Potholes, Rain & Fish...Oh My!

Since our last post we have travelled 360 miles through the northern portion of Chilean Patagonia, from Chaiten to Coyhaique. The past seven days have been dominated by four main themes: Rain, fishing, potholes, and great scenery.

First the rain...After leaving Puerto Montt we had four straight days of solid rain. The next few days were a mix of showers, wind, and the occasional fleating patch of blue sky. Rain is fine when you have a warm house to go back to, but when you're living in a van it can get old fast.

Since there was no getting away from the rain, we spent a couple of afternoons doing the one outdoor activity that is perfect for a rainy day...soaking in hotsprings. We found a great spot that, for a few dollars each paid to the local farmer, we had to ourselves. It was a rustic little pool built into a small river in the middle of the rainforest...soothing, very hot water on one side and refreshing, yet frigid water on the other.

Next the fishing...All of the rain has made fishing a tough proposition. Besides soaking you to the core, the rain has also made all of the rivers very high. Of course, this didn't stop us from trying to add some fresh fish to our diet of muesli, canned tuna, avocado, and pasta. Twice we went out with a local to troll for salmon in the Palena River. Although we had a few bites, and hooked one, we never got anything to the boat. Dustin braved a few of the ragging rivers to catch a bunch of mostly small brown trout in the north. After plenty of searching, we finally found a nice spot along the Cisnes River that we made our home. The river provided plenty of small trout and at least one nice one each day for dinner. Add in the awesome scenery and nice hiking for Rachel and we were happy campers.

Our great camp along the Cisnes River...we ended up staying four days:

The potholes...Over the last week we've covered 360 miles. Of those 360 miles, 300 have been on gravel roads. We've been able to average about 25 mph while on the gravel. Our top speed has been 40 mph and we've had a few long stretches of never getting over 15 mph. Smooth stretches of gravel are few and far between. Most of the road is either full of baseball-sized, vehicle-rattling rocks or teeth-clenching potholes...and often times both. Somehow our low-clearance, no-suspension van hasn't rattled apart yet...but we get the feeling it's only a matter of time.

A better stretch of the 300 gravel miles we've done so far:

And lastly the scenery...The first 250 miles were very similar to southeastern Alaska...thick rainforest, towering snow and cloud covered mountains, raging rivers, and plenty of glaciers and waterfalls. The last stretch hasn't been as wet or quite as rugged, and the valleys are wide with a few scattered farms...more like Montana. Either way, the scenery has been stunning.