Wieder in Chaitén - with more time and better weather

The bus ride from Puerto Montt to Chaitén via Ruta Bimodal is incredibly beautiful. It takes a total of 9 hours, but more than half of that is spent on 3 different ferries (which, by the way, don't even sell water, not even tea! Powerade knock-off and coffee are the only liquids available for purchase on board). The weather gods are once again in our favor, and we spend the journeys through various islands, past waterfalls, volcanoes, and mountains, basking in the sunshine on the sea. Here we also hear more German again, and we have to be careful not to chit-chat about our fellow passengers, as nobody can understand us anyways ;-) But Puerto Montt is the starting point of the popular tourist route Carretera Austral, a 1,350 km long road that goes all the way down to Villa O'Higgins, where (at least currently) it ends and you have to cross over to the Argentine side to continue south. Many tourists from all over the world want to travel this road, either by bike, in their own car, or hitchhiking. So we cover the first section to Chaitén by bus + ferries.

Arriving in Chaitén, this time we have found a slightly nicer accommodation with exceptionally lovely (Argentinian) owners. We even have a spotlessly clean, new high-tech shower in the bathroom, with 3 different showerheads. Ok, except that during the first shower attempt, all the water flows out from under the shower, the owner has to come, simply pushes the shower cabin to the side (ok, it's probably not that high-tech...) and tinkers for a quarter of an hour until it's sealed, it's not that bad :) We stay in Chaitén for 3 nights and then take the bus to Coyhaique on December 23rd. Everything is perfectly coordinated, as this bus only runs twice a week. Since it was not possible to reserve the tickets via email and you can only get them at a specific office in Chaitén, that's the first thing we do. 'However, it is not yet certain whether the bus will actually run, he is not contacting me at the moment', is exactly THE answer you want to hear. So the next day we go hiking, in one of the most beautiful national parks we have ever seen: Parque Pumalín. The wealthy American Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of Esprit and North Face, bought 825,000 hectares of land with his wife and turned it into a national park to protect it from deforestation and destruction by greedy corporations. There are several hiking trails in the park, and we walk two of them. And they are indescribable! The paths are completely made of old wood, there are boardwalks, stairs, suspension bridges that lead through a jungle-like landscape, penetrate nature as deeply as possible without a machete. And yet, the paths are designed in a way that does not disturb nature. We also pass by hundreds of years old Alerce trees, some of which unfortunately did not escape the stupidity of some people. That's the downside of a free national park, where everyone can walk around without a guide. Sad but true.

On the way back, we are picked up by a Chilean Santa Claus, who has the entire car full of gifts for his family, but still makes a bit of room for us (and apologizes a thousand times for it!). When we tell him that we are from Germany, he is delighted because he also has German ancestors. His last name is 'Zwanzger' and he loves German music too! Not a minute later, Bavarian oompah music starts playing in the car, and everyone happily sings along to Oktoberfest songs! Very surreal.

In Chaitén, we receive some joyful news: the bus will run on Sunday! They have already noted down our names, so we will definitely be traveling with this bus! We can also pay tomorrow, as we please. Since we don't have enough money with us, we decide to go and get the tickets the next day, no problem at all.

The next day will be exhausting because we rent (not very well-functioning) bikes to ride to a hiking trail over 20 km away that takes us to the crater of the 'Chaitén' volcano, which erupted in 2008/09. The ascent is (after the biking) very strenuous, and we can't wait to cook our rice at the top. But it was definitely worth it! Steam is rising around us, and the view is breathtaking. After a tiring hike back, we receive slightly less joyful news today. Just when we want to buy tickets for the bus, we find out that the big bus 'apparently' had a breakdown, and on Sunday (tomorrow) there will only be a very small bus, and OOPS, it is already full. The people who have already bought their tickets are in, but OOPS, we are not. There are moments when you expect a camera from the TV show 'Verstehen Sie Spaß?' to appear any minute and welcome us. We look around briefly. Hmm, no camera. Did she really just say that? We had reservations, didn't we? She hesitates, makes another phone call, but there's apparently nothing she can do. The bus will leave for Coyhaique without us tomorrow. Alright, change of plans. We won't sleep in tomorrow, but get up early and stand by the road. Somehow we'll manage the 430 km to Coyhaique with our thumbs. We set off, invite our new friend Dante to pizza, and prepare ourselves for the first part of 'hitchhiking on the Carretera Austral'.

--> And we were successful! See post '4th Advent Greetings'