Puerto Chacabuyco

Puerto Chacabuco Monday 2nd Feb

I opened the curtains early this morning  to us sailing into a lovel,y bay call Puerto Chacabuco.  We were on our second trip today, but not quite so early.

Chacabuco is the last staging post before the Chilean Fjords start and civilisation stops.  It was really a scenic bus tour, I would have preferred something with a little more activity, but it was a simply lovely driving up and down the hills.  We were headed for the Simpson River reserve, a huge national park.  We had a short stop and walk down to the river, and then drove further into the parks, with a stop at a waterfall and various scenic areas.

If this is Northern Patagonia, and the less scenic part, the rest must be amazing.  It was so lush and green.

Mercedes and Antonio were on the same trip again which was great.  we met them yesterday, they are from Ibiza, and I think we will have some fun with them.

We drove over a hill to look down a beautiful valley, full of farms down to the regional city, and centre of everything here, Coyhaique and stopped for half an hour. That’s al tthat was needed, it wasn’t very big, but a nice place to have a wander.

Then off for a snack, which I thought was going to be a sandwich and a cup of tea.  Nooo, a lovely buffet with empanadas, chilean cheese, meat skewers, little pastries and wine.

A lovely taster to the area.  We sailed out at about seven, past many salmon fisheries, which are the mainstay of their economy in the area.  In winter it is an extreme skiing area, in summer anglers come to try their luck at the salmon in the Simpson River.

After dinner we met Antonio and Mercedes on the top desk and we watched the last light going down, and tthe moon and stars coming out.  We started talking to a guy from Brazil, he was a keen astronomer and knew the sky well, so we had a free sky lesson.