Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, 200 miles
We haven’t been in Chile long, but usually once I cross a border into a new country, I get a ‘feel’ for what it is like. Yet, I still haven’t grasped what Chile represents or is.
We slept great in our hospatage which had the furnace going all night. I finally felt defrosted and was hoping I had more time in bed before having to get up. One nice benefit of Chile so far is that the checkout times in the hostals are now at 11, versus most in Argentina that were either at 10 or 9AM. Gives us a little more time to enjoy the warm bed in the morning!
We didn’t see much for us in Punta Arenas. Supposedly you can take a boat out to see a penguin colony, but since we already got to see some penguins back in Pen. Valdez, we pressed on in the morning towards Puerto Natales. The ride started off pretty flat and boring, but ended up being absolutely beautiful. All along the side of the road were these huge lupin looking flowers in full blossom. Colors of pinks, purples and whites. I think there is something different about the lightning here too as everything seems to have a richer color, as if a filter has been placed on the sun.
The sun was out and as we headed north west it got much warmer, felt so good to feel the warm rays of the sun again. There was a ton of wildlife on the side of the road as we approached Puerto Natales and we could see giant dramatic mountain peaks topped with snow, what I guess is the beginning of Torres del Paine. With all the beautiful scenery and warmer weather, the miles went by in a flash. Before I knew it we had made it to our destination.
The town itself is located right on the channel of water, on one side is the town which looks like a cleaned up fishing town, with a ton of little hotels, restaurants, cafes and adventure expeditions shops. On the other side is beautiful snowy capped mountains with a nice little malacon to walk and enjoy the wonderful views. Such a nice little town!
We walked around for a bit taking it all in. Considering it is the hub for Chiles biggest attraction, Torres del Paine Park, it wasn’t too noisy or busy with tourists. We found a hospatage to stay in for the night for $26 bucks, not bad for Chilean standards and sometimes we were the only people walking around the streets.
After a nice lunch we decided to make our own dinner for the night as we had kitchen access as food is quite expensive! Even buying everything at the grocery store, 6 eggs, sausage, wheat bread and a bag of frozen spinach was $12….well, we also got a bottle of wine, but still compared to the close and bordering country of Argentina, everything was at least triple the price! I guess we better start getting used to it…
Making dinner was great, we had a nice evening together over fried eggs and wine….what a combo!
We slept great in our hospatage which had the furnace going all night. I finally felt defrosted and was hoping I had more time in bed before having to get up. One nice benefit of Chile so far is that the checkout times in the hostals are now at 11, versus most in Argentina that were either at 10 or 9AM. Gives us a little more time to enjoy the warm bed in the morning!
We didn’t see much for us in Punta Arenas. Supposedly you can take a boat out to see a penguin colony, but since we already got to see some penguins back in Pen. Valdez, we pressed on in the morning towards Puerto Natales. The ride started off pretty flat and boring, but ended up being absolutely beautiful. All along the side of the road were these huge lupin looking flowers in full blossom. Colors of pinks, purples and whites. I think there is something different about the lightning here too as everything seems to have a richer color, as if a filter has been placed on the sun.
The sun was out and as we headed north west it got much warmer, felt so good to feel the warm rays of the sun again. There was a ton of wildlife on the side of the road as we approached Puerto Natales and we could see giant dramatic mountain peaks topped with snow, what I guess is the beginning of Torres del Paine. With all the beautiful scenery and warmer weather, the miles went by in a flash. Before I knew it we had made it to our destination.
The town itself is located right on the channel of water, on one side is the town which looks like a cleaned up fishing town, with a ton of little hotels, restaurants, cafes and adventure expeditions shops. On the other side is beautiful snowy capped mountains with a nice little malacon to walk and enjoy the wonderful views. Such a nice little town!
We walked around for a bit taking it all in. Considering it is the hub for Chiles biggest attraction, Torres del Paine Park, it wasn’t too noisy or busy with tourists. We found a hospatage to stay in for the night for $26 bucks, not bad for Chilean standards and sometimes we were the only people walking around the streets.
After a nice lunch we decided to make our own dinner for the night as we had kitchen access as food is quite expensive! Even buying everything at the grocery store, 6 eggs, sausage, wheat bread and a bag of frozen spinach was $12….well, we also got a bottle of wine, but still compared to the close and bordering country of Argentina, everything was at least triple the price! I guess we better start getting used to it…
Making dinner was great, we had a nice evening together over fried eggs and wine….what a combo!
Even cats are scared of me with my "headgear"
Our biggest fan yet
A river of sheep
Fields full of colorful wildflowers
Our second biggest fan... cows always gawk at Yosh
Welcome to Puerto Natales
Hi Ron
We like breakfast for dinner
posted by Pedro and Maria at 2:27 PM
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