We arrived to the NOLS Patagonia branch after taking a flight from Santiago to Balmeceda and got a tour from our friend Marissa who we find out is going to be our neighbor in Alaska. She tells us that our Chilean friend Patty who we worked with close to 20 years ago in Alaska is excited that we are here and would like to take us out to lunch tomorrow.

The next day Patty picks us up and we head to the nearby town of Coyhaique where we have a delicious meal at Basilica. It is great to catch up as it has been a long time since we have seen each other. We are wide open for suggestions of how we should spend our time in Chile. We hadn’t done much planning as we weren’t 100% sure that we would make it to Chile with all of the requirements for Covid. Patty tells us about several different places and then tells us about a trip she is going to do with her two nieces. In a couple of days she is going to take them on a 7 day horse supported trek with some gauchos that she has hired as guides. She knows the head Gaucho and thinks that it will be a very realistic trip to learn about their lifestyles. She wants to know if we might be interested and we quickly say yes. She texts the gauchos to see if they can add two more people. They reply they can and we are excited about this adventure!!! The plan is to leave in a couple of days when her nieces arrive from Santiago,

Great to meet up with Patty. She is well know in the outside community as she was the first South American woman to climb all seven summits.

Patty will pick us up tomorrow and we will head back to town to buy some food for the road trip and of course some chocolate for the trip. Patty picks us up in the morning and we go back to Coyhaique. In town we actually meet two people in town that we have known from their working at NOLS in Alaska, such a small world. Back to the branch and we pack up for the trip. We also plan on staying in the area after the Gaucho trip is over so we need to minimize what we are taking with us. Most of the road trip will be on a dirt road called the Caraterra Austral. It is the main road that goes until you hit water and have to take a ferry to continue on to towns in Chile’s most southern region. From what we have been told it is a very long and slow drive. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

Patty picks us up at the NOLS branch the following day and we head to town to get some cash and buy a pizza. We plan to spend the night at Patty’s friends and will bring the pizza to share. Patty’s nieces text us and say they will be landing soon. We are also bringing Patty’s sweet dog Sancho with us. He was a street dog that Patty adopted and now they are best buddies. We arrive to the airport and we meet Fernanda and Magdalena. We get comfortable in the truck for the journey south. We make a plan for us to improve our Spanish and for the Chicas to practice English. We are all excited for this adventure to begin.

Patty’s friends live on Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in South America. It is a beautiful lake that is quite calm today. However due to its long fetch, when the wind blows it becomes a dangerous place. The founder of North Face died in this lake when his kayak flipped and he wasn’t able to get to shore. We continue down the dirt road till we come to the road that goes to Chile Chico. Somewhere along this road is the road to Paula and Christian’s second home. They hope to spend more time here as they get older.

We continue for miles looking at the shoreline.

Patty has never been there and only has the directions recorded by her friend Paula on Patty’s phone. We listen to them as we make our way to their house. Several times we wonder if we are lost. One of her directions tell us that we are going to be on a mala, mala, mala road section (which means very bad). That becomes our joke. Cell phone service is very limited and when the phone rings we stop. Paula and her husband Christian are returning to their home from Chile Chico and see our truck, we are indeed lost. They are above us on a very twisty road and saw our truck below them. They tell us to turn around and wait at an intersection for them. It was most fortunate that this happened, otherwise we would be probably camping somewhere along this mala, mala, mala road. We follow them to their house. This is their second home and it is very ecologically built. It is totally off grid and water is supplied by the lake. Their roof is covered in native plants. We meet Paula, Christian and their son. We also meet Paula’s sister who now lives in Michigan. She looks familiar and then we realize that we sat behind her on the plane from Santiago to Balmeceda (the airport near Coyhaique). We enjoy the pizza we brought and a few bottles of Chilean Wine. The conversation continues until we can barely keep our eyes open. it is a mixture of Spanish and English. Christian has done a lot of work at Parque Nacional Patagonia. After the founder of North Face died, a large area of land was given to Chile for the development of this park. They highly recommended that we visit there which we plan to do. Off to the tent we go with the the sound of waves hitting shore putting us to sleep.

