Day 70 January 18th 2007, J R Hartley - Cochrane to Rio Baker, 40km

One thing you notice in all the countries we have visited in South America is the number of stray dogs roaming the streets, many of these have owners but are just left to roam free. The result of this is like being in an episode of the Littlest Hobo with a dog following you around everywhere you go. Today was no exception and we had a small puppy waiting for us outside our tent this morning. The little b****r although very cute was trying his best to mark everything we owned as his territory not being able to move the Toyota Yaris he was quick to make it his.

One of the lakeside views in the Cochrane National Park

Over the last few days we have done a considerable amount of driving along the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) with the stunning landscape whizzing past us, this has left us feeling a little removed from the experience, feeling that we haven't really got in touch with what this region of Chile has to offer. We set out today to change all of this, first with a short walk through the National Park at Cochrane before driving North again and stopping off at Rio Baker. We could have carried on South but given the state of the Toyota Yaris and that the road to O´ Higgins is supposed to be exceptionally bad we thought better of it.

I decided to check that the engine wasn´t about to fall out

After packing up camp we set off again with the Yaris complaining, knowing nothing about cars what so ever I inspected the engine and all I could tell was that it was still there. Luckily we only had to travel 40km today to Rio Baker which is famous for fly fishing. After 3 days under canvas and very little hot water we checked into a log cabin right next to the Rio Baker (below)

After a hot shower (desperately needed) we managed to convince the hotel manager Dennis to give us a lesson in fly fishing. It was great fun, I didn´t catch a thing although I manged to get my fly caught in a tree, the decking and on my trousers (too close for comfort), luckily I noticed before trying to cast again. All this while Salmon jumped freely just meters from the bank. Our teacher Dennis was a little bemused as to why we couldn't catch anything and on his first attempt pulled out a foot long trout. He was even more amused when he discovered I shared the same name as the most popular type of fly "The Adam". After the lesson Dennis walked back to his cabin laughing to himself "very funny, very funny". Despite not catching anything the scenery was great and it was very relaxing.

Highlights: Fly Fishing