Puyuhuapi to Puerto Aisen to Coihaique

A comfortable night in the second best hostals we have stayed in so far, good hot water, hot homemade German bread for breakfast and super soft beds. The hostal is owned by a German lady who has lived here for 53 years. What we are finding is that most of the hostals are owned and run by widows as a means of income. Most are good and include breakfast in the price. The best so far and highly recommended is La Casa de Henao in Valpariso. A lovely place run by a lovely family. Very had to leave this truely historic home.
The ride to Puerto Aisen started out fine but soon developed into full rain by the time we had to cross the mountain pass, with the gravel road starting to cut up in places. Stopped at Park National Queulat to see the hanging glacier, in the rain and was told by others that a 3 year old girl had recently been snatched off the trail by a Puma and you needed to travel with 3 or more people. We were covered.
Puerto Aisen was our planned stop as we were going to try and catch the ferry down to see the San Rafael glacier that is one of the few glaciers that flow directly into the sea. It is receding at a rate of 200m a year due to global warming. This was not going to be a happening thing. With one boat broken down and the other charging  $350US per person we gave it a miss.
A cold wet night was spent in Puerto Aisen drying out jackets and gloves ready for the morning.
Next day it was a ride to Coihaique. With all the rain from the day before we were treated to some spectacular waterfalls and the sun was out in full force. By the time we arrived at Coihaique it was raining again with snow in the air.
Coihaique is a lovely modern town and we have had a forced rest for 4 days due to the road being closed with snow, so have had the time to check the bike over and try and find somewhere that serves vegies. They are not big on the veg here and you start to crave them after a while.

Puerto Montt --- Chaiten

We managed the return trip to Puerto Montt on the mainland and booked our tickets for the midnight crossing to Chaiten for the start of the Carretera Austral. As you can see the ship was my kind of ship. The crossing was smooth and rainy but Annette had her first case of Deli Bellie that night, thank goodness it was dark and everyone was asleep.

We landed to a fine sunny day and an interview with Chile TV on what we were doing and where we were going.

Chaiten was damaged by a volcano that exploded earlier in the year and was flooded when the nearby river was blocked with ash etc. No body died as a Dunkirk type evacuation took place to take all 4000 residents offshore.  The volcano is still active and is being watched very closely for any sign of danger. Locals that have moved back are fighting the government to stay as the government has deamed the town dead.
We have moved through the Austral and the photos do not do the place justice. Think Fiordland on steriods.

The road is like the Molesworth but is covered in potholes in places and corragations on the hills. Nothing we have not ridden in NZ. Our first night was spent in a German settled town of Puyuhuapi.

Chiloe

We moved to the island of Chiloe to try and find a ferry that would take us to Chaiten and the start of the Carretera Austral. It turns out that the service has been suspended due to the volcano that destroyed Chaiten early this year. The only ferry that runs is from Puerto Montt a couple of times a week leaving at midnight and arriving at 8am.
So we get to spend some time on Chiloe before returning to the mainland
An interesting island that relies on fishing, timber and tourism. Chile is starting to move towards the tourist dollar in a big way. A lot of money is being spent on small towns doing up their plazas etc.
We crossed the straight and motored down to the town of Castro. Pull into the town, park on the side of the road looking for somewhere to stay and a fellow Goldwing rider pulls up behind us in his car. Hola and Annette with her improving Spanish and Donald doing improving hand signals, the chappy has us following him round the one way streets to some accommodation to choose from. Done, a hand shake and exchange of addresses and he is off. Another of those unique experiences that follows us in Chile.

Rustic

We decided to stay a night in the lake town of Puerto Varas on our way south. A town very much as Queenstown was back in the seventies, but on the verge of taking off with the usual array of new hotels being constucted. Once we arrived it was down to the usual procedure of finding a hostal to spend the night. Once found, it was me looking after the bike and Annette doing the finer details of checking the place out.
Yes it was fine, with great rustic charm, safe parking and clean sheets on the bed.
Bike parked and unloaded, it was up the stairs. Man, is there someting wrong with me? The stair has a right hand twist and I'm heading left all the time. Onto the landing and I'm puffing, then all of a sudden I'm over a hump and running for the bed and I can't stop.
This place was built over a 120 years ago and it is starting to melt into the ground. The doors either stick to the floor or jam in the door frames. All the handles are broken off from people forcing the doors to open them. Windows that you could see under and the old varnished tongue and groove ceilings that are buckled and bowed from the strain of holding the place together.
Time for bed. Annette draws the curtains closed and they end up on the floor, the re-enforcing rod fell off, oh well a night sleeping with the moon. Sorry, that was the street light. Get the bed right so the blood doesn't rush from your head and its off to sleep.
Next day and its those stairs again and this time its a swing to the right with a load and a downhill speed, crash, polished floors again in bike boots.

Dust Devils. If Annette ever talks rustic to you, RUN.