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I’d love to stay in this cabin longer and go for walks in the mountain, enjoy the cozy cabin, cook a full meal and get some computer work done, but without internet I am stuck. We need to move on farther south to a community with full service.
We are not as fortunate as yesterday as far as the weather is concerned. The rain is coming down in buckets. The view of the mountains around us is minimal and the size of the potholes has increased due to the rain. But at least we’re sitting ina dry place.
The scenery changes. A vertical slice of the earth exposes a rainbow of the different types of soil and rocks, an indication how over the millions of years the earth has changed.
We enter National Park Quelat a rain forest. I imagine that this is much like the northern tip of Vancouver Island. There is little sign of life here, except for the community of Puyuhuap.
We are not quite ready for lunch, but this may be the only opportunity for the rest of the afternoon. Considering the poor weather, a picnic lunch is out of the question. We should also fill up with gas while we can, but the attendant is gone for lunch. The sign reads he will be back at 2:30 pm. So we wait and wait and finally after 45 minutes he shows up. Meanwhile other tourists are waiting as well, including a German Motor home. They apparently put their RV on the boat and traveled all over North and South America as indicated with the number of license plates from various Canadian and United States license plates. I don’t even want to think about having to drive this road with our RV.
All this rains turns the forest into a giant waterfall. Some spill out right onto the road, washing away all the dirt and leaving only rocks to drive on.
We have only advance 100 kilometers in the last four hours. Ramiro is quite relieved when the road changes into pavement. I had seen it on the map, but kept it as a surprise for him. You should have seen his face light up.
At this point, we have over 200 kilometers of rocks and dirt behind us. We need to discuss which way we will go back up north.
As we leave the mountains the heavy vegetation of the rain forest changes into Alpine. We are amazed by the large number of dead trees scattered around. It looks like a battlefield.
As we get closer to Puerto Aysen, the weather improves slightly and we are able to enjoy some of the scenery. It is amazing to see the sudden change of vegetation from the large number of Red Fuchsia trees and Chilean Bamboo into rows and rows of lupines in purple, pink, mauve and white on the slopes along the road. The shrubs with the thousands of yellow slipper-like flowers - which I also saw on Chiloe Island - provide for a wonderful contrast. Cows graze on the wide open spaces with lots of green fresh looking grass. It feels like we are back into civilization.
It's getting pretty late and we still need to find a place for the night. Puerto Aysen is not a large city and not a very touristy city either. But we learned that we can count on always having the perfect place waiting for us.
After cruising the streets, through the rain, we turn into a dirt road at the end of town, and somehow stumble into Puerto Viejo Lodge. Ramiro will check it. With all this rain and the large puddles I dhave no interest getting out of the car He comes back with a grin on his face. “This place is more than we nromally pay, but I think you will like it” But let’s check out some other places first.
Half an hour later we return to the lodge. I climb the three flights of stairs to the loft or penthouse. and enter a gorgeous honeymoon suite with a fantastic view of the mountains, the river and the entrance of canal Moraleda. Hey, even with the lousy weather, I think I can handle this for a few days. Let’s take it.
The 19% Discount for foreigners makes a big difference. If we can find a nice place for a meal I will be totally satisfied.
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