The title of this post comes from the town of Chile Chico, where I crossed from Argentina into Chile and started heading north. It also works because for the past week I’ve just been making my way from one very small town to another. Clever! Anyway, I’m really enjoying it! I’m feeling much better, with just a little bit of a lingering cough, so that helps a lot. As obnoxious as it is for a tourist to complain about a place being too touristy, that’s a little bit of how I was feeling in El Calafate and El Chalten. Here, on the other hand, the tiny towns have a fair few signs for “hospedaje”s and “cabanas” but they feel just a little bit less garish, more rustic, cuter. You see fewer roving packs of backpackers. There aren’t as many excursion and tourism agencies. So there’s a little bit less to do, but it’s all just adorable, and nestled amongst some breathtaking scenery, and I’m finding that I like that just a tad more (plus, again, really can’t overstate the positive effect of feeling better).

From Chile Chico I took a bus around Lago General Carrerra to the truly tiny town of Puerto Tranquilo, which is notable because it’s the access point to the marble caves. These are beautiful rock formations that have been carved over time by the lake, forming tunnels, grottos, and other beautiful shapes. The texture of the rock is really interesting – I would have thought that it would be worn smooth, but instead it has a texture like tiny waves. No idea why that is…. Continuing north from Puerto Tranquilo can be a little bit complicated since there’s no way to reserve a bus. You have to just show up in the morning and hope that a bus passes through with a spot for you, which is no kind of guarantee, as the guys I met who had to spend an extra night can attest to. I got lucky though; the first bus arrived to a swarm of backpackers hoping to get on, to which the driver said that there were no spots at all. He went to the little café and had his coffee and sandwich, relaxed, etc…, and the crowd dispersed. After 20 minutes or so he came back ready to head out again, and it just so happened that we were still standing around next to the bus, because, hell, we didn’t have anywhere else to go. When he was loading up again I asked if there was room (for three no less!) and he said yes, so my new friends and I were off. From there I went to Coyhaique, which is something of a regional hub. I was a little embarrassed at how much I enjoyed being somewhere that resembles a miniscule city as opposed to just a tiny town – actual grocery store, real pharmacy, things like that. It wasn’t that I had some important shopping to do but more just a change of scenery. And it’s really a very cute miniscule city – surrounded by mountains, still very small and quiet, with a beautiful central square. From Coyhaique I hopped a bus to the tiny town of Puerto Cisnes, and from there to my current tiny town, Puyuhuapi, which is known for its hot springs and its proximity to Queulat National Park.

I’ve really enjoyed the last few bus rides. The scenery changed very gradually but at some point I realized that it had truly transformed from the windswept plains and severe, towering peaks further south to a deep, lush greenery covering smoother, rounder mountains. The density of vegetation is fairly astonishing considering how far south I still am, but a wizened old Chilean man was telling me just this evening that the area apparently gets an average of 3.5 meters of rain per year, so that might explain it. The sides of the road are overgrown with this remarkable plant whose stalk is apparently similar to rhubarb (or maybe it just is rhubarb) and which grows as just one single gigantic leaf – the biggest ones I’ve seen must have been 3.5 or 4 feet wide. It’s a truly impressive picture to see dozens of them all growing together, covering up the base of a cliff right next to the road.

Today I went down to the hot springs, 6 kilometers south of town. I took the only bus available (a minivan) at 9:30 so I got there around 10 and there was not a soul around. I was expecting natural hot springs but it’s actually a set of pools set into a wooden boardwalk. The background is fantastic though, right next to an ocean channel, with deep green mountains rising up on the island on the other side. I spent a little less than two hours boiling in the pool, with a quick dip in the cold ocean in between, and then had a nice relaxing walk back to town. Tomorrow I’m on the road again – I’m going to try my luck hitchhiking, heading north to a place called La Junta before hopefully turning west and catching a ride out to what is apparently another very very small port town called Raul Marin Balmaceda. There isn’t much traffic along this road so fingers crossed. After that the plan is to hopefully catch a ferry to Quellon, on the island of Chiloe, and then head north through the island (with some tasty seafood along the way) to Puerto Montt. From there, depending on timing, I might check out Puerto Varas, a stone’s throw away, or just head straight to Santiago. There are a few other places I’d like to check out between Puerto Montt and Santiago (notably Pucon, which looks unreal, dominated by one of Chile’s most active volcanoes) but I’m not sure I’ll have time so I might just have to leave that for later. We’ll see what happens!

Puyuhuapi at sunset

Puyuhuapi has a very quaint church

Hot springs with a view

Seriously, the leaves are huge