Llanada Grande, Los Lagos, Chilean Patagonia

41:50S 71:50W 3hrs south of Puelo by bus and boat

Llanada Grande is a scattering of houses near the end of the road up the Puelo valley east of Puerto Montt. There´s an internet cafe, but you need to bring your own computer and chair. There´s also a telephone, the last one in the valley. From here on it´s only two way radios.

To get there, you cross the beautiful Lago Tagua Tagua by car ferry. Huge mountains each side topped with snow. There´s a freezing catabatic wind rushing up the valley to find the warmth of the Argentinian Pampas.

There´s a very prety walk to Lago Azul. You have to pay entrance fees to cross private property pretty much anywhere you go. Off-the-beaten-track tourism is becoming the new primary industry in this valley, but it´s still largely unspoilt.

This is also a fairly easy foot crossing to Argentina. There are boats to transport you across the lakes, but that gets expensive if you´re travelling on your own, especially the jet boat to get up the rapids at the border. Alernatively, it´s half a day´s walk from the end of the road via Primer Corral to Segundo Corral on a good track, and then two days walk around the lakes to the Argentinian end of the road. This track has many unbridged river crossings. I only made it as far as Lago Azul and Laguna Blanca - April is not the best month do this crossing!