After a night in Villa O'Higgins, a few of us rode in a small van to the town of Caleta Tortel along the Carretera Austral. CT has only been linked with a road for a few years. Before, the only access was by water, connecting the town to the Pacific with a series of inlets and fjords. In Caleta Tortel, there are no streets, only wooden walkways.
Two hitchiking Chileans had hopped in our van somewhere in between Villa O'Higgins and Caleta Tortel and when we arrived, I heard them asking about the free camping on the beach on the other side of town. Although Fabrizio and Francisco eyed me suspiciously at first as the gringo that I am, we shared many good times around the camp fire hanging out for a few days.
Two hitchiking Chileans had hopped in our van somewhere in between Villa O'Higgins and Caleta Tortel and when we arrived, I heard them asking about the free camping on the beach on the other side of town. Although Fabrizio and Francisco eyed me suspiciously at first as the gringo that I am, we shared many good times around the camp fire hanging out for a few days.
Fabrizio volunteered to make me a new contraption for my stove to replace the grill I lost in Candelario Mancilla my first night in Chile. 
Francisco's backpack weighed at least 3 times as much as mine and he was only travelling for a month. Of course, filling it up with sweet smelling Cypress firewood doesn't help.
una ´once´ de galletas, cerveza y pisco en el mirador 
towards the littered campgroundAfter two nights in Caleta Tortel, we ventured together up the Carretera Austral camping out in Cochrane for a night and also passing a night in Coyhaique, consuming plenty of cerveza and papas fritas along the way. We cooked an amazing dinner over an open fire in Cochrane, but our dinner at the Casita de los Bomberos in Coyhaique was staggeringly delicious. I stuffed myself until I could barely walk. Back in the bathroom at the hospedaje, Francisco gave me a 1 AM haircut.
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