CARRETERA AUSTRAL
Day Twelve - General Carrera Lake
Posted on 1st Mar 2016
Due to Road improvements/construction the section of road south of Villa Cerro Castillo is closed in the afternoons as they use dynamite to blast a more direct route through the mountains. While we waited at one of the traffic controls a construction worked approached us and asked if we could give him a lift.... he had overslept and missed the transport bus to work! We took him almost 20kms through the new road construction to his work site.
As we headed further south the road deteriorated and progress was slower as we had to avoid pot holes. Just before reaching the northern point of the General Carrera lake we forked off the main route to the small village of Puerto Murta which had a very informative lady at the tourist info office. From here we continued along the road that is described in our guide book as "one of the most spectacular and dangerous along the Carretera Austral" due to its switchbacks and steep unprotected drops.
We arrived in Puerto Sánchez after about 50 minutes and not having seen another vehicle. The village with a population of about 100 inhabitants was like a ghost town, with no visible shops or businesses; it's hard to image what all the inhabitants do for a living. The village is know for its marble caves on the lake, but there wasn't even any sign of anyone wanting to part us with our cash for a trip to see them.
On arriving at out next destination, Puerto Tranquilo, we did a tour of all the limited accommodation options and settled for a bit of (relative) luxury in a newly build complex of cabins and rooms. After an evening stroll to the lake shore we retreated when it started raining and caught up on emails in front of our log fire.