The Road to Patagonia

We left Pucon on the early bus destined for Puerto Montt. Kilometers of farmland, rivers and sheep passed by the windows. We enjoyed a few naps, each time waking up in a new small town to pick up or drop off a few passengers. After six or seven hours we crested a hill and descended to Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas rests on the shore of Lake Llanquihue. On the opposite shore the Patagonian Andes scrape the heavens. If we were to stay in this area again, we’d choose Puerto Varas.

Instead, we traveled a few kilometers more to Puerto Montt. Puerto Montt is a major port city and fishing town in southern Chile. We checked into the very lovely Holiday Inn, with spectacular views of the bay and headed down to the fish market for lunch.

The waterfront in every Chilean town has an exercise park. Kate tries out the butt toner in Puerto Montt.

Puerto Montt waterfront with Patagonian Andes in the background.

Another sunken boat.

Kate in the fish market. A fresh salmon fillet to feed a party of eight: $5,000 pesos ($10 USD).

After a proper lunch of cod and salmon, we returned to the hotel for siesta but forgot to set an alarm. We awoke at 1AM. Realizing it was too late for dinner and too early for breakfast, we packed for our 8AM flight and went back to bed.

Now being seasoned Chilean air travelers, we arrived at the airport 30 minutes before our flight, breezed through check in, security and headed south to Punta Arenas. The flight over the Patagonian Andes was amazing. Our pilot pointed out the major peaks along the way and tilted the plane for a better view of Torres del Paine.

Fitz Roy towers in Argentina.

Our ultimate destination in far southern Chile was Torres del Paine. The view from the aircraft gave us an idea of the topography that we were about explore.

After a smooth flight we arrived in windy Punta Arenas and walked to the city plaza for lunch.

Lazy dogs and statutes

Delicious fish lunch.

After lunch, we caught a bus to Puerto Natales, the jumping off point for our trek in Torres del Paine. From windy Punta Arenas the bus worked north through an increasingly barren and wind scarred landscape through the Patagonian pampa (lowlands).

Finally we arrived in Puerto Natales on our second day of traveling and checked into our hostel, Casa Cecelia at 6 PM. The hostel was relatively clean and quiet, but perhaps a bit threadbare. Other travelers staying at the Erratic Rock, seemed to have perhaps made a better choice.

Puerto Natalaes plaza.

Near Torres del Paine, there is a cave in which a well preserved giant sloth pelt was found. Punta Natales has a strong sloth identity, it’s a bit odd from an outsiders perspective.

Sloth butt.

Throughout our trip we had carried at tent, sleeping bags, thermarest camping mattresses, a camp stove and cookware. We asked at the hostel: (1) what this “W” trek in Torres del Paine was all about, (2) where to get fuel for our stove and (3) were to get food for backpacking. Answers: (1) simply the best backpacking trip in the world, (2) there are many camping stores with fuel, all open until 10PM, and (3) there is one supermarket in town, you can’t miss it (we missed it).

We got to work. A transfer to the park was booked for 7:30 AM the following morning. We bought two cans of gas, confirmed that they worked in our stove. We packed our backpacks for five days on the trail. We hit the “supermercado,” which was much smaller than the actual mega super mercado that we missed just around the corner. Meals would be simple. Breakfast: oatmeal with dried fruit. Lunch: honey and peanut butter sandwiches. Dinner: pasta or rice with sauce, butter and garlic. Lots of garlic. And chocolate. And Sprim (Chilean Gatorade mix). At 1AM we finished packing and went to sleep dreaming of Patagonia.