Capillas de Marmol and the Worst Drive Ever

Late in the afternoon on Monday, a Swiss couple drove into Bajo Caracoles in a blue van with a Vans Warped Tour sticker adorning the side. The had driven from Switzerland to India and now were traveling north to Canada. After a bit of small talk I brought up our problem and they said they had extra gas. They sold it to us as a great rate and we were off...well Steph and I were anyways, Mike was still hitchhiking in no man's land somewhere. Luckily, we saw him in his ride an hour down the road and we stopped and made the switch.

Back on the road again, we made good time to Perito Moreno since the majority was paved. After lunch and a fill up, we passed through Los Antigous and across the border, once again in Chile. That night we slept on a breakwater for Lago Buenos Aires, the second largest lake in South America. It is also the prettiest lake I have ever seen, saphire blue water contained by towering mountains.

The next day we woke up early and set off for Puerto Rio Tranquillo along a washboard road from hell. The majority of the time we maintained just above 20 km/hr up and down steep inclines that were cut through the sandstone, gravel, and marble mountains. It was a gorgeous and dangerous route with crumbling cliffs and narrow tunnels that followed the lake hundreds of kilometers around the perimeter.

We reached our destination 7 hours later, only traveling 200 km. The small town of Puerto Rio Tranqillo is a small community along the lakeside thats main attraction are the Capillas de Marmol, a conspicuous formation of marble caves and islands. We found a tour operator that afternoon and went out for 10 dollars per person. The trip was fantastic! The 20 ft skiff explored cavern passages that were hardly wide enough for navigation. The white marble made a beautiful contrast with the impossibly blue water. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.

After we rotated our tires and camped for the night, we set of on our last 200km before pavement. The trip was worse than the previous day and we crossed our fingers since our back two tires were showing wires. Driving in this manner was physically exhausting and near the end of the day we felt like we were coming back from a multi day trek. We were so excited to see pavement that we celebrated with jet landing noises and faux radio calls requesting permission to land. Coyhaique was still 94 km away, but on pavement we didn't mind.

Climbing through the mountain pass we had an unexpected treat. Right in front of us, not even 15 feet away, was an huemul, the rare andean deer. Mike knew a park ranger in Chalten that had been there for 8 years and had not seen one and many think they no longer exist. Official estimates put the number at less than a few thousand in the entire region of Patagonia and here was one in front of us! Mike immediately jumped out of the car exclaiming "holy shit, it's an huemul!" and quickly pursued it up the steep mountain. The huemul evaded him, but not after he snapped a mediocre picture of the fabled beast. After we were on our way again, he announced his time in Patagonia is complete.

Arriving in Coyhaique we decided to sell the car and continue by hitchhiking and bus. The car could not handle much more of the Caraterra Austral and we found a dealer that would buy the vehicle, shocks and leaking gas tank included. We decided to off load some of our bulkier items in the plaza which was much more successful than we imagined. Most of the items we sold for what they would cost new in the states. We will do our laundry, then head north to Puyuhapi and beyond. With some luck we will be in Santiago (and the start of our real mountaineering) within a few days.

I am excited to put some mileage behind us and I feel like I have seen some of the best of Patagonia in the last month. The high Andes lie ahead of us, with peaks reaching 22 thousand feet. This next chapter will be an adventurous one.