After taking buses across Chile and hiking from Valle Cochamo to Lago Tagua Tagua, I started hitchhiking south from there along the Carretera Austral. It took me 25 rides to get from there to the southern end of the road in Villa O’Higgins. There were many similarities between my hitchhiking experience here, and my trip across Canada, but in many ways the Carretera Austral is a very unique place to hitchhike.
The Carretera Austral is a beautiful road winding through many national parks along the thin strip of southern Chile. There are many people hitchhiking the road, so sometimes queues will form. It is said that at some stretches of road there are more bikers than motorists. In general the road is about half paved, and becomes more sparsely populated the further south you go.
I had an incredible time hitchhiking on the carretera austral. 23 of the 25 people that picked me up were from Chile so I had lots of time to practice spanish. There were some long waits, as much of the road sees very little traffic. This gave me lots of time to read books and eat fruit on the side of the road. There is ample fresh water and (stealth and paid) camping along the whole route. Small towns all had local bread, cheese and fruit available to purchase. I even got my first motorcycle hitch!
Anthony Ottati 