Carretera Austral Part 1: Puerto Montt to Hornopirén

This is how it starts.

The Carretera Austral starts in Puerto Montt. It’s nice. It reminded me of one of those medium-sized towns in the Pacific Northwest. A mix of wilderness and a few ugly parts on the outskirts.

The drive starts in the city easy enough. But you hit pretty rough road construction pretty quickly. Gravel roads and all that. Fortunately, we had a Toyota 4Runner (which is the right choice), and it was pretty easy. It’s pictured below. This where you hit the first ferry of the trip. It’s short, and starts at Caleta La Arena.

Every ferry company is different. This one is Transportes del Estuario.

After that, it’s a short drive to Hornopirén. The trip takes a while, because you have to wait for the ferry.

Here’s the downtown:

Other parts look like this:

Dogs in Chile just roam around the town and everyone takes care of them. This one decided he wanted to follow me to see tomorrow’s boat at low tide.