Chile travel blog by Mark Berman -
October 2017
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View Photoset (16 Photos)
The Town and Around
Cochrane is a charming little town in itself, a very laid-back place, peaceful and quiet (in October at least). Sights of note include the pineapple house,
the river, plaza, church and belltower, the old train, views from the mirador (Mirador of the Cross), tulip gardens, views of snow-capped mountains and the
beautiful tree-lined streets around the center of town. The real attraction around Cochrane is the Tamango National Reserve and Lake Cochrane for fishing.
Tamango National Reserve is of course a place to go hiking, enjoy nature, see flora and fauna (huemul deer), have a river excursion and enjoy the terrain
and geography of the area. Tamango National Reserve is located 6kms north-west of Cochrane and of course summertime is the best time to visit! From Cochrane
southward runs the Pedregoso River towards Calluqueo to Refugio Cerro Condor (Lodge). This is where you can see Calluqueo Glacier and Cerro San Lorenzo
(mountain). Inquire about tours. Running east from town is the Cochrane River where about 1.5kms along is a popular camping site called Camping Aquasol and
around another 1.5kms along are Cabañas Patagonino and Cabañas Brellenthin at the edge of Tamango National Reserve. Here are some
photos from the area around the cabañas!
One word of warning are the biting flies called 'Tabanos' (a large horse fly) which can get up to 2cms in size and like to feed on human and animal blood!
The Road Gets Tiresome
For me Cochrane was the end of the road in terms of how far south I wanted to keep going on the Carretera Austral (Route 7) this time. A number of reasons
why and they were that, in all honesty this road gets tiresome - unsealed and bumpy. I felt I was heading down a funnel that I couldn't get out of - irregular
and sparse bus services. I considered heading south-west from Cochrane to Tortel to take a ferry further south to
Puerto Natales but when I saw the price
is 6x more for a foriegner than for a local I couldn't help feeling a little taken advantage of. I'm sure locals are subsidised by the government but to me
it doesn't look good on paper seeing the price difference! The weather wasn't going to be great for a ferry ride those days anyway. Really, I was itching to
cut to the chase in my travels of southern Chile and Argentina and get to the far south - down to
Punta Arenas,
Torres del Paine,
Puerto Natales,
Puerto Natales">Tierra del Fuego
and
Ushuaia! I came to the conclusion after traveling on the Carretera Austral from
Futaleufu to Cochrane in buses that I will do it again one day but
in a car so that I can stop where and whenever I like so as to get the most out of it. That folks, is my best advice - get 2, 3 or 4 people together, hire a
car and do the famous Route 7 Carretera Austral in a car! From Cochrane I headed back up north by bus to
Coyhaique (7hrs) and from there west 90mins to Puerto
Chacabuco for a
ferry to Quellon on Chiloe Island. My plan was to fly south to
Punta Arenas from
Puerto Montt after visiting
Castro on Chiloe Island.
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