Day 11 - 218 KMs, Coyhaique (Campsite Northern end of town) Chile (09:00) to Lago Los Torres, Chile (16:35)

Feeding the belly before I
hit the road!

Well I woke up at about 9am as  it felt good to sleep in at a nice quiet wooded campsite.  I set up my solar panel to take advantage of the sun to charge stuff.  The neighbours in the large Mercedes RV did not appear to be awake.    I began cooking my breakfast in the little hut I had for my use.  I really wanted to get then F out there and away from that large town called Coyhaique.  I did not like it at all.

I hit the road and headed to Puerto Aisen, Chile.  It’s about 60 kms up a nice paved very scenic road.  Nice drive, but I am also keen to see the ferry port in Puerto Chacaboco, Chile which is just 15 kms away from it.  So I bypassed the city of Puerto Aisen, Chile to see this coastal town.  When I got there it was nice, reminded of a small Southeastern Alaskan town, but it was also dead quiet with no one really there..   There was a sea port there obviously.

The campsite owner's hand built cabin (work in progress) - I love it

The campsite owner's hand built cabin (work in progress) - I love it

I headed to back to Puerto Aisen and when I got there I drove around a wee bit.   I parked the car on a side street and then walked out on onto the main road.  Oh shit, like the rest of the towns in Argentina and Chile everything was closed now because it was past 1300!   There was only 1 restaurant open and no stores.  The 1 restaurant had only 2 items on the menu.  I left for my van.  I drove around a bit a stopped by a river port area where many small fishing boats were crammed into one small area.  Very interesting!

Puerto Aisen, Chile, a busy river access to the ocean. Traffic jams?

As I walked back to the van, I saw how girls where dressed here. It was a weekday, but they all look they were dressed for a night on the town to a club to meet guys.  Eg.  sexy skin tight clothes and high heels.  Oh well, whatever.    I then left for out of town,but first I stopped at the local grocery store.  It was crowded as hell, but a nice store the none-the-less.   I got some tomatoes, avocados, juice, crackers, fresh rolls/bread and few other small things.  While walking around I saw how all women dressed there.  Even Moms with there kids were dressed very provacatively (eg. borderline slutty with skin tight clothes – skin tight shorts and etc).  I am thinking what is so special about this town that Moms need to dress like this? Is there a shortage of good eligible single men?  Who knows, who cares.. LOL!  

Armarcelo- from France, but studying in Santiago.
He was a hitchhiker I picked up just East of Puerto Aisen.

I left the store and headed out of town. I fil up the petrol tank and turned north onto Rte 7 Norte.   Just as I got onto Rte 7 Norte, I picked up a hitchhiker named Armancedo from Santiago.  He was trying to get home to start class on Wednesday.

It was Saturday now.  During this ride, we stopped once for petrol.  I noticed that the petrol gauge is busted. It won’tgo above 80% on the gauge even though it’s filled.  Ooops!  Oh well.  At the petrol station, I noticed a car pull in.  It was a Google map type car that was recording roads. .  It was NOT from Google, but it’s the same idea though.

Can you see me on your GPS cam?  LOL!!  :)

 My hitcher gave me some good advice about what to do around Puerto Montt.  I took a lot of mental notes for that.   After driving for a while, I told him I was getting tired and the next waterside campsite I see I have to take.  About 45 minuntes down the road, I saw a lake and stopped there.  It was called Lago Los Torres.   It was perfecto.  I pulled the van into the farthest spot near the lake edge and said this is the one!   He has to get home, so we took some photos of us and he and I walked towards the road.  I paid the host 4000 CLP for a night and he shook my hand and said good luck, and see you later maybe.

The view from my campsite.

I went back to my van, and immediately pulled out my swim shorts and towel.  I ran over to the lake shore and jumped in!  Wow! It was not too cold or not too warm!  Just right!  I washed up with my environmentally friendly soap and enjoyed myself for 10 minutes!  Nice indeed.  I was so happy, that I went back the  van, and got my GoPro selfie stick and came back into the lake.  I made a few photos and videos.  I then got out, dryed off and then got ready for dnner.   For dinner I had leftover avocado/salami on those nice fresh rolls I got less than 12 hours ago.  During dinner I was also copying my photos and videos from my cameras to my external HDD.  

My little campsite with Laptop, paper blog book, solar panel,
dryingtowel & swim shorts.

After dinner, I wrote my blog from the 27th of Feb on this laptop.    That took  while because the sunset from my spot was nice as I was situated in the middle of the mountains.  I kept day dreaming of having a home up the hill like the owner of the campsite did.   As it got darker, I headed into the van to finish my writing.  Once done, around 10pm, I headed to bed to get an early rise so I could get on the road sooner vs. later.  

Planning my day for tomorrow..

Another good day, with nice scenery and nice, VERY NICE campsite!   The house above me was perfect..  Cape Cod stype mountain home..  nice..so very very very very nice!
zzzzzzz

Daily Summary:

Today was an awesome day.  Met a really cool backpacker, after waking up at a really nice campsite.  The drive was very easy with no gravel roads. Got to see the ocean or harbor depending on your point of view.  And finally the drive to my campsite at the end of the day was absolutely beautiful.  And the campsite well look at the pictures and they speak for themselves.  I really hope to have many more days like this.  I'm very excited for tomorrow!