The Far South

Puerto Natales, Chile

Today was dedicated to travel. As such, we had to get up at 6:30, which was a big change from yesterday when Dex, Kylie, and Meg slept in until after 10:00!  We finally made it downstairs and out to the main street just before 7:00. it was still dark when our Uber showed up. It was a tiny car with, surprisingly, two people in front. A woman said something about having the kids sit on our laps, but it was pretty clear there was no way this was going to work. “No es possible” I lamented (in my excellent Spanish). She hesitated a few moments and then drove away. Fortunately, there was a standard taxi already on the street. We made it to the airport, but we were left wondering whether this was the first time our young taxi driver had driven. He drove super slow, stopped multiple times to call a friend, and wanted to take us to the cargo area, instead of the domestic terminal.

When we walked in, we were greeted with a gigantic line in front of the SKY counter. Fortunately, another line was opened for those going to Punta Arenas and we were soon on our way. Punta Arenas, the destination of our flight, is a small town which is the gateway to most of Chilean Patagonia and the town of Ushuaia farther south. Had we seriously thought about Antarctica, that's where we would have gone to start the boat journey.

Uh, long lines!

Southern Chile

After a couple hours at the small Punta Arenas airport, we had but a short, three hour ride to the town of Puerto Natales on the edge of one of the myriad of water passages leading in from the southern Pacific.  It was fun to see the sheep and emus grazing in the tundra like pastureland along the road.

The town was small but with a surprising number of hostels, restaurants and outdoor shops. It reminded us a little of Kathmandu, only with a fraction of the people and chaos ... and beautiful views over the water.

Although our original plan was to visit and hike in Torres del Paine National Park here in Chile, none of the campgrounds have space, even now during the last week of summer. We checked a couple of the refugios (camping lodges) but it was US $260 a night plus exorbitant meal costs. Add in the bus ride and ferry just to get there and it started to seem like more trouble than it was worth. On the other hand, I’d read good things about El Calafate across the border in Argentina, just a short five hour bus ride from Puerto Natales, so that's where we're headed tomorrow.

After dinner, Dex and Kylie ran back to a playground near the water, while Meg and I went to pick up food supplies for tomorrow's bus ride. Apparently everyone else in town had the same idea, and the cashiers were in no hurry. When we finally got back to the kids at the playground, they were glad to see us, and we all enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the walk back home.