the hot pool, and various cold ones, at the ‘termas’ just outside La Junta
It is not only the delay with the ferry from Hornopiren that has forced us to adjust the program once more. We have also not been able to book ferry tickets to cross to the island of Chiloe, which was initially part of the plan. There are several crossings listed on the company’s website, but every time we try to book online, we fail to get any further than selecting a boat, and seats: at the next step we get a failure notice. Calling them proves impossible, emails remain unanswered. Until we walk into the company’s office in Chaiten, where somebody tells us that we have not been able to book because some of those ferries only start operating in January, the high tourist season. And others may already be fully booked. You know what? We skip Chiloe all together, that allows us more time on the Carretera Austral
a little wooden church along the Carretera Austral. on the way to Ja Junta
So now, in order to avoid too long drives, we hit almost every town along the Carretera. And thus also La Junta. There is nothing in La Junta, except for the usual petrol stations at the outskirts of a few blocks with wooden houses. And a comfortable hotel, where they serve pisco sour and a ‘picadita’, a plate full of ham and cheese and other bites.
a small ‘picada’ and the usual pisco sour, the best thing about La Junta
the Carretera Austral, as it looks for long stretches
and its fabulous views in more close-up
a wooden bridge, admittedly a side road, not the Carretera itself (leading to Parcela De la Cuadra Moya)
across a quiet stream, the Rio Risopatron, just past La Junta
entrance to the ‘termas’ of El Sauce, half an hour’s drive outside La Junta
the ‘termas’, or at least the hot pool – otherwise the haphazard tourist would’t have been so comfortable!
talking about haphazard tourists….
Oh, and outside La Junta is a hot spring, a ‘termal’. All of Southern Chile is full of ‘termales’, and whenever one is signposted my travel companion starts nagging me. With all this extra time on our hands there is, unfortunately, no excuse anymore, so we head to El Sauce, as the ‘termal’ is called. A pleasantly low key affair, with a 40o C pool surrounded by – significantly – cooler pools, all in the open air, and no other guests than ourselves. We manage to hold out for a little over an hour, and then, mercifully, it starts raining, a good reason to pack up and leave. It is just not my thing, I get bored far too quickly.
next: Puyuhuapi
and because we can’t get enough of it, another snowy mountain view
