Futaleufu and the rock of the eagle

Futaleufu (or Futa) is a city of approximately 2000 inhabitants located in northern Patagonia. In Mapudungun (Mapuche language) the name means "big river". It is well known for its water sports. Its name comes from the closest river which is known as one of the top 3 spots for rafting worldwide.

The Futaleufu river

Futa is a border town which is generally easier to access from Argentina. We ended up there somewhat accidentally. We were lucky enough to find the only weekly bus from Puyuhuapi to Futaleufu just as we were planning to leave Puyuhuapi :) and as the Carretera Austral (the only road that travels south north through the chilean Patagonia) was blocked at Villa Santa Lucia (a village which was nearly wiped out after a landslide caused by heavy rain).

Futa became the capital of the Palena Province after Chaiten (which was the previous capital) was destroyed in 2009 by a flood which was the result of a column of ash from a volcano eruption (chilean Patagonia is definitely not for sissies and we have witnessed that time and time again in our journeys through the area).

In any case, Futa has pretty good infrastructure for tourists (by chilean Patagonian standards). We found a good cabin to stay a few days, great food (with vegetarian and vegan options and a gourmet element to it to, check out Martin Pescador), good 4G signal and some nice walks.

Nice wine and food at El Martin Pescador

There are plenty of options in the area but we opted for a 3h trek to "Piedra del aguila" (or the rock of the eagle).

Piedra del aguila

Views from the top

The eagle was actually a condor!

More views

A refreshing bath in emerald water

Too much thinking about the water temperature ;)

 As we were planning to leave Futa, we witnessed quite an unfortunate incident. A car ran over a dog a few meters away from where we were trying to hitch a ride. The town has a high population of animals (few of them sterilised and most of them roaming free). The animal was crying and could not use her front legs but she was also panicking and trying to run away (which resulted in her hitting her head against the pavement several times). We ran to her and calmed her down and once she saw we were friends, she lied down and did not move. One of her paws was bleeding and with an exposed tendon... she had lots of blood in her mouth (and as we weren't sure if the car had gone over or just hit her, we could not tell if there was internal bleeding). We moved her to the side of the road. The guy that caused the damage left... We asked several people if there was a vet in town but no-one knew nor wanted to help. It was starting to rain so we put a coat on the dog who was panting and salivating heavily. We had no place to stay, no car nor anything (we were trying to hitch a ride to Argentina!)

A woman came out of her house after a while and told us that she would try to find a vet (honestly... time and time again Chilean women score higher than men in so many categories). We called a vet friend in Santiago and she told me how to examine the dog and what medicines would be needed for pain... also how to clean the wound and dress it. She got us the contact for a vet in Futa. The woman of the house put the photo on a Facebook group and we found the "owner" of the dog... she came after 1h (did not want to interrupt her Christmas eve lunch)... the dog was so happy to see them that she tried to get up when she heard the car. The vet examined her and gave her some pain meds.

Leona after receiving very basic first aid...

She wasn't sure if there was any dislocation but there was quite a bit of rest and pain for the coming days...They put her in the car trailer (if it had been our dog, she would have been  in the front seat with one of us). So overall, a happy ending. Except... well... that it highlights how much development Chile still needs in terms of awareness of sentience or empathy!!

We made it to Argentina (the vet gave us a lift to the border and the border police a lift to Trevelin - an old Welsh settlement in the Argentinian Patagonia).