Cerro Castillo & Marble Caves of Rio Tranquilo, Carretera Austral Chile (Patagonia Expedition #03)

We continue hitchhiking the Carretera Austral in Chile in the third episode of our Patagonia Expedition to go hiking to the Cerro Castillo near Coihaique and to explore the beautiful marble caves of Puerto Rio Tranquilo
My Guide for Chile:
--- equipment used to produce this video ---
Cam1:Sony A7 II
Cam2: Sony NEX 5
Cam3: GoPro
Drone: Phantom 3 Pro
Drone Backpack: Manfrotto D1
Amazon Tripod
Joby Gorillapod
Audio Recorder: Zoom H2n
SDHC Memory Card
Waterproof Memory Card Case
Backpack Osprey Farpoint 40
The Carretera Austral is a 1200km long road in the south of Chile which connects the most remote areas of the country. The ruta 7 is a paradise for adventure seekers as it is a mostly unpaved road which brings you to the lesser known parts of Patagonia in the stunning Los Lagos and Aysen Region.
Our plan was to get from Puerto Montt till Villa O’Higgins by thumb to get in touch with locals and fellow adventurers along the way. After making our way down from Puerto Montt to Puyuhuapi in the last episode we are trying to hitchhike down to Coihaique to rest for a few days - as it turns out we have to deal with a lot of rain and we need several rides that day to go down south with the Bosque Encantado being one of the stops.
After a few days we continue hitchhiking and get a lift by Cesar who takes us all the way to Villa Cerro Castillo where he is in the process of building a hostel for adventurous travelers like us as this place is all about the hike to Cerro Castillo which can be done in 4 days or in one day. We chose the day hike option and got rewarded with stunning views and impressive colors.
The next stretch should take us further down to Puerto Rio Tranquilo. We got lucky again as an english couple offered to take us all the way. After our arrival in Puerto Rio Tranquilo we met up with my old friend Pato who owns a tour company (www.explorasur.cl) and offered to take us to the most popular sight: the marble caves of Puerto Rio Tranquilo.
This part of the trip was executed within 1week by using altogether 5 rides via hitchhiking - following I list all the places we visited & Things to do at the Carretera Austral:
- Puyuhuapi
- Queulat National Park / Parque Nacional Queulat
- Bosque Encanta
- Coyhaique / Coihaique
- Cerro Castillo / Villa Cerro Castillo
- Puerto Rio Tranquilo
- Marble Caves / Capillas de Marmol
- Lago General Carrera
I'm excited to share all our experiences in Patagonia over the course of the next 6 weeks with you. In the next episodes we will Hitchhike the southern part of the Carretera Austral, ice hike over the glaciers of the southern Patagonian Icefield and meet impressive characters along the way.
The Patagonian Expedition is a 95% self funded video documentary project following my trip in 2012/2013. Our aim is to show you the beauty of the rather unknown parts in Patagonia alongside with the famous spots.
Beside beautiful landscape you can expect loads of information and our personal experiences and struggles along the way.
--- my travel equipment ---
insurance
packing list
Online Language Course
The whole trip was executed over the course of 2 months using mostly local transport such as busses, cars and trucks. A big thank you goes to Lufthansa for providing the flights into and out of South America in their new Premium Economy Class!
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www.epidemicsound.com
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