Carretera Austral - March 5, 2023
I leave this evening for Santiago, Chile on the first leg of a long-planned and long-delayed adventure, driving from Puerto Montt in the more northern part of Chile to Villa O’Higgins at the southern end of the Carretera Austral.
I had originally planned to make this trip almost exactly a year ago, a trip which is a textbook example of “since I’m here anyway I might as well…”. For those of you who may not recall, I sailed the Southern Ocean from Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina to to Antartica and South Georgia Island last February. The original plan after leaving the ship, and since I was in the region anyway, was to get myself to Villa O’Higgins at the extreme southern end of the Carretera where I had planned to meet up with a very old friend, Robert and drive from the bottom end of the Carretera to the top.
I first met Robert at OISE more than 50 years ago. In those days R was finishing his Ph.D. and I was working as a Research Assistant in the Faculty of Educational Planning, an oxymoron if there ever was one. We became very close friends and after R returned to Australia we remained in touch. R spent his career in academia and we would meet up periodically when he was in North America for conferences or I was in Australia on business. However the last time we meet was in 2011 so this seemed like a great opportunity to re-connect and share an adventure that I have wanted make for a very long time.
Covid prevented the trip from happening last March but at that time we decided to put it off for a year and try again in 2023, so tomorrow that day has arrived and our adventure begins.
For those of you not familiar with the Carretera Austral, it roughly translates as the Southern Way, and has a strategic function because of the difficulty of land access to a significant portion of Chile's southern territory. This area is characterized by thick forests, fjords, glaciers, canals and steep mountains. Access by sea and air is also a complex task due to extreme weather conditions. So, for decades most land transportation had to cross the border into Argentina in order to reach Chile's Patagonia.
In order to strengthen the Chilean presence in these isolated territories and to ensure the region’s connection to the rest of the country, the government decided to build this road in the late 1970’s. The work was carried out by the Chilean Army, and involved more than 10,000 soldiers who worked on its construction.
The first section of the highway opened to traffic in 1988, and by 1996 was almost completed. The last 100 kilometers to Villa O'Higgins were opened in 2000 and some small branch roads have beed added since then. There are both paved and unpaved sections and while it is only about 1,300 kilometres long we will spend almost two weeks on the drive.
The scenery will be fabulous so I’m looking forward to some great photo opportunities and it will be fun to spend a couple of weeks with my old friend, R.
My apologies for the lack of photos, will make up for it when I’m actually there.
More to come!
