Activity Summary
Saturday 2nd December - Day 424
Drive to Chaitén
Hide away cold
Sunday 3rd December - Day 425
Pumalin National Park
Chaitén volcano hike
Restaurant El Volcán
Walk along waterfront
Ferry to Castro, Chiloe Island
Summary
Chaitén
Really don’t like this place. Naff all here, no decent shops to even buy half decent bread and no cafes to kill time. Nothing seemed to be open Saturday or Sunday.
Transport
Puyuhuapi -> Chaitén
Quite an easy part of the drive. 95% tarmac
One mountain pass was so cold that there was a load of snow that needed clearing but it was a short stretch
Chaiten itself seems to want to kill cars with its fat lips onto its roads everywhere
Accommodation
Chaitén - Hospedaje Crece
Number of nights - 1
Price per night per person - £15
Take 2. Still don’t recommend it for a long stay but it was cheaper than everywhere else by some margin.
Diary
Saturday 2nd December - Day 424
The drive to Chaitén is definitely the easiest leg, minus the ad hoc snowed overpass. But these guys are clearly well versed with snow problems and it was clear enough by the time we got there.
On arrival Nicola spent a while trying to check in (nobody was around for an age) and Luke ran around town trying to find some half decent bread. He failed miserably and from that point was utterly dejected with Chaitén.
The hostel was pretty cold, the fire doing very little to heat the living room and our room. So we spent the evening huddled under all the blankets and fully clothed.
Sunday 3rd December - Day 425
Naturally we woke up cold but at least we had decent covers. By 10am we were packed up and out of the door to Pumalin National Park for the Chaitén volcano hike.
We managed to ride our luck some more and got as good a day as we could have hoped to do the volcano. Some girls from our hostel did it the day before and it was a mix of torrential rain and snow which sounded rough as fuck.
The hike itself is all big steps up to the summit and then all down. Not Nicola’s fave.
The first section was alright with a clear navigable path.
That then changed into a messy bog which required a lot more effort.
After getting through the treeline, the views opened out over the meandering Rio Baker feeding into the Reloncavi sound.
Nice views over the mountains, river and lake but they didn’t change much as we ascended.
At the summit we got very different views to those we had had over the last 3 weeks. Chaitén volcano was steaming at the head with popping red, black white and grey that gave Mt Doom vibes.
To its left there seemed to be a black lake of death.
The volcano had erupted about 13 years ago and completely levelled Chaitén. The lava channels could be seen at the base feeding into a larger body of water and with the backdrop of the greener hillside was glorious.
A lovely spot for a lunch stop.
Behind we had top out views of the river.
Going back down was tricky for Nicola who had a couple of heavy falls.
In Chaitén on a Sunday absolutely nothing was open. We got scared about sneaking back into our hostel because no one seemed to be staying there and the owners seemed to be all out in force with their family so we ran away and spent hours in Restaurant El Volcán.
Coffee and a drink turned into dinner, killing the hours until the restaurant filled up so much for dinner we felt bad about staying and went for a walk around town.
The loop around the back of town wasn’t so pleasant when a rapid beast of a dog in someone’s garden went nuts at the sight of us and terrified us so much we turned tail and fled. If that guy was on the street with the other strays he would have fucked us up.
One of the volcano peaks in the distance was super interesting, being as pointy as Luke’s razor nips on a cold night.
While Chaitén sucks, the waterfront is actually quite nice and has nice views (albeit scary how close it seems) of Chaitén volcano.
We were in the queue for the ferry to Castro, Chiloe Island, at 9pm and were boarded comfortably on time. Thankfully they didn’t make Luke go down in the hold this time.
On board, we pitched up our sleeping positions, taking ownership of two rows and spent the evening and morning trying to sleep. Some people on the ferry had absolutely no respect, playing their TV out loud past 12pm despite the lights being turned off and clearly everyone trying to sleep.
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