The Aysen province contains more islands, fiords, inlets, rivers, ice fields and waterfalls than the northern Lake Region. This is because as the Carretera Austral continues south it passes through areas that endured more “ice age craftsmanship”, in the sense that more fiords, inlets, channels were “gouged” out in this area. Largely because as the road gets further away from the equator the climate is cooler, snow fall, over the millennia was more plentiful and glaciers were created with more mass.

Chile’s Lake Region is a stunningly beautiful collection of lakes, snow-capped volcanoes, rivers and green-forested mountain valleys.

Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, the optional, northern, starting points for the Carretera Austral, are located in the southern edge of the main Lake Region, by the large Lake Llanquihue (pronounced yan-kee-way). The Carretera Austral then passes through a more “rugged” and “less serene” lake region sector. This is because, unlike the main lake region, the ancient valleys have been flooded by sea water tens of thousands of years ago, where those valleys are now fiords. Also, the space that the Carretera occupies is along a narrow strip where either side are steep, forested mountain sides. There are lakes in this sector but spread around and located at varying altitudes. In addition, the rivers tend to be faster flowing and the ice fields on top of the Andes are closer to ground level. The reason for this is because the Andes and snow line are lower in altitude the further south one goes. The snow line decreases in altitude because the overall temperature decreases the further one gets away from the equator.

The Carretera Austral that cuts through the southern sector of the Aysen Region is, mainly, more inland and at a lower altitude than the sector north of Coyhaique. This means that the scenery is a little different to the northern Aysen sector.

The geography, for example, between Villa Cerro Castillo to Puerto Guadal, is jagged mountain peaks interspersed with glaciers and snow coverings, cascading waterfalls, meandering rivers, and remnants of forests devastated by volcanic eruptions.

Principally the species of tree in this southern sector are Lenga and Nirre. In parts it is typical Patagonian Steppe country, the kind of scenery you may have seen in parts of the “cowboy country” in the U.S.A.

Here, there are vast valleys that have been carved by ancient, massive rivers, leaving sedimentary layers as the rivers reduced over millions of years. And, at altitude, within the sediment, there are often fossils to be found, including ammonites that lived between 65 – 240 million years in the past as well as dinosaur, other reptiles and mammals.

Some of the rivers and lakes are a fantastic, turquoise colour as a result of minerals in melting glacial water. There are lagoons with icebergs from glaciers and access to some of the largest glaciers in Patagonia, especially Glacier San Rafael.

On the coastal area of this part of Aysen there are islands, inlets and fiords, however these are mainly difficult to access until you get down to the final sector around Caleta Tortel and Villa O’Higgins or have taken the catamaran from Puerto Chacabuco (west of Coyhaique) to see the San Rafael Glacier.