Hornopiren, Chile, through Villa Santa Lucia to Esquel, Argentina

My motorcycle trip this time is from Hornopiren, Chile, through Villa Santa Lucia, to Esquel, Argentina.

This is a 430km journey, about 300km by motorcycle.

I’ll be taking the ferry from Pichicolo to Caleta Gonzalo.

I purchased tickets online in advance.

Personal tickets cost $25,000, or USD 27.69.

Motorcycle tickets cost $60,000, or USD 66.45.

The ride is scheduled to last approximately five hours.

I leave Hornopiren while the city is still dark.

I arrived at Pichicolo, where the ferry terminal is, in about 20 minutes.

The boat departs at 9:00, so boarding begins just after 8:00.

I’ll wait a while.

The ferry has docked, so I will board.

I explore the ship.

It doesn’t seem much different from previous ships.

The ship’s Wi-Fi is super fast

The ship departed on time.

There were four other groups on board that day, including me.

I just have to wait and enjoy the view.

The boat that arrived earlier docked first, so we waited a little while.

The trip was scheduled for five hours, but ended up taking six.

I arrived at Caleta Gonzalo and from there I headed towards Chaitén.

There are a lot of large rocks here.

This is one of the most difficult roads I’ve ever driven on.

After about an hour, I finally reached a paved road.

I continued on my way to Chaiten.

I arrived in Chaitén an hour and a half after leaving Caleta Gonzalo.

There was a familiar sign here.

I refueled at COPEC, so for the time being, I headed for Villa Santa Lucia, about 80km south of Chaitén.

I took this road about two months ago when I was heading from Puyuhuapi to Chaiten, so I feel at ease.

I arrived in Villa Santa Lucia about an hour after leaving Chaiten.

This town was hit by a massive mudslide in December 2017, resulting in numerous casualties.

We pray for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives.

It took me about 10 hours from the time I left Hornopiren that day.

This was due to the ferry taking longer than expected and the dirt road section from Caleta Gonzalo to Chaitén being worse than I expected.

The next day

I left Villa Santa Lucía.

As soon as I left town, I was on a dirt road.

There are a lot of holes here too, and the road is pretty rough, but it’s a little better than yesterday.

The road turns into a paved road near Puerto Ramirez

This is a fork in the road.

I’ll turn left here and head towards Futaleufu.

I walk along a road that looks like it’ll get muddy if it rains.

About 40 minutes after the fork, I finally reached the paved road.

Almost there, Futaleufu.

I left Villa Santa Lucia and arrived in Futaleufu in just under two hours.

If I come this far, the border is just around the corner.

I arrived at the Chilean border.

I entered the building on the right, went through immigration at the counter on the left, and customs at the counter on the right.

The process took about five minutes.

There was no vehicle inspection upon departure, so I simply passed through and headed toward Argentina.

It takes about 10 seconds to go from Chile to Argentina.

The border is easy to see.

And I’ll soon be at the Argentine border.

Here, the crossing is in the building on the left.

Here too, I went through immigration at the counter on the left and customs at the counter on the right.

Once again, I passed through in about five minutes.

Now, all I have left to do is go through Trevelin and head to Esquel.

The Argentine side is a hard, bumpy road.

It puts a lot of strain on motorcycles.

There was nothing particularly interesting to see here, and I arrived at a place famous for its tulip fields about 40 minutes from the border.

I can’t see the tulips at this time of year, so I’ll just pass by.

About 10 minutes later, I came out of a long dirt road.

I arrived in Trevelin

I’ll leave and head to Esquel.

And so I arrived in Esquel.

I headed to Plaza San Martín, the city center.

I’ve arrived at the square

My trip this time covered only about 300km, but I split it into two days due to the travel time.

Day 1: Hornopiren to Pichicolo: About 20 minutes

The ferry ride from Pichicolo to Caleta Gonzalo: 6 hours

Caleta Gonzalo to Chaitén: 1 hour 30 minutes

Chaiten to Villa Santa Lucía: About 1 hour

Day 1 total: About 9 hours + ferry wait time

Day 2: About 2 hours from Villa Santa Lucía to the Chilean border

1 hour 20 minutes from the Argentine border to Esquel

Total: 3.5 hours + border processing time

Days 1 and 2 total: About 14 hours

The weather in this area is changeable, and rain was forecast on my original itinerary, so extending my stay in Puerto Montt by a few days was a good decision.

There will be some unpaved roads on the route ahead, but I won’t need them any more.

Dates: March 6th and 7th, 2026