El Chalten to Villa O’Higgins

We didn’t stay long in El Chalten because we were excited to get moving towards the carretera austral. However, the hiking around el chalten looked impressive, and most trailheads were located right outside town. Another time.

From El Chalten we had to cross back into Chile through a series of bus, hiking, and ferry connections. We knew it would be precarious because services don’t exactly run like clockwork in Patagonia, but we allowed time for error and went for it.

El Chalten to Lago del Desierto

We took a tour bus from El Chalten to Lago del Desierto, where we would take a passenger ferry across the lake to the Argentinian border guard. We had enough time before the ferry departure to take a short hike and drink a beer.

On the bus ride to lago del desierto from el chalten

we found many bridges of questionable standards on the trip. This was one.

lago del desierto

enjoying a beer on a hike while not having to lug it around is a Chilean innovation I’m entirely grateful for.

Lago del Desierto is one of the many glacier-fed lakes with the color of turquoise milk. Every lake we would visit possessed a similar quality, but never duplicated. Each was distinct due to the mineral content of the different glaciers.

When we arrived at the Argentian border guard, we were greeted by several dis-spirited backpackers waiting to take the ferry/bus back to El Chalten. They informed us that the famous winds of Patagonia overwhelmed the next passenger ferry at Lago O’Higgins, 20 kilometers away. These poor souls waited 6 days at the Chilean border guard at the outpost/homestead of Candelario Mancilla before they ran out of money, food, and hope.

Jess and I decided to try our luck and press on, and we weren’t alone. While camping at the Argentinian border guard we met several other backpackers, including a Spaniard, Peruvian/Ukrainian, and two cyclists from Portland (who shared many friends with us from the NW, oddly). We formed a small cohort with these people since we were forced to travel in the same direction at similar paces. While we were anxious about the forthcoming ferry, we were all in it together.

this cat adopted us at the camp of the Argentinan border. Slept in the tent vestibule.

Lago del Desierto to Chilean Border Guard/Candelario Mancilla

After stamping our passports we hiked 5 kilometers along a national park trail to Chile, where the trail opened to forestry road. We walked another 15 kilometers on this road to the border guard. There’s a homestead there where backpackers can await for a ferry across Lago O’Higgins.

the view of lago del desierto and of mount Fitzroy

The 15k walk on forest road in chile had its moments, like when Jess sang most of the pop and Disney songs she knew. She was belting shania twain in this photo

hi

Typically three boats serve the crossing between Candelario Mancilla and Villa O’Higgins, but one was broken and another, the largest and most seaworthy, was crashed the week before. So one small boat operated a 5-hour crossing, and the weather was consistently delaying it.

Lago del Desierto to Villa O’Higgins

We got lucky with the weather. We only waited two days for the boat to arrive, which isn’t much compared to the 6-day delays I mentioned earlier.

At Candelario Mancilla. Not a bad place to be potentially marooned. Luckily the ladies who run the place sell beer and hot meals.

the omnipresent dogs of chile tried to herd these ponies at 3am. Quite the ruckus.

the boat arrived!

meet hector: border guard, father, ping pong champion. He doesn’t have much there to do, so he challenged me to a ping pong match in the barracks. Then he proceeded to murder me at table tennis. he then saw us off at the boat launch

the weather on the lake had greatly improved

the beginning, or end, of the carretera austral.

the boat captain, who’s shoes were depicted above, offered to drive us into town, with his hands. Jess kills time at the pick-up.

Some of our cohort hitched with us. Alejandro (left is the Peruvian/Ukrainian economist) and Brett (the Minnesotan with a heart of gold).