Tortel, Chile

Today we visited another small community — Caleta (or “Cove”) Tortel. It is located on the Chilean mainland between the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. Similar to Puerto Eden, most of the homes are on the water and the main way of getting around the town is on a variety of cypress wooden walkways on the banks of the Baker River, the largest in Chile. There are some significant differences however. Caleta Tortel has around 500 people (more than double Puerto Eden) and the walkway extends around 4 miles, including a loop up the steep side of the mountain that is supposed to provide majestic views (more about that in a moment). There also is a road that is fairly close to (but not in) town. That makes the town less dependent on periodic ship visits, although it is still the primary means of transporting things to and from the town. We were greeted by the townspeople who put on a show of folk music and dance (I swear — every remote area I have ever visited seems to have the same dance you learned in gym class in Junior High!). They also served some tasty empanadas and Pisco Sours (I tried the former and loved it; it was a wee bit early for a cocktail). From there, we wandered along the boardwalk and started making our way up the trail, hoping to get to the viewpoint. What we found though, was a boardwalk going to a narrow plank trail going to steep muddy hills. We even lost the trail for a short time! We finally saw a member of the crew who told us that we had another 400 meters uphill to get to the peak and that the last boat to the ship was leaving in 30 minutes. Sadly, we had to retrace our muddy steps and hustle back to the launch. We did see some beautiful vistas and a lot of unique flora and fauna. Now we continue our journey northward!