Patagonia

 Enchanted Chile - Week 1

Jane here, checking in from Chile.
After a dull few years of very little exploration, our crew set out for Chile, specifically Patagonia.

• Day 1: With a full day of travel, we made our way to the gateway of Patagonia in Chile, Puerto Montt, secured our transportation and picked up provisions we would need along the way.
  

The main route for week 1: Ruta 7 / Carretera - Austral.

A little warning.

• Day 2: Heading out on the Carretera-Austral our first stop was Los Andinos Alerce National Park - home to the largest and oldest (up to 5,000 years) species of living trees in Chile. Alerces only grow 1cm every fifteen years and can stand as tall as 60m (200ft). You can see one of my Gameologists standing at the bottom of a mountain with the Alerce above them at the top. Look closely at the close up and you can see how much larger the Alerce is than the "normal" trees of the forest. We also found multiple prints in a mud puddle, what prints can you find?
  

Focus on the tree at the top and look at the next photo.

Zoomed into the tree at the top. Notice the "normal" trees below it.

How many prints can you find?

• Day 3: Leaving the town of Hornoporien, with its majestic views of the volcano of the same name, we boarded our first of two ferry rides, with an island drive between, to get to Pumalin National Park. Here we enjoyed hikes to view more Alerces, Lago Negro,  and our first glacier sighting. Our site for the evening included a gorgeous sunset along the beach with a view of yet another volcano.
  

• Day 4: Today we continue heading south via Ruta 7 to explore the southern half of Pumalin National Park with many nature trails. We enjoyed the Ranita (frog) De Darwin trail. During this scenic hike we observed awe inspiring glaciers, beautiful flowers, wonderful waterfall features, many birds, blue spiderwebs, and we even have to climb over a ground bee hive as we scaled a few ladders on the trail. Unfortunately, we never saw the frogs that gave the trail its  name, we could only hear them in the valley below us.
  

• Day 5: Our day started out a bit misty as we found our way to the Queulat National Park to hopefully see the Hanging Glacier up close by boat. Unfortunately, the mist gave way to rain and though we did take the fantastic boat ride on the lake, the glacier remained, mostly in the mist, out of our view. Our hike to the lake brought us many fungal surprises along the way and a walk across a suspension bridge rated for only 4.

• Day 6: Today was an surprise around every corner road travel day from Villa Mengual to Puerto Tranquillo with many lupines on the roadside, condor, waterfalls, glaciers only feet from the road, herds of goats, and amazing views along the way (see photo at top of page). Our drive took us through the Cerro Castillo National Park where we observed the mountains making clouds!
  

• Day 7: Our final day of our first week included a boat exploration of the glacier fed General Carrera Lake and the mesmerizing Capillas de Marmol. General Carrera is the 2nd largest lake in South America and is over 700 square miles with a depth of 1,900 feet. Not only did we explore the Capillas de Marmol, we also got to observe a condor and geese. Our day ended with a drive through a small portion of the Patagonia National Park with our first sightings of guanicos on our way to Tortel, a village built on stilts and without roads with many, many steps making the paths through the village.

Until next time, Jane signing off.