Puerto Rio Tranquillo, Marble Caves in Chile, Glacier Hiking & Cochrane – Patagonia
10/02 ~ 18/02
Chile
Fri (10/02) – Puerto Rio Tranquillo
We left Villa Castillo by bus down the gravel Carretera Austral. It’s not the most fun experience by bus, and the trip was over nine hours to get us to Puerto Rio Tranquillo, our next destination.
Once we arrived we searched for a campground. The town was tiny, and there were only a few campsites around. Ben, Cam, Conrey and myself stayed in one campsite, and Toby stayed in another (he biked down, so he didn’t know where we were staying). We walked into town for some groceries and ran into Alicia randomly, who joined us. We found an amazing brewery near the harbour and ate a couple of delicious Chorrianos (hot chips loaded with, onions, eggs, meat and sauces).
Ben went into a booking frenzy and basically organised both a boat tour to the marble caves and a glacier hike. He was relentless with organisation, but it was great not having to organise it myself! Thanks Ben!
We ended up grabbing some cartons of wine and returned to the campground. The common area was too crowded so we ended up walking to the field in the centre of town and sat on the bleachers. The field was not well maintained and had two horses tied up nearby. We drank until the sun went down before returning to the campsites – all pretty drunk by this point. We had an early 6:30am rise to get the boat on the morning.
Sat (11/12)
My alarm went off at 6am. ‘Fuck that‘, I think as I hopelessly fumble turning it off, setting for half hour later, and going back to sleep. Off it goes again… ugh! I got my things ready and went over to the other guys, who were even slower to get ready than myself. We were all a bit hungover, and not ready for a boat. Coffee was on everyone’s mind, but time was of the essence. Alicia and Toby met us along the way and we all hopped in the boat with our guide to see the Marble Caves in Chile.
You could not have asked for better conditions – clear water, no wind, no clouds… just serenity! By this point my hangover was at the back of my mind. We passed several parts of the coastline where the water from the lake had dissolved the marble rock and left huge rounded caves all throughout the lakes edge.
The sun wasn’t even up yet, but it looked great. Eventually the sun did rise, and we passed several formations that apparently ‘looked‘ like things – granted the tree, dog and sheep did actually look like their names. The finale of the tour was a small island of rock held up by smooth skinny curves of rock that looked like it was ready to collapse – a marvel of geology!
As we started to head back, we started to see other boats arriving in numbers, we were thankful of our early peaceful start and our guides were good. We ended up tipping them and came out of it with a real positive experience, the marble caves exceeded my expectations for sure!
We ended up chilling out at the campsite. A coffee was needed and I was keen to get my laundry done. Afterwards, later in the afternoon, we ended up heading to the bleachers again for a few more drinks and snacks before heading to bed, we had another early start for the glacier hike after all.
Sun (12/12)
*alarm*…. ‘fuck off!‘. Here we go again! I was less hungover this though and getting up was easier. We all met down at the vendor and got into vans to be take to the glacier.
The glacier we went to was called the Exploradores, which was part of the larger San Rafael Glacier National Park. I was originally intending to see the huge terminal edge of the Rafael Glacier (it’s meant to be the best to see in the world) but it was a long way to go just to get a boat ride to see it from the water.
There was also no hike or anything nearby to make it exciting. This was the next best thing, and the only glacier in the area to hike on as it was quite flat and you could walk straight onto it.
We had a photo stop at a waterfall before continuing on the drive, which took about an hour and a half. Once we arrived at the trailhead, we needed to get the supplied jackets, helmets and gators on. The guide explained for about twenty minutes how to walk flat footed on rocks to avoid falling… yes… rocks, as if we haven’t done that before in our lives!
The hike there was easy. We arrived at rocky hills of terminal moraines, some covering parts of the glacier. We had to walk on this ice/rock combination for a couple of kilometers, before putting on our crampons and walking on pure glacier.
Of course, my giant feet were somewhat problematic with these narrow fitting crampons. I kind of wish I brought my micro spikes. The others laughed at how awkward my shoes fit it.
The guide took us to several formations along the way, some of which were huge dense caves of blue ice carved out by flowing water – pretty magical! One thing I found amazing is the power one stone can have laying on top of a glacier. They must heat up and encourage more ice melt, as wherever they were, they sank through the ice in a pool of blue water.
