Tag Archives: Chile

Puerto Natales – Getting ready for Torres del Paine NP

Posted on by

A bus ride brought us from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, the hub for Torres del Paine National Park.

The town itself is small, main income obviously tourism, i.e. catering all those people heading off to or coming back from the National Park. The town therefore feels like an odd collection of hostels, restaurants, bars, outdoor shops, tour operators, plus a big supermarket and a number of hardware stores – in total all an outdoor enthusiast may need before venturing out into the wild.

I basically spent my time as this city layout forced me to do … having food in restaurants – and shopping around for some last minute equipment (I needed gloves) – and so did most of the others. James managed to do some good cost-cutting on walking sticks; instead of paying 1500 pesos (around 3 USD) per day per stick (i.e. 6000 pesos for the our complete hike per stick) or buying new sticks at 8000 pesos each, he equipped himself with two broom sticks, 600 pesos each … so don’t wonder if you see photos of a guy with broom sticks 😉

Otway Penguin Colony

Posted on by

In the afternoon we left Punta Arenas for an excursion to the Otway penguin colony.

In the colony tourists and penguins were properly separated, however we still could get pretty close to these creatures. The penguins here are Magallanes penguins.
The empty surroundings of the colony also gave a good introduction of the true Patagonia with vast empty plains and high mountains in the background.

The tour concluded with a pisco sour 😉

To Punta Arenas

Posted on by

Another short flight brought us down to Punta Arenas, the Magellan Strait and to the true Southern Patagonia. After arrival we spent the time exploring and having a late lunch.

Puerto Varas – into Chile and to the Casino

Posted on by

An interesting bus ride brought us to the border between Argentina and Chile. Leaving Argentina was easy, entering Chile challenging – at least for some (e.g. what are dried fruit?). It took more than an hour until we could continue our way to Puerto Varas.