a great place to relax, get jobs done, and connect with other cyclists.

We suffer a few false starts with heavy rain making the decision to stay too easy...

And if you wait long enough, you can even get some sun!

...but eventually, we had to get going. Instead of the Panamerican highway we take quieter roads, which take a bit longer but are much more relaxed.

For the last 7km into Pargua for the ferry to Chacao, we finally had no choice but to take the Panamerican, for the first time since Ecuador! Luckily for us, there´s almost no traffic

A short ferry ride later and we are on the island of Chiloé, watching and learning from a señora how make empanadas in her living room. Much to our surprise, we have to admit, Chileans win their Argentinian neighbours when it comes to empanadas

That night, we camp by the beach...We take the costanera (road around the coast) all the way to Castro

...watching dolphins leap past us as we prepared dinner

Beach camping is new to us on this trip, and very easy to do on the island if you cycle by the coast

The next day we make it to Colo, to see the first of the Unesco World Heritage churches of Chiloe which make the island famous.

Just as impressive on the inside as the outside.

The following morning we are back to some good "bike and hike" to get back to the main ripio road

and soon find ourselves in the fiestas de Lliuco, where traditional food is made and everyone wants to get a glimpse inside the church. February brings all the traditional parties to Chiloé: the fiestas costumbristas

One of the specialities is a type of bread made on this large log roasted over an open flame.

We made another diversion to see the church at Tenaun, arriving there in bright sunshine. Churches in Chiloé are quite a thing!

We then try to catch a small boat to Chauques islands, but found it to be full, so end up having a nap on the beach instead...

...before facing another brutal hill from sea level back to 300 m, in less than 2 km!

After more up and downs, we arrive at the first sizeable village: Quemchi. Check out the church and leave in light rain.

Rain doesn´t stop Chilenos from making their asados. These ones from Santiago were particularly cheerful and invited us for some seafood and meat cooked on the fire

We went easy on the wine offers, continued on and camped early by a school full of berries. Our morning porridge tasted so much better!

A few km later and we arrive in Dalcahue, famous for its church (nowadays being refurbished) and for its fish stalls. It´s said that the best farmed salmon is exported to Europe...but this big chunk was still so delicious, at less than $6 a pop!

And finally Castro, with its famous palafitos.

And another Unesco Heritage church

We wanted to check out the West coast of the Island, but figured the traffic would be bad and so took the bus instead... Apparently a great destination for hiking, we simply enjoyed a relaxed (and hot) day chilling on a beautiful beach

From Castro you either go back up to Chacao, or get the ferry over to Chaitén on the mainland. It´s a popular crossing given it´s just once a week!

En route to El Chaitén we see the cochayuyo being brought back to town. A popular seaweed that Chilenos use (dried, then rehydrated) in their soups.

Route notes:

- Puerto Montt to Chacao (Chiloé): we opted for the dirt road almost all the way to Pargua. It´s in good condition, has plenty of villages along the way, and it´s almost devoid of traffic. 7 km before the ferry crossing, you rejoin the Panamerican. The ferries run 24-hours in all weather, and cost 1900-2000 chilean pesos.

- Chacao to Castro: we took the coastal road all the way. The first 100 km were pretty tough, with bad ripio for most of the time, and lots of up and down, with plenty of steep hills that required pushing. There´s villages along the way, so you need not carry food for more than 1 overnight if any. There´s plenty of diversions that you can take to see churches or bays along the way. Once in Quemchi, pavement starts for some sections, though the gradients remain the same. From Dalcahue to Castro is all paved, except if you take the dirt roads that avoid the Panamerican 10 km before Castro.

Camping is easy along the coastline when a beach exists - otherwise we had no trouble asking in small villages.

- Castro to Cucao: we took a bus as we feared this road to be busy with traffic. We were not wrong, and, at least in the high tourist season, this section is potentially very dangerous to cyclists as there´s no shoulder, plenty of blind curves and speedy drivers.