October 18, 2008
Path to the Torres de Paine
written by Spencer Alexander on October 18, 2008 at 09:01PM in Traveling
After leaving Bariloche, we played a quick, global game of Where in the World are Spencer and Nicole. We took a day bus from Bariloche to Puerto Montt, spent a night in Puerto Montt, flew from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas, quickly bussed to Puerto Natales, ariving late at night, and left early the next morning to Torres de Paine.
The bus ride from Bariloche to Puerto Montt was quite beautiful, although I spent most of it catching up on the sleep that I deprived myself of the night before. It marked our first, of many, border crossing of the Patagonia trip[(it also marked the 20th time I have crossed the Argentine-Chile border)].
Puerto Montt, I am sad to say, was a bit disappointing. The main disappointment was caused by the fact that we were unable to visit the surrounding areas of Puerto Montt, which is supposed to be the real highlight of the area. Sometime in a future trip[(with the number of future trips I already have planned, this one might have to wait for a future life)], I would love to take the four day Navimag[(A ferry-ish thing)] journey from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. It travels through some areas that look breathtaking on a map; I can only imagine how it looks in real life.
Upon arriving to Puerto Montt, we had a very difficult time finding an affordable hostal. In fact, the most economical option was a hotel, and it marked the first and only time I payed for a hotel in South America. Shame on me.
The following day, after passing through a very, very lax airport security[(“Is that a knife you’ve got there? Okay, you can take it with you, just try not to do it again!”)], we enjoyed a cafe in the airport. In Argentina, when asking for a coffee, they always use expresso, where in Chile, when asking for a coffee, they default to the icky nescafe powder; I had forgotten about this subtle difference, and had to order a few times before I got the cafe latte that I desired.
Arriving in the Punta Arenas airport, which doubles as a military base, was a very exiting feeling; we had made it to the southernmost city of Chile, situated right along the Magellan Strait! This was a moment I had dreamed about for years, and I had finally made it!
A quick bit of history: Punta Arenas was founded upon the once lucrative Magellan Strait. It quickly became a very, very wealthy city; it was located on a very popular trading route, and the sheep that populate the area produced very expensive wool to be traded with the passing ships. All of this changed in 1952, when the Panama Canal was built. Many of Punta Arenas’ numerous mansions were abandoned, and the city quickly fell in to poverty. All of this changed once again, when an abundance of oil was found near the city.
We were only able to spend an afternoon in Punta Arenas, gathering supplies, eating ice cream, making calls to plan the rest of our trip and seeing the city, before shuffling along to Puerto Natales on a nighttime bus. In Puerto Natales, we rented our gear from a hostel filled with incredibly knowledgeable workers. We rented everything we needed: a backpack, a tent, two sleeping bags and pads, a stove, cooking dishes, waterproof pants, etc. And then we spent our final night in a bed before heading off on a three night camping adventure.
Torres de Paine, here we come!
Tags: Patagonia, Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, puerto montt and torres de paine
leave a comment
1 comment | show comments
1 comment | hide comments
wow… all I can say is, I’m glad I didn’t know all this BEFOREHAND!!!! You would have had a harder time convincing me of your plans than you did of finding a decent latte!!! You guys!