Lago General Carrera — Chile Chico Lakeshore Viewpoint

Lago General Carrera — known as Lago Buenos Aires on the Argentine side — hits you like a fist when you first see it from the road above Chile Chico. The color is unreal: deep Caribbean turquoise in a frame of grey-brown steppe and white-capped mountains. The lake sits at roughly 200m elevation and stretches 978 square kilometers. Chile Chico itself sits on the southern shore right at the Paso Jeinimeni border crossing and is one of the few sunnier microclimate pockets in Aysén — the town gets significantly less rain than Coyhaique. Worth a slow roll along the lakeshore road east of town for the full panorama.

Ruta X-753 connects Chile Chico to the Carretera Austral via a long, rough, partly unpaved road that hugs the lake’s southern shore — one of the most scenic drives in all of Patagonia. Fuel up in Chile Chico before attempting this route in either direction.

Turquoise giant at the edge of the steppe.