Stops 6 & 8 on the Carretera Austral: Cochrane
Population: 2900

Both on the way to Caleta Tortel, and on our way back north after Caleta Tortel, we stopped in Cochrane. Cochrane was a necessary stop on our Carretera route due to funky rural bus schedules, and as it turned out, we wound up staying there an extra day on the return side of our Caleta Tortel trip.

We didn’t take many pictures, as the town was not as picturesque as the others we had just come from. But it was a comfortable town, with nice sunny weather (we hadn’t seen much regular sun in a while), a small river running through, friendly people, and modern amenities like free Internet in the town plaza.

Highlights from both of our Cochrane stays…

• We walked around town in the sunny, spring weather, and caught a clear view of the town’s “Hollywood”-like sign.
• We happened upon a town wide celebration for the annual Chile Telethon. What is especially neat about the telethon is it’s a national event, where every city, no matter how big or how small, including the small ones we’ve described in prior posts, fills each of their respective plazas on the same date for the same cause. This year, the telethon raised the Chilean peso equivalent of over $56 million to help children with developmental disabilities, which is pretty incredible.
• We stayed at a comfortable hospedaje where the señora was quite serious, but served up some sizable, healthy salads. The hallway ceiling leading to our second floor bedroom was short and slanted and made us laugh. There’s a pic of Danny below in the doorway to our room.
• We took a coffee break in a local coffee shop, and chatted with a friendly local man who helped us figure out the bus schedules.
• We spotted a house shaped like a Yerba Mate gourd (Yerba Mate is an herbal tea traditionally drank from a hollowed out gourd and is very popular in Argentina and parts of Chile) which you’ll see in the photos. We later found out it’s a home owned by the local government where they place struggling families who become homeless until they get back on their feet and can be placed elsewhere.