Day 5: Coyhaique - Cochrane

We left Coyhaique’s cabañas (looked like the village of the 7 dwarfs) by using for one last time the suspension bridge. We rushed to the city to get Hadrien’s new tank bag (new tank bag? yes, new tank bag, don't ask). Getting it was a bit crazy and cost us 3 hours. We only spend one night in Coyhaique but now we can claim that we know the city very well...




On the road, we discovered Mijail’s new description of “amazingly beautiful” for the scenery: “I want to be a dinosaur in this landscape -et brouter toute cette herbe-”. We actually thought that he just wants to eat the cows in one piece!




We entered into the National park of Cerro Castillo that was still covered in a scarf of fog. The mountains changed in between copper-red and rusty green. From this colorful red-tainted scenery it changed into a valley filled with emerald and turquoise-green lakes and rivers in front of a background of soft-round mountains covered by crystal-blue glaciers.

We were drowned by picturesque fairy-tale images and before we could get used to one scenery, the landscape already changed into another lord-of-the-rings landscape.

The valley was formed by the various streams from the Murta river. Driving on the same level as the river and the sand banks added a special mysterious touch to the slippery journey.

Then came Puerto Tranquilo at the General Carrera Lake (the second biggest lake of South America) where we got into a boat to see the Marble Chapell. Nature left here mountains of marble to get formed by the lake’s waves and become a worth-wile tourist attraction. The lake level was quite high and we could not visit the inside of the cave as expected. However we enjoyed the ride with the boat which was splashing on the waves.

From General Carrera Lake we continued to Cochrane along the Baker river valley, the fastest river in the world. More spectacular sceneries opened to our eyes: hidden lakes, lagoons and canyons: every single spot inviting to stay longer and to explore intensively. Unfortunately time would pull us further along to finally reach Cochrane – a village hidden in the valley with simple living standards but still as decorative as the so far seen villages.

 At the end of the day, Hadrien offered us a little show of his skills by falling once again with his bike while standing in front of the gas station. He is not used to manipulate big engines!