Chilean Patagonia

The past few days have been full of travelling and exploring a completely new part of the world for both of us. We left San Pedro in the far north of Chile for a one hour bus ride to Calama to then fly to Santiago for a 12 hour overnight in the airport. We found a nice bench for the night, pulled out the sleeping bags and eye masks for a not so peaceful snooze in the airport. We woke at 4:30am for Dunkin Donuts and more people watching as we waited for our flight at 8am (but really delayed till 9am). It was a long night as they played irritatingly loud music videos over the flat screens throughout the airport and my stomach was having issues from the airplane food on our previous flight.

Finally, we were on our way headed south to Punta Arenas. We had a gorgeous Andean mountain range view the entire flight and even flew over the newly errupted volcano in Chile. It was incredible and our favorite flight thus far! Upon arrival in Punta Arenas, we were a little taken aback by the cold and definitely had to climatize to get used to the bitterness. At the airport, we missed our bus tranfer into the city and the local cabbies were trying to rip us off to get into the city. We ended up having to take a cab in but found a guy who gave us a ¨fair¨ price. We made our way to the hostel that we previously found in our book and lucky for us they had just opened back up that very day. We were practically the only ones there! We walked around the town that evening and made our way down to the beach front for a quick and chilly stroll. We quickly discovered there isn´t a lot to Punta Arenas. It is just a jumping off point into the rest of beautiful Patagonia. It is just a port town with not a lot to do. We bought our ticket out of here for the next morning to head north to Puerto Natales, the gateway to the beautiful Torres Del Painne National Park.




We left on a 1pm bus for a 3 hour journey to Puerto Natales. The journey was interesting as the landscape changed from barren and flat to the beauty of the Andes mountain ranges. We had front row seats for this journey and listened to our music while enjoying the beauty of the land. The roads were so empty and the driver would drive both sides of the lanes and at a time would close his eyes. We were keeping an eye on him though, ready to throw a shoe his direction if he closed them for too long.

We arrived the quaint little town of Puerto Natales around 4pm and avoided the hassle at the bus station by taxis and hostel owners and made our way to a small bed and breakfast down the street, Casa Teresa. It was owned by a very short and cute elderly Chilean woman who made sure we were completely comfortable and warm. Again, we had the place to ourselves and found it to be very pleasant. We strolled the town in search of tours for the park the following day and even though it was low season, the town still was alive. After much bargain hunting, we made our tour arrangements for the following day then settled into a local pub for beers and pizza. Austral beer is the Chilean beer of this region and our favorite thus far.

We were picked up at Teresa´s at 8am which is before sunrise. This time of year, the sun rises late and sets very early. Teresa sent us off with full bellies for the journey and we brought plenty of snacks and a lunch with us. To our surprise, the mini-van tour bus was full of others with the same idea for the tour (and some people told us we were crazy to attempt Patagonia this time of year - glad we aren´t the only ones). We stopped first at a cave that Jacques and I were both disappointed in. Just a way to get additional money from the tourists (we calculate a $40 loss due to being ripped off and mistakes). The sunrise over the mountains while we were at the cave was a sight to be had. The skies were pink and stunning! On into the park, we made several stops to view the famous ¨towers¨ aka the Painne Massif as well as wildlife on the side of the roads. The llamas were in abundance and at one stop three gray foxes posed for pictures with us. We were on the look out for a puma and saw one running up into the hills which was such a rare treat! The mountain and water views were exactly what we imagined and more when we wanted to visit Patagonia! Our last stop of the day was at Glacier Grey. While the rest of the group took a lunch at a restaurant, we hiked out the beach of Grey Lake for a close up look at the icebergs. It was COLD so we hiked back out for our lunch away from the water. It was such an amazingly beautiful and fun day!









We woke up this morning and went for our morning walk around Puerto Natales. The town was still coming to life as we made our way down the walk along the water. The church bells were ringing and it was such a peaceful journey. We made a friend along the way, a little black dog that loved to chase cars and whine. He joined us the entire morning and at first he was irritating but we really grew to like him and even gave him a name, Gin. The scenery was enhanced by a flock of pink flamingos wadin at the waters edge.



We left at 1pm for another 3 hour journey back to grave Punta Arenas for one night at the hostel we were at 2 days ago. We leave first thing in the morning for a long journey to World´s End in Ushuaia, Argentina. We are in store for a 10 - 16 hour bus ride (we are hearing different stories). We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Chile but are looking forward to a little Argentine flare. We will be in Ushuaia just in time for Jacques´ 31st birthday on June 3rd and a delicious HUGE steak dinner!