Now that the first part of the trip is done, I’ll be spending the next two weeks on the boat to Antarctica. With zero Internet the next post will be from there (if i can afford satellite fees for a picture) or only when i get back to Argentina.
Laterz 😉
Posted from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
From Hornopiren we drove up the coast looking for a side dirt road that appeared only on one map out of four we had. Turned out to be an amazing coastal trail, connecting fishing and clamming villages. 50 km in 4 hours, we had to stop every few minutes to take a photo look at the birds and houses, or to look for interesting sea shells.
Yael and me took the Toyota on an eight hour ferry to Hornopiren to finish the trail. On the way we saw seals, pelicans and penguins ! In the coastal waters.
We got into ‘town’ early in the evening and found a nice run down hotel across the beach. Children were playing soccer underneath the volcano and from the hotel i counted over fifteen kinds of birds in 5 minutes; swans, falcons, several kinds of gulls, egrets, ducks, geese, kingfishers and more…
The largest private park in the world, Pumalin was bought by an american billioner and turned into a nature park. Some of it was covered in ash from Chaiten volcano in the last two years, and is now being reopened, although most is accessible only on foot or by boat. We drove thru an amazing rainforest on dirt roads and slept in a campground that’s still closed. We were the only tourists.
Beautiful huge kingfisher. Finally got a good photo after tracking one for an hour
Y
Arrived at chaiten, which was evacuated in 2008 after the volcano erupted (erupted again in 2009). 4000 people moved away, 80 are left. Electricity from generators, water sometimes, basic food. Stayed in the area for 3 days waiting for a ferry out. The ship company wasn’t exactly sure when the ferry will arrive and if it is a car ferry.
