Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park

Friday, I made a 6.30 start leaving Ushuaia for the nearly 400 mile trek to Punta Arenas. Nice day and not too chilly given the early start. Things were going well, made Rio Grande about 1/3 of the way just after 9 and slipped in the YPF station outside of town to refuel. 

I hadn't noticed the wind until I got off the bike. The gas station is on a rise and it was blowing some and as I went to pay my credit card was no longer in my hand. Nooooooo…... 'Mi tarjeta, donde esta mi tarjeta!'

With silk glove liners on I hadn't noticed the card being taken by the wind. Nowhere in sight....(expletive removed). People got out of their cars and looked, nowhere, checked in the slatted drain...nope. With a line waiting behind me I handed what Argentinian pesos I had left, which turned out to be 5 pesos more than needed. 

I pushed the moto out of the way to look for the card. Fortunately, the hologram glinted in the sun, it had been under a truck that moved up to fuel. Felt like a real Charlie. Still, it meant I left Argentina with less than 2 cents worth of pesos...better to be lucky than good.....plus card in pocket.

Border crossings were slick, and if all goes well it will be the last land border crossing of the trip. More on that later.

Refueled at Cerro Sombrero (Sombrero Mountain), Chile, with a ferry crossing and 130 miles left to go. What a great name for a rather shabby looking town. Held onto the credit card like you wouldn't believe......😅.

I arrived at the ferry, Bahai Azul, at about 1pm just as this bad boy was docking. Which was just as well as it started to rain, a cold wind-blown rain, which was better than the frozen mix that had been promised.

I was lucky to catch the larger ferry as it had a small café on board. Coffee and a slice of pizza the size of a postage stamp; still food is food and I needed a little fuel myself. 

I decided to wait until we docked before trying to proceed; never entirely trust a GPS. Then onward to Punta Arenas in the cold rain with a plucky wind as I ran along the coast.

Lodged at the Hostal de Casa del Profesor, walkable to town, the room was a tad small but otherwise all good. Wandered around and found a few nice pieces of wall art and the sculpture down by the front.

The house below had an interesting mix of real and painted architectural features. So well done it was hard from a distance in the dusk light to determine which was which. 

Punta Arenas has been around for quiet sometime.

Onward to Puerto Natales, Saturday. A modest 150 mile trot. The day was correctly forecasted to be windy. There were a few times the gust pushed me close to the shoulder, a quick correction on the bars was necessary. The road did not carry a lot of traffic, but with the crosswind any oncoming trucks or buses prompted me to drop 10-15 mph to manage the buffeting as they passed by. Turning due west to head into the wind was a blessing. If I've had a strong tailwind in my entire time in Patagonia I don't remember it.

All was quiet in Punta Arenas when I left on Saturday morning, by Sunday morning the town was on the curfew list along with Santiago and a few other towns. Punta Arenas didn't seem like a town that would have the kind of demonstrations and riots seen in Santiago on Friday and Saturday night. Shame for the town folk, it seemed a quiet backwater, anyway I was happy to be out of the way. That said there was a demonstration in Puerto Natales last night, probably 100 or so people, mostly teenagers, banging tins and carrying signs; peacefully. 

My plan to use Santiago as the point of departure in two weeks may need to be revisited. The news reported some disruption at the airport as personnel were unable to get too work. As of writing I have not heard back from the shipping agent. 

Buenos Aires is the other option but will add another 800-900 miles to the journey. Plus Argentina holds their presidential election on October 27th, who knows if the outcome will trigger demonstrations, the political situation in the country is a little tense.

For now I'm in Xalpen hostel, a great little place that looks rubbish from the outside but is fantastic inside. The bike is behind gates, guarded by the owners dog, Juli, who would roll over for a cookie.

I like Puerto Natales. Some of the buildings put me in mind of Dawson City, Yukon. A worn look that might be considered 'chic' on the northeast coast of the USA. Here it is just worn.

The town spent some money on the deserved and rather spectacular Monument to the Wind, down on the shoreline.

Spending three nights here before boarding the NaviMag ferry Tuesday night, which seems to be on schedule so far. The Evangelista is now heading south from Puerto Montt on the first trip of the new season.

Yesterday was spent in Torres del Paine National Park, one of the destinations on my original list when the trip planning started 5 years ago. It did not disappoint, albeit on an 11 hour bus tour. As an added bonus the park entrance fees were waived as Chile was celebrating some anniversary for the park system, a nice $50 saving.

The Three Towers are the iconic symbol of the park, the cloud cleared to get a reasonable shot of them, from the Rio Paine.

  

The deep blue color of the water in Lake Pehoe was a stunning.

As were the icebergs in Lago Grey, shed by the Grey glacier a few miles from where the icebergs came to ground. The people walking on the beach provides a sense of scale.

There were a few remnants of iceberg that had washed up on the stony beach. The small pieces of ice, slowly melting, releasing water that had been locked up for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. Quite humbling. 

Before returning to Puerto Natales for the evening a final stop was scheduled at the Milodon cave. The cave is named after a prehistoric large sloth like animal, the remains of which were first found in the cave. The statue of the animal at the entrance to the cave was rather comical and reminded me of an elementary school homework project assignment on a grand scale, not particularly well done by Chilean standards. But the cave was worth visiting, a huge cavern carved out of the rock by waves  when the level of the lake was significantly higher than today. The people captured in the photo give a sense of the size of the cavern.

Tomorrow I board the ferry at around 9pm, anchor is weighed at 6am on Wednesday. The ferry is due to arrive in Puerto Montt on Saturday morning around 7am. It stops in a couple of towns along the way that are only accessible by sea. It must be a lonely existence especially in the winter; living off the grid in spades.

No cell phones, no internet while on the ferry. Radio silence on the blog, see you after arrival 800 miles further north.

Cheers. T2