The next morning we waken to a beautiful, but cool sunny day. After breakfast we take a short walk near their house and learn about the area.

It was a great way to spend the morning before getting back on the road.

When we finally get back to the road we stop at the small town of Puerta Guadal to have lunch before making our way to Cochrane. I am glad that we are not going to Marte (Mars) on this road.

It took us over an hour to get back to the main road. The detour to visit them was great and there was the added adventure of finding their homestead. We are traveling by the beautiful Baker River which is know for its beautiful blue color. Patty wants to stop at the confluence of the the Neff and Baker Rivers.

It was a short walk to the Confluence and what a view.

The Neff river is the silty glacial river and the Baker is the deep blue one,

We take several more moments of being in awe before we load up and head to our destigfnation for the night.

Sancho is happy to be out of the truck, actually we all are!

Our destination for the night is Cochrane, a town of about 3000. We are amazed by the feeling of isolation that one gets while driving on the dirt road and seeing small ranches scattered along the way. Suddenly there is a section of pavement and the town begins. We check out the square before finding our cabin for the night.

Cochrane is a bustling little town with several grocery stores, nice schools, a new bus depo, and a very modern looking hospital. It is very quiet in the town and all the restaurants appear to be closed. Fortunately the grocery store is open and we are able to get some items for dinner. We soon make it to the cabin for the night, We learn that Diego who will be hiking out with us the last day is coming by to meet us and fill us in on some more details. We are going with the flow on this trip and learning as we go.

This was our home for the night. We thought that the plywood was for shade, but there is road construction going on and when there is blasting , rocks can hit the window. We prepare to move quickly if we hear any noise.

Patty is leaving her truck here so one of the tasks for the morning is to pack any items that we aren’t taking with us in her truck. We will be driving to a small town called Villa O’Higgins and then trekking with the horses back to Cochrane. The driver who will be taking us to our next destination will be arriving at noon. We head into town in the morning and buy some food for the road. Once we leave Cochrane there won’t be any more towns till we reach Villa O Higgins. If we make the ferry we should be there by 6, if we don’t we won’t get there till 9. It is going to be another long day in the vehicle. We are also going to be taking Lorena, the wife of our lead Gaucho, Papo. with us. She left Coyhaique about 4 this morning and arrives a little before noon. Maurcio, our driver arrives right at noon and we load up with Don in the front, Fernanda , Magdalena and I in the middle seats while Lorena, Patty and Sancho take up the rear. We pass thru several different eco systems as we near the ocean and then veer away as we head towards the mountains and Villa O Higgins. Lorena has her computer and shows us a movie that was made several years ago called Gaucho, the last Patagonia Cowboy.(one can rent it on Amazon Prime) Her husband Papo is one of the leading characters. It is well done and just adds to our excitement of starting this trip, We stop at one of the overlooks and Patty points out an edible red berry.

It is called Strawberry Myrtle or Chadron. We pick quite a few and enjoy the flavor. it is not like any berry that we are familiar with.

We see a sign for the ferry, yeah! and we arrive to the ferry dock right at 4 o’clock. The ferry can be seen coming our way. Our timing is perfect or so we think!

The ferry is free and there is a line of cars to board. The first vehicle in line is a large truck with two trailers. It is going to be tight as to whether we will be able to get on this ferry. The man in charge of loading points at vehicles to get on the ferry. One side fills up and then he motions for the large truck to back on. It is not looking good for us, but then he tells us to try to load. Maurcio drives to board the ferry, but then realizes it won’t fit. We back off and a smaller car moves on. Guess we will have an hour wait. We walk around the beach and find some raspberries to eat.

Finally we see the ferry returning and we are the first to get on the boat. It is about a 30 minute boat ride to where we pick up the last section of the completed Carterra Austral.

The road has lots of curves as we head up the mountains and the views are spectacular. We pass several waterfalls, such a contrast as most of the drive has been quite dry. There is a steep mountain pass that we pass over before we drop down to the town. We arrive to our lodging about 9. It has been another long day.

We are staying in this hospedaje. Papo and his family live mostly on the right side and guests are on the left side.

