7. the ferry from Hornopiren

We have hit the Carretera Austral, the epic road that runs from Puerto Montt in southern direction, to the far end of Chile. We don’t know exactly what to expect, what the road conditions are going to be, whether most of it has been paved by now or whether there are large sections of ripio – the dirt road, surfaced with small stones, always treacherous in the bends, where one is bound to loose grip on the road with even medium speeds. Potholes, landslides, they can all be part of the adventure, apparently. Yet, every source of information says that a sedan car is not a problem, so it cannot be that bad, after all.

The first section, to Hornopiren, which we reach somewhere half-way from Puerto Montt, is a piece of cake, good road, little traffic. And the second part, referred to as the ‘bi-modal’, is even easier, as it involves mostly travel by ferry, from Hornopiran to Leptepu, not much more than a ferry ramp, then a short drive, and a second ferry to Caleta Gonzalo, all together taking almost four hours. Even though it is not yet high season – South American holidays tend to start after Christmas and New Year – it is recommended to book a ticket on the boat, as car space is limited. Two days in advance was sufficient in this case, from which I learned not only that the ferry would leave at 11 am, not the published departure at 10 am, but also that we had to be present no less than two hours in advance. For what, I have no idea. In a rather unorganised fashion cars drive up to the ferry ramp, only to be told to drive on, and line up at the end of a steadily forming row of cars in another street, for which we, and everybody else, need to U-turn halfway. This must be simple to solve, with some strategically placed signs, but nobody seems to have thought about this, yet, despite the ferry being in operation for years already. After we have taken our place in line, we wait another one-and-a-half hours, in which nothing happens, except for a guy with a clipboard checking our tickets, apparently quite randomly. At some stage in the process our car is being assigned a green sticker, with which we are allowed to enter the ferry; the loading itself takes less than 15 minutes.

And then we leave, at 11 am sharp. A pleasant enough journey, with great views of the fjords, over the green mountain slopes and the higher rocky outcrops, occasionally covered with some snow. And the distant volcano, Michinmahuida, with its 2460 m high top trying to stay above the low hanging clouds. And looking back, we see Volcan Hornopiran, not too high (1572 m), proving that not every volcano needs a snow cap, but perfectly shaped nevertheless. All together not-so-stressful, today.

Until I realize that my information about the journey length is wrong, not four hours, but closer to five. And somebody who has done this before mentions that the second ferry is smaller than the first, so not everybody will fit. But no worries, he will come back for the remaining cars. Which, however, adds at least another hour to the trip. Of course, we are unlucky, one of the last cars to leave from the boat, so we spent that extra hour waiting. Finally, by five in the afternoon, we get off the last boat, much too late to make it to our planned destination, the village of Futaleufu.

Instead, we make our way to Chaiten, the first considerable town along the road. Largely in convoy, the first half of the way on ‘ripio’ – dirt road -, and thus driving in a cloud of dust and unable to overtake. And unable to see much else than the dust. Welcome to the Carretera Austral. But after a while we hit the tarmac and the road gets much better. And we do spot another volcano, ahead of us, called Corcovado, once again with a very narrow and steep peak, at 2300 m.