Yep one of the highlights of this trip was about to begin. We had very high expectations for Patagonia. We had booked a day tour with a guide for our first day which would cover some of the highlights of the park by bus and some easy walking. We thought it would be more walking than it was though. Later on we had planned to rent a car or maybe go with another tour if we liked the first one. We needed to do some research though.
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| Puerto Natales |
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| A cool hostel where we picked up some people. Painting also on the roof (!) |
We got picked up before 8 am and it was this kind of bus that picks up multiple people on the way. It seemed like one Italian guy had got some special tour booked since he was the only one with a reserved seat and a lunch box. Otherwise it was the same for people.
We were incredibly lucky with the weather. It was just a few clouds and mostly sunny. A little bit windy as to expect over here. But more of a warm breeze than in Puerto Varas. The week before they had strong winds and rain. Our guide also told us we could only expect two more sunny days since the weather goes in cycles here. He explained it more thourogly than that with sun warming surrounding waters, winds and such but let's not get into details.
We acted out as tourists and took a thousand pictures over the day. Everywhere beauty. I think these days will be mostly covered by pictures, although it can never replace the reality. Some places are really hard to capture by camera but the pictures are still amazing of course.
What I will tell you about is the Milodon cave. Everywhere in the city we'd seen bear-like creatures and J wondered if they had polar bears around. Not to my knowing, only dangerous creature would be the puma. Here in the cave was the reason behind the statues. Many years ago an explorer found the skin of this giant animal later named Milodon. It could be up to two meters tall and weigh 1000 kg. It lived here a very long time ago along with humans, saber tooth tigers and other extinct animals. They said it was a type of sloth but I never seen a sloth look so dangerous. It seemed hard for the human to hunt this one as well although they didn't know for sure.
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| The cave where lots of history has been discovered. |
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| Milodón |
You had to pay extra (surprise!) to visit the Milodon cave (5 000 CLP) and it wasn't something spectacular but I was happy to learn about the history. If I learnt correctly excavations was still being made here. There were several holes in the ground in the cave, both from this and from looters.
Our guide during the trip had excellent English and spoke also in Spanish when telling us about geology, history and other things in this park. For this reason I think an organised tour can be worth it. We also learned there was a huge forest fire here in 2005 and hence the look of many trees, black and white still today. Man made unfortunately as 99.5 % of Chilean forest fires are. Because of the strong winds it's strictly forbidden to light a fire in the park including smoking and such. Although some exceptions at camp grounds if doing the W trekk or O circuit so you can cook.
So let's enjoy some more pictures from here:
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| Guanacos |
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| Los cuernos (the horns) |
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| Glacier |
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| Torres del Paine |
To summon the day it was amazing scenery but still not totally reaching our expectations. We had to see the remarkable nature and beauty from other places in the park before fully grasping everything. Then we could both agree this is one of the most beautiful places we've seen.
We came back to Puerto Natales just after seven, when most car rental companies closed. Fortunately the hostel guy could help us find one that was still open. We came into an office after going up a small staircase in the middle of the city. The guy behind the desk made some jokes but in a not apparent way. His manners and behaviour made you slight afraid in some way but I think it was just a cultural difference. We rented an automatic 4WD from him, 5000 CLP more than his cheapest manual shift stick one (45 000 CLP a day) since this one was higher and would be better on gravel. Last car was shift stick so no worries about that but of course it's convenient with an automatic as well.
Before this was done it was time to once again head to the supermarket (that closed soon) and then get dinner. Once again we ended up at Base camp due to their prices and this time we tried the salad. Nice portions and fresh. Even J dared to try the salad. And don't worry - we both felt okay afterwards.
Our days usually ended like this here, getting home late from the park. Rushing to the supermarket to get stuff for lunch before they close and then having late dinner. One of the downsides of staying outside the park, it takes around 2h one way. Although more pleasant for the wallet.
So we ended up with a long text once again. Well let's end it now before our first trip in the park by ourselves.
Buenas noches,
S
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