When you are traveling, everything is not going as you want it. Sometimes in a good way and more rarely in a bad way. The part around Puyuhuapi goes bad. Not only telling the story, this article is focusing on hitchhiking on the Carretera Austral.

From Cerro Castillo to Coyhaique in a split second

My first hitchhike experience

Cerro Castillo is a small town and not so famous for tourist. Therefore, there is no real infrastructure. 90 kms to the North, there is the main city of the region Coyhaique. If you want to take a bus, you have to wait along the main road and stop one on the way from Puerto Rio Tranquilo.

It sounds too easy

This first experience of hitchhiking is impressing. I just wait 30 seconds on the main Avenue in Cerro Castillo that a man takes me. He is an environmental engineer and. While driving, he explains me a lot about nature here. In the same time, I continue practicing my Spanish.

It is too easy

He stops a bit before Coyhaique. So I am again on the road. Just the time for eating cookies and I raise again my thumb. 30 seconds later I am in another car. This time with a silent guy driving really fast.

Coyhaique

The first city I see for a while. Not too big and with the charm of the Patagonia. It is a good place for doing a break in the adventure and doing all the formalities.

For a cheap accommodation, all are in the street Lautaro behind the shop Unimarc. I stay one night in a Hospidaje called Bolivar. More expensive than usual, I pay 13,000 C$. After the walk of Cerro Castillo, I am lazy! My friends from Puerto Rio Tranquilo found a cheaper place in Lautaro street called Austral Hostel, a school transformed into a hostel.

I did my shopping in the Unimarc, the main shop in the city. In the entrance, there is an ATM. The good tip is that there is no fee for withdrawing with MasterCard! I withdrawn 200,000C$ without fee. I didn’t try a bigger amount.

From Coyhaique to Puyuhuapi

The no man’s land

The regular bus

There are buses every morning and evening going to Puyuhuapi for 8,000C$. It is also possible to Puerto Cisnes for 6,000C$. Puerto Cisnes is a bit South of Puyuhuapi and out of the Carretera Austral. The advantage of the city is that it has a harbor with a ferry connection. I don’t take the bus as I am in the mind of experimenting hitchhiking and it worked so well from Cerro Castillo to Coyhaique.

The endless hitchhiking

If I was happy when I reached Coyhaique so fast, I am disheartened when I reach Puyuhuapi. The reason is that it took me 9 hours for doing the 220 kms in between. More or less, 5 hours of waiting along the road alone…

And actually, I even finished with the evening bus between the crossroad to Puerto Cisnes and Puyuhuapi. Without, I will have went to Puerto Cisnes as the only car I saw chose that direction. Probably, the fact that it is a Sunday afternoon doesn’t help. On top of that, I later discovered there were road works. I also would have been more confident with camping equipment as I would not have worry as much in the middle of nowhere.

Puyuhuapi

Logement

After one night with the friends I have met in Puerto Rio Tranquilo in a cabin altogether, I need to look for another place as they leave. I find a cozy place called Hostal Dona Gladys (Diego Portales Street). It is a small house with on the second floor only 3 rooms with one single bed each. The owner, a gentle lady, helps you as much as possible. She lets me wash my clothes, cooks me a typical soup of the region and a piece of cake with Manjar. Definitely, I feel home!

Activities

The two main attractions I want to do are Ventisquero Colgante, a glacier, and a walk in the Enchanted Forest. Finally, I do none of them. Why ? There are not close to the city. The glacier is 23 kms from the city with 3 kms out of the main road. The forest is at 52 kms from the city with 2 kms out of the main road. On top of that, there is no public transport. You can organize a minivan but my team just left. There is only one way, hitchhiking. And with the road works on one side and the nonstop strong rain on the other one, it was tough. I failed the first day, gave up the second one.

As I am not able to leave the city, I decide to run. First, I take the Gabriela Mistral that leads me on a road asphalted. From this other road, I go north and turn on the first path I see. After, I stay in the forest until… the rain! The rest of time I stay home and start the blog!

There are a lots of road works around and inside the city. The road is slowly asphalt. For that reason, the South part of the road 7 is closed from 1pm to 5pm every weekdays.

From Puyuhuapi to Chaitén

Public transport

From Puyuhuapi, there is a daily morning bus to Coyhaique and two buses weekly to La Junta, the next city North. Not a lot are going North, isn’t it! It is also possible to grab a bus on the way from Coyhaique to Chaitén. However, it is not a daily one and the last one passed the day before… So finally, I hitchhike again and under the rain!

Hitchhiking is striking back

The escape of Puyuhuapi is complicated, too many road works, I have to wait for 1h50 before a car stops. Actually, I was on my way back to lunch at the Hostal. After this dramatic episode, the next waits are shorter only 25 mins, two times. Finally, it took me 6 hours for the 200 kms to Chaitén with “only” 2h30 pending for cars.

La Junta seems to be a nice city also for staying a few days. The thermal baths are cheaper than in Puyuhuapi, 5,000C$.

I speak about Chaitén in the next post as there are many things to do, see you there.