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| The Southern
Road, begins in Puerto Montt
and finishes in Cove Yungay. Its building began in 1979,
its last section was inaugurated in 1996. Completely made
of riprap and partially connected with transfer boats,
this road carries the visitor into a world of incomparable
and startling beauty. |
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Snowdrift |
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Southern Road |
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Baker River |
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Queulat National Park |
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| From the tourist
point of view, the Southern Road has become one of the
most important attractiveness in Chile, since it has opened
the way to a territory of which a lot has to be discovered:
the Northern Patagonia. This region embraces big extensions
of cold forest, national parks, glaciers, gigantic ice
fields, lagoons, fiords, rivers and lakes. It is an ideal
territory to practice adventure tourism, fishing, trekking,
extreme sports, kayak, rafting and the observation of
flora and fauna in their wilder state. |
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| The journey for
the Southern Road is crosses the Andes several times,
skirting the coast and the fiords of the Western Patagonia,
going into in the ever green forests, coming closer to
numerous glaciers, big bi-national lakes and snowdrifts
of the Northern and Southern Ice Fields,
to conclude in Villa O'Higgins near the Southern Ice Field.
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| To begin, Futaleufú
(Big River in Mapuche language) is a picturesque
town located amid the Mountain range of the Andes, 350
meters above sea level and to 10 kilometers from the frontier
with Argentina, it enchants the visitors of its countless
natural attractions. |
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| Among the recreational
activities that can be carried out are rafting and the
kayak in the river Futaleufú, given the excellent
conditions of the river. It has been classified by experts
as one of the 3 best in the world for practicing these
adventurous sports. |
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| However, it is
possible to enjoy other varied outdoor recreational alternatives,
like horseback rides and walks through various paths,
mountain bicycle, floating and canoeing in the river Espolón,
canoeing in gulches and canyons (a relatively new sport
of French origin), kayaking in the diverse lakes, fly-fishing,
mountaineering and observation of flora and fauna. Photographic
Safaris can be organized for the surroundings, traveling
almost unexplored places, or to have the opportunity to
visit the National Reservation Futaleufú, created
for the protection of the Cypress of the Mountain range
(Austrocedrus chilensis) and of the Huemul. |
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| The Southern
Channels extend in north-south direction, for
more than 1.600 km. They have an intricate morphology
and a rigorous climate. There are two groups of channels:
those related to the archipelago of Chiloé and
those related to the Patagonia. The peninsula of Taitao
separates them. |
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| During the Pleistocene,
big glaciers dug deep valleys of vertical walls in the
Mountain range of the Andes. When the glaciers retired,
the sea level increased and it flooded the valleys nearest
to the coast, creating an extensive system of fiords and
channels. With abundant rains coming from the Pacific
Ocean, these fiords harbor magnificent forests of millennial
larches. The Cascades, the abundant wild fauna,
the marine fauna and the coastal thermal waters make of
the fiords of Patagonia an important place for marine
cruises y expeditions in kayak. |
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| As you advance
between the channels and fiords, you meet the beautiful
Lagoon San Rafael, north of the Northern
Ice Fields, part of the National Park Laguna San Rafael,
the biggest in the Region of Aysén in the Chilean
Western Patagonia. The main attractiveness of Lagoon San
Rafael is the glacier San Rafael, also known as glacier
San Valentín, the highest snowdrift in the Northern
Ice Fields. |
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| The sailing toward
the Lagoon San Rafael lapses through channels and along
islands of different sizes. In them it is possible to
observe the vegetation of the area, formed mainly by a
thick forest, rich in ferns. The fauna of the sector is
noticeable for the great variety of birds. |
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| The entrance to
the Lagoon San Rafael is carried out eluding blocks of
ice of different sizes, forms and tones of blue. The cruisers
remain in the area from 5 to 8 hours and they have boats
to bring the tourists closer to the snowdrift San Rafael. |
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| The Lagoon
San Rafael (declared Reservation of the Biosphere in 1979
by Unesco), shows the qualities of an untouched
ecosystem, where the black neck swan, the caiquenes and
a variety of ducks and cormoranes, together with coipos,
pudus, foxes and sea wolves are part of the beauty of
an unexplored area. Nothing resembles the majestic dawn
that welcomes the travelers when entering the Lagoon;
or to the deafening roar of the floes coming off of the
glacier to feed the multicolored waters. And amid this
indescribable scenario, the travelers will be able to
come closer to the glacier in boats and to navigate through
the white cloth of floating ice enjoying a traditional
whisky with eternal ice. It is most impressive to observe
the fall from the glacier of big blocks of ice stumbling
down and the great roar produced as they fall into the
water. |
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In the town of
Puerto Eden, located about 400 kilometers
north of Puerto Natales, ends the first part of the journey.
It is the only inhabited town on the Patagonia channels,
on the Island Wellington, the largest island in the West
Patagonia Archipelago. Their only access to it is through
the water. The purity of the natural environment of Puerto
Eden is the ideal scenario to carry out diverse outdoor
activities: trekking, kayak, fishing, photography and
observation of flora and fauna. Puerto Eden is the entrance
portal for the visitors of the Pio XI glacier and the
Bernardo O’Higgins National Park.
Their population reaches 170 people, with a clear descendant
from the Kaweskar people, the old inhabitants of this
part of the continent. |
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