Caleta Tortel
A Village With No Streets, Built Entirely On Cypress Boardwalks And Stairways Around A Fjord At The Mouth Of The Baker River; A National Typical Zone, Reached By Road Only Since 2003 · Tortel, Aysen
Caleta Tortel is one of the most unusual villages in South America: a settlement with no streets at all, built around the steep, forested shore of a fjord near the mouth of the Baker river, where every house, shop, school and plaza is linked by kilometres of boardwalks and stairways made of fragrant Guaitecas cypress. It was founded as a cypress-logging outpost, reachable only by sea until a branch of the Carretera Austral arrived in 2003, and even now cars are left at a car park at the top of the hill while everyone walks. The water below is milky green with glacial silt from the Baker, Chile's most voluminous river. In summer, boats run out to the tidewater Jorge Montt and Steffen glaciers, fed by the Patagonian ice fields, and to Isla de los Muertos, where a cemetery of simple wooden crosses marks the mysterious deaths of dozens of workers in the early 1900s. The village is small, quiet and very wet, with a few guesthouses and simple restaurants, and it is best seen slowly, over a night or two, climbing its stairways in the rain.
Caleta Tortel, Aysen, Tortel, Aysen, Chile
The boardwalks are open at all times. Boats to the glaciers and Isla de los Muertos run in the summer season, roughly December to March, when weather allows. Cars must be left at the car park at the top of the village. Shops and guesthouses are few and keep irregular hours.