We are served egg soup and fresh tomatoes for a late dinner. Patty and Papo go over some details of the trip,

The plan is for us to give the gauchos any gear that we won’t need for hiking for the day. He would like to have it by 7 in the morning so he can take it to the gauchos who will be taking the horses to where we will meet them in a couple of days. We will be taking boats across two lakes while the gauchos will be taking the horses around the lakes. We will have tomorrow to explore the town and do a hike in one of the parks located here.

By 11:00 we are headed to bed. Wow this has been a very long day.

Last night we packed up the bags that we will be sending to the Gauchos so we were all able to sleep in a little longer this morning.. The last two days of long drives have been tiring. Don and I head out to find some food for breakfast, we check out two grocery stores and the shelves are pretty empty. Apparently the food trucks arrive today and there should be food on the shelves by afternoon. We are able to buy some bread so with some food that we brought with us we make do. We head out after breakfast to explore the town and then do a hike up the mountain behind the town.

This town like the other small towns has a very neat center plaza. It is the main focus of the town.

We are impressed with the sculpture in the center of the square, it is a female Gaucha!

From the square we check out the mountain that we plan to hike up to the top.

We head over to the entrance of the park where we are given a briefing in Spanish about the park.It is always encouraging when we can understand some of the words and get some of the content. Patty is great with helping us to understand exactly what is being said.

It takes us about an hour to get to the top.

The Chilean flag flies overhead. Papo tells us that he and several other men carried the flag and flagpole to the top. That must have take some effort.

We get a bird’s eye view of the town and see the square in the middle.

We were glad to have followed the advice of the ranger who recommended the loop rather than an up and back. The trail was fairly steep going up hill, but more gradual on the way down.

On the way back thru town we see Maurcio who has just finished cleaning his van, He is heading back to Coyhaique tomorrow. He will be on the Austral Carter for over 10 hours!

It is afternoon by the time we get back and ask a couple of people for a restaurant recommendation. They point to one which we find to be opened. It seems since covid has hit this area several restaurants have closed. We walk in and say Hola., a woman comes in from the kitchen and tells us the restaurant is open. we are the only ones there. She is from France and speaks good English, the restaurant is for sale as she hopes to move back to France. We check out the grocery stores and are impressed with the food on the shelves. The food truck arrived. We are able to buy some fruit. avocadoes, fresh bread and some cheese for dinner tonight. We head back to our lodging and get filled in on some more details about tomorrow. Patty asks Papo if he can take us to mile zero of the Austral Carterra. It is about a 7 km drive from the town. He agrees so we load into his vehicle to go check it out.

On this side of the sign we have reached the end of the road.

On this side we are a KM 0…our trip is just beginning.

Papo want to leave at 7 in the morning. Today the lakes were too windy to travel so we are hoping tomorrow will be better. It has been a good day of exploring this town of about 500 people. Before we head to bed Papo shows a a wheel of cow cheese that his Mother has made for our trip. Can’t wait to try it!

We also visited this small museum in the town. The name of this padre is well known in Patagonia.

We are up b y 6 and leave by 7. Lorena sits in the bed of the truck with two dogs and our hiking gear. It is about an hour drive to where we will board the first of two boats to get to where the other gauchos and horses are waiting. We stop at a small chapel half way thru the trip.

This chapel was built by Padre Antonio Ronchi.

We have just started moving again when we see a Huemul. They are very rare and we only saw one the whole time we were in Chile. They are protected now and are not hunted.

We felt fortunate that the deer stood for awhile just checking us out,

For a lot of the way to the lakes on both sides the road there was a fence. The richest man in Chile has bought a lot of land in this area and has fenced it off. This has made it challenging for the huemul to access water.

The road that we are driving on will eventually connect to Argentina. Argentina needs to build a bridge that will connect the two countries. This road will then connect to the famous Ruta 40 which is paved and it will be a faster road to northern Chile than the Austral Carterra. It will also have the potential of bringing more people to the town of Villa O Higgins which may not be ready for a big influx of people.

When we get to the first lake we are glad to see that it is flat calm.

We all load up into the blue boat. This is Sancho’s first boat ride and he is not happy.

Papo takes the helm.

The scenery is beautiful

The first boat rise is about 45 minutes.

