Cochrane, Chile - Polarsteps

After seeing all the stunning beautiful natural landscapes, we were eager to see something new. Indeed, Caleta Tortel brought us a beautiful village to wander. Cochrane had another suprise for us! Apparently it was Cochrane's 69th birthday and we invited ourselves to the party. Located at a kind of festival area, the next thing on the program is just to start: rodeo! Nine pairs of vaqueros (cowboys) have to work together to drive a cow into the arena and make it stop at two designated sections. Points (punto bueno) are given for leading and stopping at the right moment. Although a bit concerned about animal welfare, we enjoyed seeing the local customs. After a day of rest we spend the following nights just around the corner in the national park Patagonia, just six kilometers from town. The area is full of green vegetation with several hiking trails going through. After we moved to the camping spot, we decided to do what we are good at: relaxing in the sunshine with the luxury of our air mattresses. The day after, a long hike of 28 km was on the program. Each part of the trail was named after a specific animal or tree of the region. And indeed, on sendero carpintero we saw some woodpeckers and on sendero ñire and sendero lenga we saw some of those namesakes (trees). Unfortunately, sendero pumas brought us no big cats and same counts for the sendero huemul. It made us a bit disappointed by the namegiving 🥲 still, it was a really nice hike!

Country Guides:

Chile