The four saling days went really fast; much faster than the 1 1/2 days we had to wait before boarding. Once in Puerto Natales, the first task was to find a hostel where to stay and to organize the next tours.
The weather let us feel that the antarctic was much closer now; it was raining and the wind was quite strong. After installing in the hostel and a nice lunch I went for a short walk to explore the town. Most tourists use Puerto Natales for a short stop on their way to the Torres del Paine NP.
Concerning trekking, there are several choices available at Torres del Paine. My initial plan was to do the famous W tour, but considering the weather on one side and the delay the ferry had introduced I choosed to reduce the tour to a one day excursion to the park (no trekking), hoping we could see at least the Torres, even though the weather forecast was not all that positive.
With tour and bus tickets booked, I went out for dinner with Richard. We went to a Pizza place somebody recommended and met Sherly and Bob, two guys from Oregon I met on the ferry. They had also booked the one day tour while Richard stayed to his plan and booked the W tour!
The next morning started at 7:00 am as usual for this kind of tours. In the bus were Ricardo and Teresa too, a nice couple from Temuco I had just learned at the hotel. The weather forecast proved to be right; it was raining and we could not see the mountains. There are however other interesting places to see like the Lakes Grey and Pehoé as well as the Salto Grande waterfalls.
Local news reported again a bunch of small to mid size earthquakes in the cost of Chile (Valparaiso, Antofagasta) and Peru (Pisco and Tumbes) all on the same day. These added to the one that occurred a few days before as I was on the ferry.
On the last day already on our way to El Calafate the bus passed a point where a bunch of Condors were eating something dead on the road. The big birds raised fly as the bus came closed and I just time to get this photo through the window's glass. I'm glad it was dry and almost clean.
Hola
ReplyDeletecomo esta? como va su viaje? espero que bien
somos los chicos del hostal Don Guillermo, Ricardo y Teresa, le
contamos que ayer domingo fuimos a hacer el trekking a la base de las
Torres, caminamos mucho pero valió la pena entre subidas y más subidas
rocosas estuvo bueno, espero ute haya podido realizar su viaje al
chalten. cuando tengamos un pc a mano le enviaremos fotos de esa
maravillosa vista a las Torres, un abrazo espero continuemos en contacto mucha suerte y buen viaje.