While Reece was getting our bike back on the road I was befriended by a one-eyed, gaucho visiting Cochrane from Villa O'Higgins, the last stop on the Carretera Austral, with the sole purpose of using the bank (as there is only an ATM machine where he is from). Aldofo was his name and he took quite the shining to me, offering me mate (tea), which I new Reece would be very jealous of, showing me photos of his horses, chickens, and children. To be fair he wasn't really one-eyed, its just that one of his eyes was bloodshot and ruined from an accident. By the end of our day together he had invited us both to dinner and a stay in Villa O'Higgins with the offer of a horse riding expedition.
That dinner lead to another story. After Aldofo's shining recommendation of beef, eggs, and chips, Reece was a little full with food so instead of a second beer suggested a round of pisco sours. A second round and we were all chatting with the local carabineros (the Chilean police force). The police are a constant presence in Chile, not in a threatening dictorship kind-of-way for obvious reasons, but upon entry into every town no matter the size signs direct the visitor to the local police station. This couple we were chatting with had moved from Santiago for a more tranquil life in Cochrane, as I imagine it would be in a town of 3000 versus 6,000,000 where I wrongly assumed them to be the only coppers in town. In fact there are 16 more which lead us to question what occupies their days: mostly the odd case of domestic violence, which typically follows dissappointing football matches. My suggestion to Chile is that they utilise more of this vast resource for speed control on the roads.
Speaking of roads another ever present sight in Chilean Patagonia of billboards bringing attention to the Sin Represas movement. Not only billboards, but every ute bares the sticker of the movement and calendars, mugs, and even t'shirts can be found in the local corner shops. Translating as 'Without Dams' it doesn't take much explanation to understand what the fight is against. Now everything said here are snippets taken from various conversations, and I must disclaim that I have done no research myself. But my understanding is that the Chilean government intends to construct dams in a number of rivers in Patagonia for hyrdoelectric power for the benefit of Italy and Spain. Given this will come with aesthetic downsides, it's seen by some as spoiling the last untouched land on earth, and potentially the movement of people, it's not surprising the idea is much opposed in this region. I understand its supporters argue that hydroelectric power is fundamentally cleaner than alternatives so in fact not anti-environmentalist at all, and that in fact very few rivers will be damned.
It's hard to imagine whole towns been moved, such as the tiny settlement of Puerto Bertrand, which in the winter time has a population of just 30 (more arrive for the fishing season in the summer). We stopped their on our return from Coyhaique, the home of our rescuer, who not surprisingly we ran into while in town. We were told that next year the government plans on paving more sections of the Careterra Austral which would do wonders for the tourism viability of places like Puerto Bertrand but of course on the flipside would mean sacrificing the journey.
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| Puerto Bertrand |
Back to our friend Aldofo. Being a true Gaucho, he was able to teach us in the ways of his clan, for example the idiosyncracies that make the Gaucho hat, which should not to be mistaken for a French beret. Along with the hat a true Gaucho is moustached. When single the ends of the moustache are curved upwards to indicate ones availability, not something a married man would want to mistake.
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| Gaucho with his horse (admittedly in Argentina not Chile!) |
The Wimen have Moustaches"!!
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