Continued from Solo Hitchhiking La Carretera Austral Part I and Part II.

 

 

Parque Nacional Queulat

This national park is famed for its view of the Ventisquero Colgante, a hanging glacier poised over a lush green valley. Campers can set up a tent by the park entrance for 2,000 CLP ($3.30).

Day 47

27 March 2018

Coyhaique → Parque Nacional Queulat

Hitchhiked: 211 km | Trip Total: 1,420

I woke up to the sound of the crinkling plastic of a sleeve of chocolate Costa biscuits. Hunger pains had hit Julien early. Francois made me a strong espresso to sip. I cleaned the fruits off of Simon’s plum trees.

In the morning drizzle, I bade farewell to my French hosts. A car stopped for Javi and I before Patoche pulled away.

As I continued my Patagonian adventure of winding in and out of microclimates, blowing through rolls of cookies and bars of chocolate, I noted that I am already so in love with my life. Out the window loomed thick clouds, quirky Patagonian birds, limestone formations…we crossed Puente Viviana. We passed by a lovely Cascada Virgen.

The rain wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t stopping. At the small camp in front of Parque Nacional Queulat, Javi and I pitched her tent and paid Alfredo, the overseer. He shared his hot water and made-from-scratch bread. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a damp shelter, sipping orange peel-infused mate with an Argentine hitchhiker.

 

 

Day 48

28 March 2018

Parque Nacional Queulat → La Junta

At breakfast, Alfredo informed us that he was closing his campsite because the rat we complained of (that had woken me up at 2:00, 4:00, and 5:00am as it ate through our bags) could possibly be a carrier of Hantavirus, a virus that had taken a life in a nearby city just two weeks before. I spent the rest of the day trying to recover from fear.

Oh, and we hiked to a sick view of the Ventisquero Colgante.

****

PM update: Successfully avoided the fatal headaches and vomiting of Hantavirus.

Javi and I were safely lodged at Cabañas Queulat La Junta, owned by Yasmin and Edgar. Our apartment with stocked kitchen and powerful Bosca heater set us back 10,000 CLP ($17) each. Unable to hitch a ride in the sparse traffic that afternoon, we had reached La Junta via public bus from the Queulat National Park entrance, 3,000 CLP ($5) per person.

 

 

Chaitén

Chaitén the enchanted—a coastal town and access point for trekking around Parque Nacional Pumalín, known for its jungle-y, prehistoric-esque flora. Highlights include Sendero de Alerces and Volcan Chaitén.

I stayed at Chaitén Renace, 12,000 CLP ($17) for a dorm bed. The owners, Carolina and Pablo, were exceptional hosts. Their kitchen had a solid blender and panini press.

A ferry boat to the southern port of Quellón on Chiloe Island can be purchased from the Chaitén ticket office for 15,000 CLP ($22).

 

Day 49

29 March 2018

La Junta → Chaiten

Hitchhiked: 144 km | Trip Total: 1,564

1:16am:

I have hitched over 700 kilometers this week, and will soon have covered nearly three quarters of the Carretera. It’s been a dream come true. Before this segment of hitching, I had hitched nearly 900 kilometers from Puerto Natales to Cochrane.

I can’t keep up with the amount of people messaging me, asking if I’m alive. I am so disconnected to the e-world and so connected to the real world.

Deep down inside, I am honestly warming up to Chile more. Meeting these people, traveling alone, has made the Carretera  so worth it. I mean the locals, who can’t be bothered to be anything other than good and genuine.

Everyone’s got this “what’s mine is yours” attitude. They always tell me, “Aca, nunca pasa nada.”

Here, nothing bad ever happens.

The past days have also been healthy for my Spanish because I had no choice but to practice with Javi, and the families we meet.

****

Glaciers were visible from the drive. I’ve never experienced more rain in Chile. I’ve also never experienced more love for Chile.

Also, becoming trilingual is a process i can FEEL in my whole body. It’s so weird and nice.

I am increasingly passionate about other people’s passions. I guess when you follow your own passion as hard as you can, things start to become about others, and helping others reach that same certain point. Because right now each day of my life IS my biggest dream.

 

 

Day 50

30 March 2018

Chaitén → Sendero de los Alerces, Parque Nacional Pumalín → Volcán Chaitén → Chaitén

Hitchhiked: 88 km | Trip total: 1,652 km

I was surprised at how fast I got picked up in the relentless drizzle that morning. These roads were abandoned, with a vehicle passing every half hour at best. I was less human and more a dripping sponge with two legs and an extended thumb.

After a speedy meander through a grove of 3,000-year-old Alerce trees, a family took me in the back of their pick-up truck to Volcán Chaitén. I scaled up to the active caldera, which erupted so violently in 2008 that it left the people of the Chaitén village without light for five years. At the top I served myself milk and cookies.

In the afternoon I was drying my stuff on the side of the empty dirt road. The few cars that passed didn’t even consider stopping. I can’t blame them because I can’t imagine how shit I looked. I had clothes and one sock strewn on rocks, and one sock still on my foot. My hair was wild and undone, and deliciously damp with leftover rain and the new humidity that had settled in the air.

Suddenly a van headed in the opposite direction appeared. It stopped promptly in front of me.

Titia found me! We met when hiking The ‘O’ together in Torres del Paine (Days 22-28). She had since rented a camper van with Hanne, and in their extra seat they had picked up Joel, the Spanish hitchhiker who I had seen days before, on the side of the road, from my view from inside Patoche. Joel was now my roommate.

The three of them informed me they were having wine in my hostel tonight and I was to join them. They all had the same ferry ticket as me for the following day, out of coincidence. I was invited to hitch a ride with them onto said ferry, and road trip halfway up the fisherman island of Chiloe.

 

 

Day 51

31 March 2018

Chaitén → Quellón, Gran Isla de Chiloe

Hitchhiked: 95 km | Trip total: 1,747 km

The final day of March welcomed back brilliant weather.

My office of the day was a fold out table on a humble piece of lawn, next to my friends’ drying panties. Their van was happily airing itself out.

I rummaged through some homework files for one of my online classes, and got some calculations done for a group project.

****

Titia, Hanne, Joel, and I situated ourselves on the top deck of the ferry. It was my official parting with the Carretera that had filled me with so much joy and adrenaline. With the autumn air intensifying each day, we were bundled in layers, yet wearing sunglasses. Joel filled our camping mugs with red wine.

When we disembarked on the island, Joel went off to meet a friend. The girls took me with them to the Hito Cero monument: mile zero of the Pan-American highway, the highway I’d been sporadically following up and down for the last three years.

We heated up some lentil soup before settling into our sleeping bags in the back of the van like three lady-sized sardines.