We unload and take a 15 minute hike to the next lake. Where we meet Edgardo, another gaucho with a smaller boat. The ride on this lake is about 30 minutes. It would have taken us about 2 days to walk the shore line to where the horses and the other two gauchos are waiting.

This boat is smaller so Don and Papo will stay and wait for Edgardo to return.

Papo shows Don the Gaucho way of fishing using a line wrapped around a can,

Not too many casts and a nice rainbow trout was caught.

Meanwhile we are making our way across lake number 2. The lakes are long and narrow and it is easy to see how easy it is for waves to build. Don’t have to worry about that today. Sancho is not happy.

We enjoy more great scenery.

As we approach the shore we see smoke from a fire.

Edgardo beaches the boat and we hop out.

On the shore we see why a fire was made. We are going to have our first Asado! We are introduced to Cesar who is Papo’s brother. He loves to cook and it shows.

As well as salmon they they just caught.

These are salmon that have escaped from the Salmon ocean farms and made their way up the river to these lakes. Now they are plentiful here.

While we wait for the food to be finished cooking, a horse needs to be shoed.

Notice the knife. This is how the gauchos carry their knives.

The horse has a new shoe and is ready for the trip. One reason that the gauchos had to come in several days before our arrival was to catch the horses. There were 3 horses here and 3 more are at the cabin where we will be staying tonight. They hadn’t been here for 20 days so the horses were just running free.

Don quickly fits in with his boina (gaucho hat) and drinking mate,

After the meal, it is time to pack up and hike to where we will be camping tonight. The three horses will be carrying the gear. Tomorrow we will add three more horses so there will be an opportunity for some riding.

We watch as our gear and all the food is organized in neat packages to load on to the horses.

It is obvious that they have had lots of practicing doing this.

We are all loaded and time to head out

It is the first horse trip for one of the dogs. The dog started out by nipping one of the horses feet. It was punished by putting one of its legs through a collar around its neck.

Hopefully he is a fast learner, This looks painful

It is going to be a short walk to where we will be staying tonight To get there we have to cross a shallow stream.

Tonight we are staying at the ranch of Don Heraldo Rivera He was a gaucho that lived here most of his life. He died in 2018 and Papo looks after the ranch. He was known as as the Last Gaucho. He lived at this ranch for most of his life.

The shingles on the sides are quite typical through out Patagonia. They are hand made from logs.

Cesar made an amazing meat stew and we finished up the fish. We also had homemade prune jam and the cow cheese that Papa’s mother had made. We set around tonight and learned about each other. Don and I are going to get a lot of practice with out Spanish this trip. The gauchos only speak Spanish.

The plan is to have breakfast at 9 and be on the trail by 10..

A gentle rain began in the middle of the night and was still falling when we woke up. We packed up our gear and headed to the cabin. We were glad that we had the cabin to have breakfast. Breakfast served by Cesar included, bread, cheese, salami and home made berry jam. Since we had gotten up earlier our departure time was moved to 9.

It was an overcast morning, the surrounding mountains have disappeared.

We met these horses yesterday. They will be going with us. One of the black horses had hurt its leg last year and can not be ridden or used as a pack horse. It will just follow along and join our crew.

Yesterday we had forded a stream, today Papo takes us to a log crossing so we won’t have to wade. It is a bit of a balance act to get across.

We all made it with not getting wet.

The rain continued for most of the morning as we mostly hiked thru the forest along the Rio Bravo.

Before we get to our lunch spot the girls have an opportunity to do some riding.

We arrive to our lunch spot where the gauchos already have a fire going.

Periodically along the trail are these rough shelters. Often they are from ranches that have been abandoned.

This trail is called the Paseo de Pioneers. It was the main route of the gauchos that went from Villa O Higgins to Cochrane before there was the Austral Carterra.

The horses get a break while we eat and dry out some of our clothing around the fire.

After eating we pack our gear and head out. The girls get to ride more until the trail gets too steep and everyone goes back to trekking.

Cesar is in the front and Papo’s son Franco is on the other horse.

Papo has grown up in this area and is a wealth of information. He has lots of stories to tell us. One of them is why there are a pair of shoes here hanging from a tree.

