Puerto Natales, Chile – March 13, 2011
Wow! This one was actually almost ready to go so here is one of the blogs I thought was outstanding.
We left El Calafate at 10 a.m. for our first real day with our new tour group and Peggy. There are 12 of us on the tour plus one guide (Allie), one guide in training (Enrico) and our driver (Andy). Peggy is our vehicle. According to Andy, Peggy is a truck but in many ways Peggy is a bus. Peggy is huge and yellow and we ride on the upper level where there are seats as in a bus for about 36 people. With only 14 of us sitting above we have lots of room to spread out. The bottom part is all compartments accessible from the outside. In there we have our luggage stored each day plus all the paraphernalia for cooking our meals on travel days including tables and chairs. It’s quite a machine to say the least. Just getting into it is a real challenge with the first step about two feet above ground and then five more steps after that. But once inside it’s reasonably comfortable. A bit more heat would be nice but since we all have our winter clothes with us we just keep adding layers. I’m not sure but I don’t think there is any real heat or air conditioning in the bus portion. The air conditioning might not be required in Patagonia but one would certainly enjoy the heat.
We had a two hour drive until lunch, which we made ourselves. Peggy just pulled in beside a tiny service station and out came the tables and stools and containers of food. Everybody pitched in and we soon had tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, avocado, cheese, ham, etc. ready for subs. It was freezing cold and we all just stood or sat around eating. Then we did dishes in cold water so it was all pretty basic but very enjoyable.
About half an hour was on a paved road and the rest was on a bumpy dirt road that had Peggy vibrating continually and even letting in just a tad of dust. We stopped whenever there were sights to be seen and photographed and the sights included flamingoes, ducks, geese, guanaco and rhea (the ostrich/emu look alike whose name I couldn’t remember before). On the domesticated side there were lots of sheep and some cows. The area we were driving through was very flat and dry with some rolling hills and literally no vegetation. Obviously there was enough to keep the sheep happy but not always enough to satisfy the cows. There were a few huge sheep stations along the way and they looked quite profitable. There were always huge mountains in the distant background.
We reached the Argentinean border and all had to go through individually. Once we got moving it was a pretty quick process. The Argentinean border was simply a three-room shack with immigration and customs in the two side rooms and the centre room for customers. There were 15 kilometers between the Argentinean and the Chilean borders. It took us much longer at the Chilean crossing as we all had to get our bags off the bus and carry them across the border, talk to the inspectors, put our bags through the scanners, drop our forms off at customs and then reload the bus. You are not allowed to take any food products (plants, nuts, etc.) into Chile so everything on the bus had to be checked. Anything left over from lunch had to be pitched. They make such a big deal about it that I claimed my M&M peanuts but they said I could keep them. Yippee! The Chilean border office was also just a small building so obviously they don’t get a lot of business at this crossing. If they ever do get a crowd, it will definitely take a long time to get everyone through.
Right at the border crossing, the countryside changed. It became much hillier and greener and the mountains, although still in the distance, were definitely closer. The change was quite amazing but they didn’t settle the border issues down in Patagonia until quite late so perhaps the final decision was just to give Argentina the steppes and Chile everything else. After the border we had less than an hour drive to get to Puerto Natales, a town of 21,000 situated on the Senoret Fjord, part of Esperaniza Sound or Last Hope Sound. Puerto Natales is the gate way Torres Del Paine National Park where we will be spending the next three nights but tonight we are in town. Puerto Natales was once a fishing port and had large meat processing plants for lamb and beef from the surrounding farms. Coal mining at Rip Turbo was also an economic driver. Today the only business seems to be tourism as it is the last stop before the national park. It is a rustic, laid back town and very easy to walk around.
We arrived in the afternoon and almost everyone went for a walk. Of course we did all have to head out and buy some groceries for our lunch the next day in the park and our treats for three days. The grocery store was your typical small grocery store and it was very busy. It also seemed very crowded but that may just have been because of the store layout. There were many displays in the aisles and thus the shoppers tended to get a bit bogged down trying to move around them. It probably also didn’t help having a bunch of English speakers trying to figure out what everything was. We obviously still aren’t that great at translating Spanish. The lineups at the cash register were long and it took quite a while to get through. It sort of reminded me of my local grocery store in that respect.
We went for a quick walk along the shoreline and then down one of the main streets and then across and back our hotel street. It was a Sunday so most stores were closed. The streets were also quite quiet. The main square, which was under construction, had the city hall, cathedral and post office along the one side. The cathedral looks neo-classical in a cream colour with white columns and a single tower. Most of the other stores were restaurants, coffee shops or small retail stores. As in El Calafate, there were also many outdoor gear stores and tour outlets to service those heading into the national park.
The sign on one store says that the town is located at 51 degrees south latitude. There is a walkway along the main part of the beach complete with benches should it be warm enough to ever sit out and enjoy the view. The beach is mostly rocky but there are some small patches of black sand. However, I can’t imagine that the water ever gets warm enough to swim in or the weather ever gets hot enough to sunbath.
We were to go to a local microbrewery for dinner but it too was closed so we just went to a local pizza place. I had a Hawaiian pizza and it was very good. Others had other fare that also was good. Their huge sandwich was huge – about 3 inches thick and just about everything imaginable on it. I should also note that we met Mark, our cook for the camping portion of the trip, at this point in time so we were all being nice to him! After that we all turned in early as our next day was starting very early with a 5 a.m. wake-up call, but there will be more on that and our adventures in Torres del Pain National Park in a later blog.
