Caleta Tortel is a coastal village ( es, aldea) in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is the administrative centre of the commune of

Tortel Tortel is a Chilean commune located at the outflow of the Baker River and Pascua River to the Pacific Ocean. It lies between the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Field in the Capitán Prat Province in the Aysén Region. The commune is adm ...

and is located between the mouth of the Baker River the largest river in

and a small embayment of the

Baker Channel Baker Channel, also known as Calen Inlet, is a channel of Chile located in the Tortel, Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The Baker River discharges into Martinez Inlet, the northern part of this large estuary. It penetrates t ...

. The surrounding geography is rugged, formed by a number of islands, fjords, channels and estuaries. The village was founded in 1955 to exploit the cypress de las guaytecas or Guaytecas Cypress (

Pilgerodendron uviferum ''Pilgerodendron'' is a genus of conifer belonging to the cypress family Cupressaceae. It has only one species, ''Pilgerodendron uviferum'', which is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Ch ...

) wood that was abundant in the area. The timber business accounts for most of the economy in Tortel to this day. For most of its history the village had only air and boat access; the road was constructed only in 2003, and connects Caleta Tortel with the

Carretera Austral The Carretera Austral (CH-7, ''in English: Southern Way'') is the name given to Chile's Route 7. The highway runs south for about from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins, passing through rural Patagonia. Carretera Austral provides road access ...

. Caleta Tortel consists mainly of stilt houses, typical of Chilotan architecture, built along the coast for several kilometers. There are no conventional streets - instead there are wooden walkways build with Guaitecas Cypress. The wooden walkways give the village its distinctive look and its unique culture.Tortel walkways
Atlas vivo de chile, retrieved December 09, 2013 There is one school in Caleta Tortel, called Escuela Comandante Luis Bravo Bravo, inaugurated by the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the War ...

in 1978 it runs up to 8th grade and has about 90 students total. There are no banks or cash points except for BancoEstado clients, but there is Entel cellphone coverage, line phones and access to the internet including free WiFi at the public library. There is a rural health centre, police checkpoint, fire-fighters, harbour master, municipality and

civil registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differ ...

. Boat tours to

Jorge Montt Glacier Jorge Montt Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in the Aisén Region of Chile, south of the town of Caleta Tortel. It lies at the north end of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, within Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. The mouth of Pascua Rive ...

and other places are available from the village. The village is served by a nearby Río Bravo Airport; the airstrip is 600m long and 23m wide. Carretera Austral

References

External links

* * {{in lang, en}
Tortel walkways in Living Atlas Chile

https://web.archive.org/web/20080412025801/http://lavozdetortel.patagones.cl/ La Voz de Tortel
Communes of Chile Populated places in Capitán Prat Province Geography of Aysén Region Ports and harbours of Chile National Monuments of Chile in Aysén Region Populated places in the fjords and channels of Chile

See also

References

External links