They are his and when he and others were building this trail, his shoes wore out so now they are part of the history of this trail

In another section he motions for us to follow him. Off the trail is another find.

When we get to camp tonight we are told that one of the horses had an encounter with a yellow jacket and ended up rolling a couple of times down a hill. We were relieved to hear that the horse was not injured. Camp tonight is in a beautiful setting.

We set up our tent and head to the campfire which has meat on a stick cooking.

Another delicious meal of meat and potatoes. Papo told us that 85 percent of the gaucho diet is meat.

There is even a chair that someone made many years ago.

Today was another good one of seeing the scenery and learning about the area. Papo figured that we hiked about 20 km today. No paper maps just his local knowledge. Tomorrow we are going to Pompeo where Papo owns the land and has a cabin there that he built.

Day 3 of our trek started out with a very cold morning. We heard the gauchos sitting around the fire early in the morning. It seemed that they were cold. We were all tired last night and were in bed early, but the almost full moon kept waking us up. By 6:30 we were ready to pack up and go have breakfast It was a meal of cheese and salami sandwiches with bread that had been warmed by the fire.

Hot drinks of Mate, tea and coffee warmed us up.

It was great to see how bottles are recycled.

Papo shows us a rake made from horse shoes while Franco packs up some gear.

The trail today has a lot of uphill and is not good for not experienced riders so with Papo leading the way we are followers.

As we reach the top of some hills we get to see the surrounding mountains with glaciers. Patty has climbed quite a few of them.

Tomorrow we will be hiking up and over a steep pass, but today we are hiking to the cabin of Papo in a Pompeo which is a large open area.

Not much wildlife here so when we saw some movement, it was exciting to see this toad.

When we got to the top of this hill, Papo was excited to point out the Pompeo and where his cabin is located.

He and his family had built the cabin several years ago.

Our last hill before descending to the valley.

We arrive to the cabin and set up our tents.

The name of Papo’s business is on the door.

We have some soup and bread before taking a hike to the Chilean/Argentina border called hito. The border is closed due to covid, but normally it would be an easy hike between the two countries. On the way to the border we hear a wild bull. Fortunately it ran, but they can be dangerous if spooked.

When we arrive back to the ranch, the gauchos had done some scouting to check out the river crossings for tomorrow. and had found a wild calf. Good for the gauchos, but sad for the calf.

The other task for the afternoon was to put a shoe on a horse. This horse wasn’t as mellow as the horse on the first day.

It took all of the gauchos working together to finally get the shoe on the horse,

For our meal tonight we had fresh fry bread made by Papo served with cheese. Quite delicious.

It was a great way to end another good day.

Tomorrow we have a lot of river crossings to do plus a major pass. The plan is for us to be on the trail by 8.

Lots of frost on our tent this morning. We had planned for an early start so no staying in our warm sleeping bag. We packed up our gear and headed to the cabin where the gauchos had a fire going. Hot tea with fry bread and jam was a good way to start the morning. We had a lot of river crossings to do today and if we wanted to keep our feet dry ,it would mean a lot of time would be spent getting into our wet shoes crossing the river and then putting our dry shoes back on. It was obvious when we came to the first crossing that the Gauchos had come up with another plan, it involved taking turns crossing the river on horse back. It moved us up to the pass most efficiently.

Fernanda and Magdalena started out riding. It was cold in the valley, but before too long we would feel the sun’s warmth.

Fortunately the rivers weren’t deep, but we had a lot of crossings to do.

Patty rode this horse across one of the rivers.

So nice to have dry feet. Plus it is a cold morning and these rivers are fed by glaciers so they are quite cold.

The sun finally hits the valley floor and we feel its warmth.

We have a lot of hiking to do today, but the scenery makes us awe struck.

Papo stops at a place where the trees comes close to the trail and motions us over. He has a story to tell. He walks over to a wooden structure with some candles underneath it.

In a nearby tree is matches and more candles. He lights the candles and tells the story.

