The town of Caleta Tortel is nestled in a small bay on the southern part of the Austral. Alex was going through a map of the area and read that Tortel has no roads in the town, with only wooden walkways between the buildings. “Sounds good. Lets go”. (map)
The southern part of the Austral is the most beautiful, but there is also the least amount of traffic. Especially at this time of year. Hitchhiking would probably not be the best option, so we took a bus. 3hours to cover 130km...yes, the road is that bad.
Tortel is just what they said it would be…and a bit more. Everything is build out of wood. Walkways, houses and boats. Gives it a nice charm. A warm feel, even though the weather does its best to try keep that warm feeling from you. We didn’t see many people, they were probably hiding from the cold.
There are a couple of small bays along the town, which is build at the water’s edge. Its difficult to spot the “centre” of town. Shops are badly marked and I guess the only telltale sign that we were at the centre was the two official buildings (they look new compared to the others). Municipal building and the cops. But being out in the cold for long enough, we found a little old lady’s place that served tea. There we go an introduction to Tortel’s history.
The town was started in the 50’s to harvest Cypress wood that had been burned in the surrounding areas. 5 families settled here and made a living by collecting wood by boat, there were no roads here at this time. Every 3 months the navy would come past and collect the wood, taking it to Punta Arenas. Each person would receive credit for the wood they collected and exchanged for supplies.
During the dictatorship of Pinochet, much of the Austral was build including the road to Tortel. So the people here love him (probably the only people that do).
Sounds all hunky-dory…well, that is where the story gets weird :) Arriving at the hosteria I noticed the first sign, but didn’t think anything of it at the time. The lady who’s establishment it was, had really crooked teeth and a kind of child-like manner. The town didn’t have much “new blood” coming in on a regular basis. So I guess the town’s original 5 families mixed a bit…too much. As isolated as this place is, they people are not very conservative. Children move in together at about 13 and start having children. And there was one case of one brother killing another for their sister! (fine only the one case) Our host had a 10 year old grandchild by the time she was 42! See how thing got a little warped? At this point in time I just wanted to get out…but no bus until the next day. And being so isolated, the chances of a lift were bad.
We did lots in the town (at least that we could find to do). Walk through the town, chat to locals, take a short hike up the hill behind the town, sleep, eat….think that’s about it. No bars or any nightlife to talk about. We were stuck here for 2 days until the bus would be able to take us back. Eish. At least we got to see the “deep south.”
Sunrise the morning of departure – Bus driver stopped for a short view – Along the road
The Austral – Arriving in Tortel – The supermarket in Tortel
View along the walkway – The "main” harbour – Exploring the town
After Torres del Paine, we said no more hiking. Off we went – The aerodrome – My “hiking boots” after the hike
Random cool dog – On our way back to civilisation
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