CARRETERA AUSTRAL
Day Seven - Aysén Region
Posted on 25th Feb 2016
Photo: Sun setting over Puerto Cisnes
It rained through the night and continued most of the day! We cancelled our planned walk to the viewpoint on the beach and set off midmorning back along the road to La Junta. We were the only vehicle for the 2 minute ferry ride across the river so it left as soon as we arrived. The trip back to La Junta was uneventful, we filled up on expensive petrol and enjoyed the tarmac road as we continued our journey south.
It was still pouring with raining when we arrived in Puyuhuapi, the tourist info office was closed for lunch but we found free WiFi so we're happy. We stayed long enough to drive past the lake front and buy some bread for lunch before continuing onto Queulat national park 20 km's to the south. This was the worst section of road so far, full of potholes (similar to the ones in Bariloche!). The low cloud and rain put us off the walk to the glacier, the same happened with the Bosque Encantado further along the road, but we did squelch through the mud (albeit only about 50 metres) to see some waterfalls.
As we arrived in the Cisnes valley we dropped below the cloud and the views opened up. The mountains spectacularly rose from the valley floor and were littered with white cascading waterfalls fuelled by the days rain. We arrived in Puerto Cisnes at about 7pm and were greeted with strong winds. We found a basic cabin with sea views and settled in for the evening.