Our next destination was Caleta Tortel, a small village located about 25 km away from the Ruta 7. It’s a very special place, which I had already visited twice in the past (see here).
From the Valle Chacabuco, it was a 160 km drive to reach Caleta Tortel.
(Editor’s note: we currently have 4 months of delay between real life and our blog posts. We were in Caleta Tortel in February)
But since on both our rear tires, the tread was badly damaged from the very rough Ruta 41 we first exchanged front and rear tires in a gomeria in Cochrane to extend the lifetime of our tires.
A few hours later we finally reached Caleta Tortel.
This village is so special because it’s built directly at the edge of a fjord and has absolutely no roads. The only way to enter the village is to park your car at the entrance and then use one of the countless wooden staircases and boardwalks to reach your point of interest.
Not long ago there weren’t even any roads leading to this village and the only way to get there was by boat. Even nowadays most of the supply of goods is done via a ferry from Puerto Natales which runs only once per week.
Due to this Caleta Tortel has a very special atmosphere. Not everybody loves it. My friend Philippe for example had a very strong dislike for this place. I would even say he hated it.
I can somewhat understand why: It rains most of the time and everything in this village is wet, derelict, and slightly rotten.
I love Caleta Tortel exactly for this!
It’s not comparable to any other village in the world. Even the people are different there. They are very friendly but also often out-of-the-ordinary individualists. I like them.
We stayed two nights in the beautiful hostel NATUREZA, owned by a Brazilian-Chilean couple (also two extremely friendly individualists). It has a perfect location to explore the village, a cozy interior, and can be highly recommended.
During the day many tourists are visiting Caleta Tortel, but late afternoon or early in the morning most of the tourists are gone and you can really enjoy the mystic atmosphere of this place.
While exploring the boardwalks we were pleasantly surprised to run into Laura and Pietro again, the Swiss overlanders from Lostdonkeys (our first meeting was at the Ruta 41 in Argentina). We had a chat about our experiences during the last weeks and then our ways parted again and we further explored every corner of this fascinating village.
Throughout the village, lots of friendly and cute animals can be found, which sometimes accompany you on your walks.
In the evening Caleta Tortel has a very moody but at the same time very peaceful atmosphere which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Caleta Tortel is also the perfect place to watch the beautiful Martin Pescador Kingfisher bird (Megaceryle torquata). The static Kingfisher images were all shot by my daughter Linnéa.
We spent a long time observing them from the boardwalk next to the sea and even saw them successfully catching some small fish. In flight, they are extremely difficult to photograph but nevertheless fascinating to watch.
Altogether we really enjoyed our time in Caleta Tortel. If you like moody places, we highly recommend spending a few days there.
Wild Places 
Thanks Brigitte! I never went to the Isla de los Muertos but it sounds interesting.
A wonderful post, thank you so much! I love Tortel too, we’ve been there twice and your photos really capture the atmosphere of this very special place perfectly!
Once we went on a boat trip to the Isla de los Muertos. I found it very beautiful and it suited the mood of the place. The Rio Baker flows out here and we travelled a little way up it.
The pictures of the Kingfisher are just great!