Wow! This one was actually almost ready to go so here is one of the blogs I thought was outstanding.
We left El Calafate at 10 a.m. for our first real day with our new tour group and Peggy. There are 12 of us on the tour plus one guide (Allie), one guide in training (Enrico) and our driver (Andy). Peggy is our vehicle. According to Andy, Peggy is a truck but in many ways Peggy is a bus. Peggy is huge and yellow and we ride on the upper level where there are seats as in a bus for about 36 people. With only 14 of us sitting above we have lots of room to spread out. The bottom part is all compartments accessible from the outside. In there we have our luggage stored each day plus all the paraphernalia for cooking our meals on travel days including tables and chairs. It’s quite a machine to say the least. Just getting into it is a real challenge with the first step about two feet above ground and then five more steps after that. But once inside it’s reasonably comfortable. A bit more heat would be nice but since we all have our winter clothes with us we just keep adding layers. I’m not sure but I don’t think there is any real heat or air conditioning in the bus portion. The air conditioning might not be required in Patagonia but one would certainly enjoy the heat.
We had a two hour drive until lunch, which we made ourselves. Peggy just pulled in beside a tiny service station and out came the tables and stools and containers of food. Everybody pitched in and we soon had tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, avocado, cheese, ham, etc. ready for subs. It was freezing cold and we all just stood or sat around eating. Then we did dishes in cold water so it was all pretty basic but very enjoyable.
About half an hour was on a paved road and the rest was on a bumpy dirt road that had Peggy vibrating continually and even letting in just a tad of dust. We stopped whenever there were sights to be seen and photographed and the sights included flamingoes, ducks, geese, guanaco and rhea (the ostrich/emu look alike whose name I couldn’t remember before). On the domesticated side there were lots of sheep and some cows. The area we were driving through was very flat and dry with some rolling hills and literally no vegetation. Obviously there was enough to keep the sheep happy but not always enough to satisfy the cows. There were a few huge sheep stations along the way and they looked quite profitable. There were always huge mountains in the distant background.
We reached the Argentinean border and all had to go through individually. Once we got moving it was a pretty quick process. The Argentinean border was simply a three-room shack with immigration and customs in the two side rooms and the centre room for customers. There were 15 kilometers between the Argentinean and the Chilean borders. It took us much longer at the Chilean crossing as we all had to get our bags off the bus and carry them across the border, talk to the inspectors, put our bags through the scanners, drop our forms off at customs and then reload the bus. You are not allowed to take any food products (plants, nuts, etc.) into Chile so everything on the bus had to be checked. Anything left over from lunch had to be pitched. They make such a big deal about it that I claimed my M&M peanuts but they said I could keep them. Yippee! The Chilean border office was also just a small building so obviously they don’t get a lot of business at this crossing. If they ever do get a crowd, it will definitely take a long time to get everyone through.
Right at the border crossing, the countryside changed. It became much hillier and greener and the mountains, although still in the distance, were definitely closer. The change was quite amazing but they didn’t settle the border issues down in Patagonia until quite late so perhaps the final decision was just to give Argentina the steppes and Chile everything else. After the border we had less than an hour drive to get to Puerto Natales, a town of 21,000 situated on the Senoret Fjord, part of Esperaniza Sound or Last Hope Sound. Puerto Natales is the gate way Torres Del Paine National Park where we will be spending the next three nights but tonight we are in town. Puerto Natales was once a fishing port and had large meat processing plants for lamb and beef from the surrounding farms. Coal mining at Rip Turbo was also an economic driver. Today the only business seems to be tourism as it is the last stop before the national park. It is a rustic, laid back town and very easy to walk around.
We arrived in the afternoon and almost everyone went for a walk. Of course we did all have to head out and buy some groceries for our lunch the next day in the park and our treats for three days. The grocery store was your typical small grocery store and it was very busy. It also seemed very crowded but that may just have been because of the store layout. There were many displays in the aisles and thus the shoppers tended to get a bit bogged down trying to move around them. It probably also didn’t help having a bunch of English speakers trying to figure out what everything was. We obviously still aren’t that great at translating Spanish. The lineups at the cash register were long and it took quite a while to get through. It sort of reminded me of my local grocery store in that respect.
We went for a quick walk along the shoreline and then down one of the main streets and then across and back our hotel street. It was a Sunday so most stores were closed. The streets were also quite quiet. The main square, which was under construction, had the city hall, cathedral and post office along the one side. The cathedral looks neo-classical in a cream colour with white columns and a single tower. Most of the other stores were restaurants, coffee shops or small retail stores. As in El Calafate, there were also many outdoor gear stores and tour outlets to service those heading into the national park.
The sign on one store says that the town is located at 51 degrees south latitude. There is a walkway along the main part of the beach complete with benches should it be warm enough to ever sit out and enjoy the view. The beach is mostly rocky but there are some small patches of black sand. However, I can’t imagine that the water ever gets warm enough to swim in or the weather ever gets hot enough to sunbath.
We were to go to a local microbrewery for dinner but it too was closed so we just went to a local pizza place. I had a Hawaiian pizza and it was very good. Others had other fare that also was good. Their huge sandwich was huge – about 3 inches thick and just about everything imaginable on it. I should also note that we met Mark, our cook for the camping portion of the trip, at this point in time so we were all being nice to him! After that we all turned in early as our next day was starting very early with a 5 a.m. wake-up call, but there will be more on that and our adventures in Torres del Pain National Park in a later blog.
posted by Jayne Brooks @ 8:29 PM
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