From the moisture filled forests of Puyuihapi there was another section of wonderful scenery alongside the tarmac'd road as I rode into Chaiten, the end of the carretera for us.
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| The view on the way into Chaiten |
Chaiten allowed a visit to it's eponymously named volcano. One that erupted in 2008 destroying large swathes of the forest, blocking the river and burying much of the town in ash. The town was evacuated and abandoned by the government, causing some political tension for the surviving inhabitants. It now lives on as a kind of ghost town, half of it rebuilt, half of it preserved under meters if ash.
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| The path of pyro clastic flow |
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| Houses left buried in some kind of ash museum |
The volcano still smokes away, one of the two overlooking the town and providing a constant reminder of former destruction.
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| The caldera's edge with the uprooted trees |
Puerto Montt was where Dave and I reconvened following a week out with injury. A fishing port city and the current home of my sister Katharine. It provided a comfortable, if not a little bleak, place to rest the joints, eat seafood and get a tooth removed. Faced with the prospect of some maxillo-facial surgery with mixed chances of success, Dave chose extraction of his much maligned tooth. Yet another interesting story to tell the locals.
A two day trip to Puerto varas and its surroundings took us within reaching distance of the spectacular conical shaped volcano of Osorno, an imposing figure on a number of towns around its lake.
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| Volcano Osorno |
Some hiking a welcome break from the repetitive cycling motion and glorious sunshine to light our way.
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| The pensive Bailey |
We headed back to Puerto Montt in anticipation of the ride across to Argentina.
Kyle
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