The Hanging Glacier

After Chaiten, we continued south along the Carretera Austral to the little town of Puyuhuapi.  Originally founded by German immigrants in 1930, Puyuhuapi is located on a fjord.  This tiny town of 500 people became famous when the founders brought weavers from Chiloe to come and start a rug-making business in Patagonia. 

At the intersection of the Carretera Austral with the road going over the Andes to Argentina, the town of La Junta still has a massive sign showing off the work of the ex-dictator.

 

 

Puyuhuapi is located about 20km north of Parque Nacional Queulat.  Queulat has a famous hanging glacier where after a short hike through cold rain forest you arrive at a look-out point where you can watch pieces of the ice fall and crash against the rocks below.

Crossing over the river Queulat.

Walking through El Bosque Encantado (The Enchanted Forest).

Overlooking El Ventisquero Colgante (The Hanging Glacier).

 

Regrowing Out of the Ash

After returning from Bolivia we took a bus immediately to Chiloe to start our Patagonian adventure.  We took the ferry from the island back to the main land to the Carretera Austral.  The Carretera Austral is a road completed during the Administration of the Dictator Augusto Pinochet that connect the very rural parts of Northern Patagonia.  The road starts by going over by ferry south of Puerto Montt and continues south 1,240 kilometers until Villa O'Higgins.

We first started in a town call Chaiten.  Chaiten is now famous as a city that was destroyed by its neighboring Volcano in May of 2008.  The eruption happened in the early morning hours with little to no warning.  The people had to flee in the middle of the night.  After the volcanic eruption, the Chilean government did not want to let the people of Chaiten return, but the people did and have been rebuilding their city over the ash of what used to be the most northern city on the Carretera Austral.

North of Chaiten lies Parque Pumalin.  The park is owned by the Douglas Thompkins; one of the two founders of The North Face.  He and his wife are the largest private landowners in the world.  Pumalin remains more a reserve than a traditional park.  It includes largely untouched areas and some trees that belong to the second oldest family of trees in the world.

The boat ride from Castro, Chiloe to Northern Patagonia

The destruction left behind after the eruption of Volcan Chaiten

 

A boat washed up after a tidal wave.

 

The Alerce (Patagonian Cypress) is the world's second oldest living tree species.  These rare trees grow in a small geographic area and very few are located in easily accessible places.

On top of the crater of what used to be Volcan Chaiten.  Behind us is the ever growing lava dome.

The Driest Place on Earth

From La Paz, we came down from the mountains to the coast.  We flew from Santiago to Arica, Chile's most northern city, since domestic flights are much cheaper than international flights.  This city was our starting and finishing point for our loop through Peru and Bolivia.  We spent a little time in the city itself including going out to see the world's oldest mummies which have been discovered in the coastal valleys in the northern Atacama. 

The world's oldest mummies on display.  They date back to the Chincorro culture; a culture that existed in the fertile desert valleys and lived off of the resources that came from the sea.

Overlooking Arica to the bay.  The church steeple in the middle is part of church designed for the city by Gustave Eiffel.

The sun peaking out over the Andes on the flight back to Santiago.

Bolivianito

The beautiful view of central La Paz

The Pre-Incan capital of the Tiwanaku culture.

Eva conquering the Carretera de la Muerte.

Incan Año Nuevo

Flying into Arica and then catching the next bus north, Eva and I came into Cuzco from the South.  Mom and Michael flew in from North America and we got together to celebrate the holidays and the New Year in Peru.

Plaza del Armas Arequipa, Peru.

A street parade in Cuzco.

In the jungle on the way to Machu Picchu

The city of Santa Teresa.

Overlooking Cuzco.

In the street of Ollantaytambo on New Year's Day.