Our guide was very boring and not very engaging, which did dampen our spirits on the tour somewhat on the way back, as there was no real information about the area provided.
We felt like overtaking and making our own way back as they stopped for breaks so often. By the time we were on the road again, we were all tired and exhausted and the gravel road rocked us into sleep. Overall, aside from the lack of a good guide, the trip was worth it and I had some amazing experiences!
After, we chilled out for a bit back at the campsite for a few hours. I had a tiny kitten jump on my lap mid conversation. We then all agreed to have a BBQ at Toby’s campground (better area for it). We bought two bags of marinated ribs, and frozen pork chops – meat that isn’t beef is generally frozen we found this far south.
The BBQ area was one small open woodshed which we took over. Of course, we had our cartons of wine and beers. Toby was the mastermind whilst we just all drank and pretended to help. The pork chops were… amazing! It had been awhile since I’d had such a nicely cooked piece of meat! The ribs were not as expected – a kind of salty brined version meant for soups we thought. It was ok when put into bread rolls with the vegetables.
‘Where will we drink this time?‘…. ‘The bleachers?‘ – it was out special place we decided. A place where the cool kids can hang out… with the horses… some stray chickens and dogs. Several wine boxes had diffused into our bodies by a certain point. This was the last evening we’d see Alicia and called for celebrations.
Ben retired to bed not long after, but Cam, Conrey, Alicia and myself stayed out longer watching the stars and talking shit. We decided to play a random game where someone whispered a theme, or person into the next persons ear – that person then had to act out that scene briefly (or improv-dance it!).
The next person had to join the story with their own act/dance, and so on. The last person acts out their part and then says what they think the story was about. We had some funny ones about Donald Trump, a certain person we knew from our travels, and the wind dancing sales balloon things (as improve-dance). It sounds stupid, but it was one of the funniest moments of my trip and we all had a blast!
Mon to Sat (13/02 – 18/02) – Cochrane
Another early morning, but this time for a bus. We were off to Cochrane, a large town about nine hours drive away. The drive was stunning, and we had a good driver that allowed several photo stops of some great views. Sadly, it was the only bus trip I didn’t take my camera on the bus, so I only grabbed a few phone snaps.
We (Cam, Conrey, Ben and myself) arrived in the rain at Cochrane and ended up trying to stay at a hospedaje which were basically people’s homes who took on guests. We asked a few people with no luck, but came to an older ladies place. She wasn’t taking on guests due to her health, but felt guilty and let us camp in the back. She was very grumpy and it was always awkward talking to her.
The internet was amazing there and because we were the only guests at the time we decided to stay more nights (although Ben left by this point). We worked out her name was Trudy. She was always complaining about something including Cam putting his charger in the wrong PowerPoint, or Cam sleeping on some crappy bed in a room that she said he could only sleep on the floor, or how we invited Toby over for drinks and dinner.
She HATED Toby and snarled at his presence. It was legitimately scary just communicating with her, even when trying to be nice and helpful. It was an experience we all will remember well, that’s for sure!
The weather in Cochrane was poor for awhile, and we ended up staying for many days because of the limited buses to our next stop. We had to wait out until Saturday. There was limited things to do in town. We had some beers by the ‘Cochrane’ Hollywood style sign one afternoon, where we were also met by sheep staring us down in a sinister way. There was a brewery we visited too.
Our ‘home’ cooking sessions were the most fun though. Fish tacos with salmon, a kind of Israeli tomato Shakshuka – we made some good meals those nights!
The Friday was somewhat nicer weather, so I hiked to the nearby Huemule Reserve – a thirty kilometer round trip including the walk there and back. It was nice, but I saw no animals. There was a beautiful lake which opened out as I walked further.
By now, I was familiar with the vegetation I could eat. I found a huge area of Fuchsia plants which have edible parts (see photo below). I had lunch in a cabin at the top – I could have camped here for the night, I though in hindsight.
Before I left the town I made sure I grabbed some plums off the many trees in the streets. I think I ate at least fifty there! Next stop was Villa O’Higgins!
~ Continue my Patagonian travels with ‘Villa O’Higgins & Border Crossing Hike – Patagonia‘ ~
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