Coyhaique

By Lorraine Caputo

When the Carretera Austral (Ruta 7) meets Chile’s Ruta 240, the westward road goes to Puerto Aysén and Puerto Chacabuco. Heading eastward on Ruta 240, the road passes by Reserva Nacional Río Simpson and just one kilometer (0.6 mi) further is the waterfall Cascada de la Virgen, with a grotto dedicated to the Virgen de Lourdes. Another shrine four kilometers (2.4 mi) on is Gruta de San Sebastián, where every January 20 a pilgrimage occurs. Just as far beyond is another one of Aysén spectacular cataracts, Cascada El Velo de la Novia. Ruta 240 then enters Túnel El Farellón, emerging before Planta Eólica Alto Baguales, three 45 meters (148 ft) tall wind turbines with 47-meter (154 ft) long blades that since November 2001 has been generating two megawatts per year. The highway then winds 11 kilometers (6.6 mi) down to Coyhaique, the capital of Chile’s XI Región Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, or more simply called Región de Aysén (also spelled Aisén), since 1974.

Coyhaique is a wayfaring station for travelers traversing the Carretera Austral. This is the only place along the main highway where all services – from banks and casas de cambio to internet, from gasoline to bicycle parts – are available. It is also a less expensive place to stay while waiting to fly out of Balmaceda airport, 55 kilometers (33 mi) east, or catching the ferry from Puerto Chacabuco, 79 kilometers (48 mi) to the west.

The city has long been a resting spot for people traveling through this region. The pueblo originario (original people) stayed here to hunt guanaco and choique (rhea) with spears, arrows and boleadoras (a weapon of three balls attached to sinew that was thrown to wrap around the prey’s legs). The latter half of the 19th Century, Mapuche fleeing Roca’s Campaña del Desierto, the ethnic cleansing campaign of Argentina’s Patagonia, arrived in the zone. As a culture, the Aónikenk, also called Tehuelche, disappeared from the region by 1905. By that time, huge livestock farms began operating in the Río Coyhaique valley. La Sociedad Industrial de Aisén, dedicated to sheep farming, was established in 1906 in this area then known as Pampa del Corral. This company became the most important one in region. Juan Carrasco Noches brilliantly decided to capitalize on the movement of trade here, and built the first lodging house in 1926. Soon more settlers came: Huasos from the central zone of Chile, Chilotes from Chiloé and Gauchos from Argentina. October 12, 1929, the village of Baquedano officially was founded. Later its name was changed to Coyhaique: “There where there are lagoons.” Livestock companies began pulling out in the 1930s, but this didn’t affect Coyhaique’s importance to the region. It continues to be a major city on the Puerto Aysén (then the major port in the region) – Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, trade route. In the 1980s the north leg of the Carretera Austral arrived to the city, having important economic implications for Coyhaique.

Today Coyhaique is a pleasant place to pause your journey on the Carretera Austral. Within the city are a series of monuments acknowledging the cultural mix here, yet with strong Argentine influences. Mate is faithfully drunk to seal friendly encounters and the music and dances also share common traits. On the street corners along Avenida Prat and Calle Condell are green-stone mosaics of fauna typical of the zone, like trout, huemul, bandurria, as well as a horseback rider and a man poling boat. Three major nature reserves lay around the city: the Río Simpson and Coyhaique National Reserves and Monumento Natural Dos Lagunas. In their wilds, an exciting thing is happening. Puma sightings have increased in recent years, and no-one knows precisely why. But it indicates that that population is rebounding. The rivers and lakes near Coyhaique teem with fish, and thus an anglers paradise.

(Altitude: 310 meters / 1,017 feet, Population: 42,000, Phone Code: 067)

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