Thumbs up for General Carrera

Señor Hans is back in Argentina again, closing in fast on his southern goal. And the last few days were faster than I could have hoped.

After another harrowing bus ride on the sandy gravel, I stayed the night in the little frontier town of Rio Tranquilo (10 houses, a church and a fire department) on the western shore of Lago General Carrera. Here in Chile, they so love to call streets, lakes and whatever they can after old war/independence heroes. Their favourite one is Bernardo ´O Higgins, Chile´s founding father. (Check the links for some long overdue Chilean history).

Anyway, after having done the rather uninteresting boat trip to the ´marble caves´, I decided to try my further transportion luck on something I had never done before: hitch-hiking. I had been told it was pretty easy and fun as well on the Carreterra Austral. So I positioned myself strategically in the freezing wind and waited ... an hour and a half passed, and I had seen one car speeding past me. Oh fun what to have !

Then a 4x4 stopped, with an unsual Chilean duo in it: a student and his dyed-blond-haired mother, vacationing in the south. As far as I understood, they loved to take me, but they where going on the marble cave trip as well, which was two kilometers up the road. Well, 2km is 2km, take me and I ´ll wait for the next car there.

The next car was another hour and a half away. And it was the very same 4x4, returning from the marble trip. We all smiled and I threw my stuff in the back again. They were not going around the lake but wanted to go further south and do a flight trip over the glaciers, but I could come as far as I wanted.

I got dropped off again at the flight place, not as far as I hoped, and sat down for a while by the road with a nice view of the lake, which became more and more beautiful the farther I went.
And I was in luck, the next car was just 15 minutes later, and... it was the 4x4 again! There were no flights today: too much wind. "I am so very sorry", I said as sincerely I could, almost in tears at their misfortune ;-)

But still, they were going south, and I was going east around the lake towards Argentina, so they dropped me off at the junction, and I decided to try to walk a bit on the rough gravel road. But not for long, because there they were again, Ignacio and Jiména. They had changed their mind and decided to go home to Santiago via Argentina, which was quicker. "Oh yes", I totally agreed.
One more time I got dropped off and hopped in again, in a town caled Puerto Guadal. They wanted to eat, but the restaurant was closed, and I decided to stay the night to enjoy the lake a bit more, but the hostería was closed ... the rest of the day I spent in the backseat, trying to understand their arguing (if only they spoke Spanish ...) and enjoying the the stunning lake in the afternoon sun.
Twice I was tempted to hop out and camp at the lake. But the wind was so harsh and cold, and I had a ride now. Furthermore, the south was calling me.

On we went, stopping now and then at beautiful spots, all the way to Argentina. Around half past eleven in the dark, we finally stopped for the night. My bus south (another 12 hours on a gravel road through the Patagonian ´desert´), that only goes 3 times a week, was leaving the next morning ... with me on it ...

Oh what fun to have ! :-D