Patagonia: Puerto Natales

So, on our first day in Santiago a week ago, we made plane reservations on a local airline, Sky Airlines, to fly down to the southern tip of Chile -- but we forgot to ask how many stops the plane makes. Big mistake. Turns out our plane (which was not all that cheap...) made FOUR stops. It felt more like a bus than a plane. Though they did serve 2 actually pretty good meals along the way. We got into Punto Arenas way too late to catch the last 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales which is the gateway town to Torres del Paine National Park. We had to make last minute reservations at a hostel that neglected to tell us that they were having a huge rock party with bands playing until well past 3am. Grrrr. We felt old. But, I think it was all a blessing in disguise because we got to take the 3 hour bus ride in the daylight -- and it was beautiful! AND we saw wild flamingos!

(We left the bus station in Punto Arenas at around 10:30am. The couple in front of us leaned their chairs all the way back and made kissy noises most of the way until they finally fell asleep.)

(But then we drove on a highway that ran right alongside the Straight of Magellan. This is a photo out of the bus -- with the "Emergency Exit" letters on the window. )

For those whose grade school history is a little fuzzy, (as mine was), the Straight of Magellan is the route that Magellan discovered to cut off the very southern tip of the continent to save some time going around it. Now we have the Panama Canal instead. This whole region of Chile and parts of Argentina are full of fjords -- often you have to take ferries to get to other parts. Every Chilean in Santiago and Valparaiso who we told where we were headed exclaimed to us how beautiful it is in the south. Pampas, lakes and jagged snowcapped mountains as far as the eye can see.

(Me and my new best friend. She's only 4 months old and has no name yet. She's the Hostel cat at the hostel called "Erratic Rock" that we are staying in -- started by a friend of Elizabeth's. Awesome place to stay! Pretty much everyone staying there is about to head in to trek in the Park or just came back from it. Except for my new best friend. She just chases your shoelaces as you walk around the hostel all day long.)

We met up with Elizabeth and Marty yesterday, went out for drinks at a local brewery, and started to plan our 10 day backcountry trip through what is known as "the circuit" in Torres del Paine. They are halfway through their 1 year odyssey through India, Southeast Asia, and now South America, before they head back to San Francisco.

(Here we are in the final stages of planning our food for 10 days. Uggh. That's around 60 pounds of food! The circut has some refugios in it (like huts) that you can buy food it is *very* expensive and not good, so we're only eating a couple of meals at those.)

(Ahhh. After a grueling day of doing nothing but running around finding food, getting last minute supplies, packing our bags for the next 10 days, we finally got to eat at around 10:30pm.)

Tomorrow head out out on a 7:30am bus that takes 2 or 3 hours to get to the park. Then we ease into things with a fairly easy 5 hour hike. The first 4 days of our trip are along "the W" which is a very popular and heavily travelled trail. Then we head up and around the back of the amazing mountains where things will be a lot quieter.

It's whipping wind outside and it's been raining for part of the day every day. We've got rain gear, multiple pairs of long underwear, and plenty of hot cocoa. Wish us luck!

We plan to arrive back here at the Erratic Rock hostel later in the day on Thursday the 18th. We'll stay here two nights and then plan our next steps up through Argentina. Think sunny and warm thoughts for us!

-- Blake