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| Pretty flowers of the Prickly Heath, or chaura, on the trail to the Serrano glacier |
Tomorrow we leave Puerto Natales for Puerto Montt, the southern gateway to the Lakes District. From there we will have a foray into northern Patagonia but our time in the south is coming to an end. We have had a lovely stay here. Organising activities on the fly, and dates not always being available, we have somewhat end-loaded our schedule but it's all worked out. This was our final itinerary, with a little chat here and there:
Saturday, February 12th - Arrive from Santiago.
Sunday - Rest day, scouting out the play structures, braving the wind.
Monday - Another rest day. Accidentally booked the Torres del Paine National Park tour for Tuesday but this was a fortuitous mistake as the weather improved and we appreciated the extra day around town, especially as we were able to celebrate Valentine's with jello and chocolate.
Tuesday - TdP NP full day tour (see previous post). Spectacular.
Wednesday - moving day (we hadn't been able to find accommodation for the full week so we moved around the corner).
Thursday - Crystal did the TdP base hike, a 21km monster with 1000m elevation gain and 4 hours on the road! She had great weather and her views made it all worthwhile! Meanwhile, the kids and I hit up the play structures and checked out the awesome little museum that documents some of the pre-settler peoples and some of the story of European settlement.
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Crystal on Thursday and Simon on Saturday at the base of the Torres del Paine
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Toby learning that the first people are thought to have reached Patagonia around 12,000 years ago, making this one of the last places on earth to have been inhabited
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Traditional canoes made of wood and animal skin
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Police uniforms across the regions and through the ages
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| Reconnecting with the Milodon |
Friday - Rain day, rest day. A little exercise, a lot of music, a few short walks.
Saturday - Simon did the base hike, same slog, no view of the towers! Lovely walk... Starts with a 6.30 am pick up and the best part of 2 hours on the road to the trail head. This is a popular hike but this being the end of the world there is a limit to how many people show up. Nevertheless, Crystal's guide estimated around 900 people the day she went and it's out-and-back so lots of passing. The first couple of k are flat before climbing up the valley. The trail then contours along the valley wall before dropping down to cross the river just before the Chileno campground. This site has tents set up on platforms built into the steep slope. There's a hut with food and drink, toilet block etc. Onwards from here its a hike through a deep, ancient forest, a final crossing of the river before climbing steeply into the tributary valley that carries the river that drains the lake below the towers. It is a rocky climb over the boulder strewn hillside but as you approach the lake, you are teased by the tips of those towers peeking over the horizon before coming around the final giant rocks to have your mind blown by the majesty of thousands of metres of sheer granite, red, grey, gold, reaching for the mesmerising azure sky. Or... the cloud is sitting a few metres above the lake and you see nothing. I won't lie, it would have been nice to see the view. But the mountains are about more than views and it is always a priviledge to spend a day walking footpaths just as our species has been doing for 200,000 years. I won't get too spiritual about it but suffice to say it is never a disappointment.
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The Rio Ascencio valley
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Crossing the Rio Ascensio
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Why not?
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It was about 6 celcius and a little breezy at the Lago Torres
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Not being able to see the towers allowed more time for studying the flora
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| Someone's lunchtime on the hike back |
Sunday - Serrano and Balcemeda glaciers boat tour. A few minutes on a bus from the centre of town is the dock for the catamaran tour boat that plows a furrow up the Ultima Esperanza strait taking visitors to, ostensibly, see the glaciers. But I think this tour was much more than that. As soon as the boat passes through a narrowing in the channel, Puerto Natales is no longer visible and there are almost no signs of human presence. Instead this is a land of geological wonder, the folds of ancient sedimentary rock giving way to waterfalls, sea cliffs, and craggy islets. All of these places are home to scrubby flora, mosses, ferns, pretty flowers, as well as sealife and birds. Probably the most fun of these was the group of sea lions perched on a rocky ledge. After sailing by the Balcemeda glacier we moored at the entrance to the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Chile's largest National Park and accessible only by boat. A 1km walk along the edge of the Serrano lake takes you as close to the base of the Serrano glacier as you can get. This is a glacier that extends right into the lake. It's a spectacular spot and you can regularly hear the crash of the ice calving off, either into the lake or higher up as it teeters over cliffs and crags. On the way home a choice of orange juice or whisky is served with a couple of lumps of glacier ice. The whole trip is done nicely and you can spend as much time as you like out on the deck soaking up the atmosphere of this pristine place. You are with a bunch of other tourists but as long as you go with the flow and take time to notice the little things around you as well as the headline attractions, it is well worth it.
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The Serrano glacier
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The kids enjoying the trail along Lago Serrano
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| Sea lions along the Ultima Esperanza strait |
Monday - Horse riding the Cerro Dorotea. Visiting an Estancia (horse ranch) is a good thing to do in this region. The culture of horses runs very deep, along with the gauchos, the horsemen whose lives and livelihoods revolve around them. Cerro Dorotea is the hill overlooking Puerto Natales and just a couple of kilometres from the Argentine border. We got very lucky with the weather. This was the clearest, sunniest day we've had. Not a cloud in the sky and almost endless visibility. No one spoke any English and we have very minimal horse riding skills between us! We did a lot of trotting which is very uncomfortable if you don't know how to do it properly. We wound our way upwards, through some low copses of trees, over a couple of rolling hills towards the top of the cliff. From what I understand, beginners normally walk and walk only. There were times when, despite my best efforts to rise with the rhythm of the trot, or maybe even because, I was in danger of loosing my stomach or irreparably compressing my spine. Nevertheless, we made it to the shady grove just behind the lookout. Despite the blazing sun, there was still a chill in the breeze high up on the hillside and after a 20 minute break we headed back down the trail to the ranch. One of our horses had a warm welcome awaiting her as her foal galloped up after some raucous back-and-forth calling on the way in. A great outing and just a short 10 minute taxi ride from Puerto Natales.
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Heading up the Cerro Dorotea
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Crystal and Princess
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Toby and Cookie (sp?!)
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Looking towards Torres del Paine from the top of Cerro Dorotea
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| Felicity and Canario |
Overall we loved Puerto Natales. We felt that we had done a really well balanced mix of activities and we would love to come back and tackle some of the multi-day treks in the park.
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We celebrated our last night in Puerto Natales at the Guanaca pizzeria enjoying everything but pizza
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| A final stroll through the Plaza des Armas |
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