Puerto Montt > Hornopiren, 103km > Chaiten, 68km

We woke up to heavy cloud so decided to stay in Pt Montt an extra day, as the forecast is much better to leave tomorrow.

The older Puerto Montt buildings are mostly wooden

Tour boats call in here – we saw two

The model horse covered in real horse hair with mane and tail, wasn’t doing much business today – the pedal cars along the promenade was the main attraction for the kids.

And so with the sun the next day, we set off along a coastal road.  Hydrangeas and agapanthas remind me of home, and would you believe, gorse, blackberry and Scottish thistle!

Our first ferry – 30 minutes, leaving every 3/4hr from 7:15 a.m.

We will be seeing a few more of these

This part of the road is under construction and consequently not being repaired so it was pretty rough, some of the worst we have ridden on.  There were a few delays with having to stop for roadworks so we were happy we weren’t trying to make the next ferry on the same day. Instead we are staying in Hornopiren for the night. They wont sell tickets today for tomorrow’s ferry, we have to come back tomorrow at 8:00am but motos no problemo.

Went to the market for something to eat – it’s a man’s world here, so much meat…Charlie is very happy.

A few pics of Hornopiren

Hornopiren > Chaiten – 68km plus two ferries

(Can’t draw a line where the ferries go)

We were down by the ferry at 8:00 am.  A few names were called out, ours included, and the rest were told they would have to wait until the 12:00 ferry – a few disgruntled people.

The sun just rising over the mountain

Boarding the ferry

Looks a bit like fiordland in New Zealand

Not sure what they were farming, but these were all the way down

The bikes tucked into a little corner at the front

The little off ramp, nothing else there except a long queue of cars waiting to get on the boat – it was about a 3 1/2hr boat ride

Between ferries was about 14kms – the grader was working on the other side of the road so we were happy about that.

On to the second ferry for today which only took about a half hour

Then about 56km to Chaiten, this time though we were travelling over where the grader had been working recently so was a bit marbly and deep to ride on at times.

The road. This bit feels wide because there is little growth on the road edge from the effects of the volcanic eruption – everywhere else is dense bush

Then much wider still as we find ourselves riding down the local airstrip – watch out for planes!!

The river bed is covered in destroyed trees

My office needs a bit of a dust – and so do I !!

Chaiten was devastated by a volcano eruption back in 2008 and many of the residents left, their homes destroyed.  Today though, people are coming back and rebuilding.  Some homes look like they are still empty but then we spot washing on a line.

This is the volcano that erupted (the flattened one in the centre) – it is still smoking.  The mountains around are still covered in ash.  The white 2-storey building is our hotel for the night.

This is the volcano at the other end of town

The food bus recommended to us for late lunch

In our hotel room 🙂