Tourism and Other Offices

Two very helpful places to go for information are the Cámara de Turismo (Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 3:30-7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Plaza de Armas, near Dussen) and Sernatur (Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. in high season; Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. in low season. Bulnes 35, Tel.: 23-1752, Fax: 23-3949, E-mail: infoaisen@sernatur.cl). Servitur has a kiosk at the corner of Prat and Freire (Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 3:30-5:30 p.m.). Casa del Turismo Rural is the central organization for rural hostels, guides, artisans and other services in the Aysén region (Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 2:30-7 p.m. Dussen 357, Tel.: 21-4031 / 52-4929, E-mail: contacto@casaturismorural.cl, URL: www.casaturismorural.cl). For information on the nearby natures reserves, drop by Conaf (Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 2:30-5:30 p.m. Los Coigües s/n, Tel.: 21-2142). Coalición Ciudana por Aisén Reserva de la Vida is working on environmental issues in the region (Horn 47B, Tel.: 57-3561, URL: www.aisenreservadevida.com). The carabineros handle police, immigration and other matters (Baquedano 534, Tel.: 56-7071 / emergency 133).

Money

Banks are open Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Many are on Calle Condell. All have ATMs that accept MasterCard, Cirrus, Visa and Plus cards, except where noted.

• Banco Chile (Condell 298)
• BBVA (Condell 254)
• Santander (Condell 184)
• Banco del Estado (Condell and Moraleda) – ATM: MasterCard, Cirrus only; exchanges US dollars and Euros
• BCI (Prat and Friere)
  The major supermarkets also have ATMS.
  
  Casas de Cambio offer money exchange services, and a few handle money wires:
  • Austral (Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 3-6:30 p.m., Saturday 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 4-6 p.m., Sundays and holidays 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Paseo Horn 40, local 3) – Exchanges US dollars, Euros, Argentine pesos.
  • Cambios Prado (Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 3:30-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 5-7 p.m. 21 de Mayo 417) – Exchanges US dollars (3% less for torn or marked bills), Euros and American Express travelers checks; MoneyGram agent.
  • Casa de Cambio Emperador (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-1 p.m., 3-9 p.m. Freire 171) — Gives poor rates on US dollars, Euros, Argentine pesos.
    
    Chilexpress is the Western Union agent (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 3-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. 21 de Mayo 472).

Communications

Internet cafés are common. Most charge $1.20 per hour, though there are a few cheaper ones, like Cyber Café Innova (daily 9:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. 21 de Mayo 454; $0.80 per hour) and La Oveja (Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 4-9 p.m., Saturday 4-9 p.m. Lautaro 294). Many places have Skype. Cybermania has good internet connection with Skype ($1.20 per hour) and phone booths (national calls $0.20 per minute, international from $0.50 per minute) (daily 10 a.m.-midnight. Prat 563). If snail mail is more your game, then Correo Chile is the place to go (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Cochrane 226, near the Plaza de Armas).

Medical

Coyhaique’s public health facility is Hospital Regional (Carrera and Dr. Jorge Ibar, Tel.: 21-9100). Pharmacies in the city follow the de turno system, meaning one is always assigned to be open overnight. Ahumada, sb and Cruz Verde are at the intersection of Prat and Bilbao. Another Cruz Verde branch is inside the Full Fresh supermarket (Cochrane and Lautaro).

Laundry

The señora of Lavandería Lavamatic will kindly help you get your laundry done, for a charge of $10 per basket load, cheaper for fewer clothes (Monday-Saturday 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Simpson 417).