Many years ago, a gaucho had come over the pass and was heading down the valley when a storm moved in which can happen any time in these mountains. He wasn’t able to get a fire started nor move down to shelter due to the weather. When he didn’t show up, after the weather cleared a group of men went looking for him and found his body. Papo said they always stop here when going over the pass and light the candles in his memory. He also stressed the importance of being prepared.

We continue going up the valley and crossing numerous streams

As the trail becomes steeper the horses are led up the mountain.

Patagonia is known for its rainy weather so to have this day to go over the pass, we are all feeling quite blessed.

Papo has almost walked the whole trail with us. This is one of the few times that Caesar wasn’t on his horse.

A few more rivers and we are in the spot for the group photo.

The horse that has been tagging along deserves to have her photo taken as well.

We have enjoyed learning about the horses.

There is still several more hours of hiking up to the pass. I was given the opportunity to ride it. As I looked around it almost seemed surreal that I was here in Patagonia riding a horse surrounded by mountains and glaciers.

The hikers make their way up to the pass.

See if you can find the hikers in this photo.

As we wait for the hikers to arrive, the horses all take a well deserved break.

Cesar has gone up to a snow field and when Don gets to the top has a shot of whiskey waiting for him

After the break it is time to start down hill. Fernanda and Magdalena gladly take the options of riding down.

It is mostly down hill, with a couple of up hills thrown in. As the trail meanders down the valley we even hike into Argentina for awhile. Then we see our home for the night. WOW!

It has been a warm almost hot day and the waterfall is huge which means the river we have to cross tomorrow is currently almost impassible. We are hoping that when it freezes tonight the amount of water flowing will also decrease. That will be tomorrows challenge. Today we are just going to enjoy our surroundings.

We fill our water bottles from a close by stream and spend the rest of the night sitting around the fire talking to the Gauchos. Tomorrow they are going to meet a group of mountain bikers who are attempting to make the first mountain bike ride of this trail. The gauchos have checked out the river crossing and have made contact with the bikers. The river is too fast and high for them to safely cross this afternoon so the plan is to get up early and try it then. We have mixed feelings about the bicyclists, we think that horses and walking is much preferred. A nice evening as we share photos and learn more about our new friends and the lives they live. Tomorrow after the gauchos help with the river crossing we will hike up a very steep trail and meet Diego and crew who will be hiking out to the trail head with us and bid adios to the Gauchos.

By 6 we are up and packed ready to go. The gauchos have already carried our gear down to the river that the horses have been carrying.

We are glad to see that the waterfall is quite a bit smaller which means the river should be lower. as well.

When we get to the river, the gauchos have set up a rope.

We begin to take off our shoes and plan to put on our wet shoes to do the crossing, but then we are told that Papo will be carrying all of the ladies across and Don too if he wants it. Don declines and heads across.

We only crossed once, but the gauchos went back and forth several times.

We all made it, now it is the mountain bikers turn.

The gauchos are carrying some food for them and will leave it at some of the places we camped.

Now that we have crossed the river the next challenge is getting up and out of the river valley. When this trail was used more regularly by the Gauchos and their horses, a path was carved out using a pick axe that was left at the top. Today it is a scramble needing all fours to work your way up. I can see why the gauchos didn’t want to take their horses up this.

Don was the last to make it up the hill. Some of the trail up was bare rock with few places to put your hands. We say good-by to our Gaucho friends. What an experience we have had!

At the top Patty showed us the pick and told us how the pass got the name of Paseo de Picolate.

We meet Diego, his brother and cousin. They are going to carry some of the gear that the horses carried.

Diego is the grandson of Heraldo Rial, It is fun learning about all the connections here.

It is a beautiful day as we head down to the road where a vehicle is packed.

We are glad that Diego is familiar with the route. Since it is not frequently used there isn’t a clear path in some of the areas.There are several small river crossings to do with one that requires spotting. We make all of them with no problems.

As we head out of the forests , the mountains and glaciers appear

We miss the horses and Gauchos, but it is interesting to hear stories about Diego and his brother.

As we got close to the trailhead we were greeted by a group of horses. They were quite friendly and walked right up to us.

We all missed the horses of the Gauchos.

By late afternoon we reach a well known glacier near Cochrane called Glacier Calluqueo

.There are even benches here to sit and enjoy the scenery.