Blogs from Magallanes, Chile, South America
Puerto Williams - Part Deux
Published: May 18th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Isla Navarino
May 13th 2012
The streets were absolutely deserted. There was only the reflection of the street lamps in the puddles while we lugged our backpacks and obnoxious cameras back the place we could reasonably call home on Isla Navarino. As expected, there was absolutely no-one in the refugio, but it was considerably cleaner than when we had last seen it. This may be due to all of the mud we always schlepped in…sorry Cecilia. We built a fire and made a shopping list. I was craving Alfredo pasta (the food, not the person, although repetitively hearing his name may have contributed to my desires), and Alfredo just wanted juice and wine. What a typical chileno...However, our solitude was not to be. The ferry arrived early that evening and brought with it to the refugio the German couple, Markus and ... read more
Caleta Ferrari - Yeeeeeee Haw!
Published: May 18th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Isla Navarino
May 10th 2012
All pictures of this post were taken by Alfredo Pourailly, a very talented young man that was so kind to share a few weeks of his life with me. My buddies at the ferry (we were on first name basis at this point), woke me up on the ferry at 3:30 AM for our arrival in Caleta Ferrari (CF). Sleepy eyed, I hopped off with Alfredo while some other passengers boarded. Thanks to the ferry lights, we were able to see exactly where we were, which was in between the ocean and a rock wall with a little dilapidated hut hugging the cliffs. I saw no sign of someone there to meet us. If no-one showed up, we would just have to pitch our tents where we were, because we had no idea which direction to ... read more
May 8th 2012
The title has nothing to do with the temperature in Puerto Williams (PW). Quite the contrary, it is very cold here. Instead, the title of this post refers to the spectacular experience I have had here. Please read further if this is of interest to you. Unlike Jean Phillipe (do I love that name), Alfredo and I did not do any scouting as far as accommodation goes in PW. We figured that we would have enough time to do so during the morning there. Our sweet maple syrup loving lumberjack, however, did all the hard work for us and we struck gold with the Refugio El Padrino run by the magnanimous and inviting Cecilia. I really cannot describe how much I love this woman. She exudes happiness from each and every pore. She is one of ... read more
Torres Del Paine Circuit
Published: May 5th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Torres del Paine
May 5th 2012
Its wild, its remote, its dramatic, unpredictable and stunningly beautiful. Torres Del Paine National Park is one of the finest places in Chile Situated in the southernmost,biggest and least populated region of Chile - Region of Magallanes Y Antarctica Chilena, it receives nearly 100.000 visitors from all over the world every year which makes this protected area one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. The park sits on the southern edge of the massive Patagonian Ice Cap and covers almost 600.000 acres of land in a beautiful mixture of impressive glaciers, wonderful turquoise lakes and rivers, eye-catching granite peaks and valleys, lenga forests and pampas-style-terrain. Cordillera del Paine is the main mountain range in the the park and this is where the famous and majestic Torres del Paine and the prominent Cuernos del ... read more
Transbordador Austral Broom Vroom Vroom
Published: May 8th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Isla Navarino
April 25th 2012
Luis dropped me off in front of a ship that did not exactly match the floater I had concocted in my mind to go to Puerto Williams. For some reason I didn't expect the kind of ferry that took cars, containers and only a few people. Well, I was greeted by the friendly sailors on board and even introduced to the captain before I was led to the economy class, which is basically a chair and not a bed, as in first class. Slowly, a few more people showed up on board, but I didn't have any high expectations as this ferry was going to a town in the Antarctic region of Chile during mid-April. Well, about 4 more people showed up, and, in a very un-Chilean fashion, we left five minutes early to embark on ... read more
April 20th 2012
Yes the weather forecasts were correct!! A nice blue sky morning as we head for Torres del Paine (the Towers of Pain). We had been hearing from people that had been tramping while the weather had not been good and they could not see the mountains. It had been cloudy and rainy for the past five days! The ride out turned up 20 minutes early and put us in a bit of a panic. While we raced to clean our teeth the van left to pick up some others. Finally aboard and on time!! We drove out of the very picturesque Puerto Natales. I thought it was a lake!! I learned the error of my ways when we caught a ferry here a few days later. The van driver and a good portion of the passengers ... read more
Punta Arenas - Point of Recuperation
Published: May 8th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas
April 20th 2012
Ah, civilization sans fleas and hordes of tourists. I was finally back in Patagonia. Punta Arenas, unlike any other city in Chilean Patagonia or Tierra del Fuego, is a highly industrialized place. The airport even has two baggage claim carousels! Also, this time of year there are barely any tourists. Understandably so, as it is starting to get closer to cold. Located on the Strait of Magellan, statues of the famous Hernando de Magellan litter the city like graffiti even though this Portuguese man didn't care much for this wind-plagued strait. This is also the place where you can buy a ferry ticket to Puerto Williams and get your laundry done, which was my main goal. But first I had to rid myself of my bug infested clothes and do a deep clean of my skin ... read more
April 19th 2012
“BLING BLING”, groan, “BLING BLING”, another groan from Leigh. Yes, a 4:00am alarm to be at the bus station at 5:00am. We taxied down the hill and on the way we passed the French family of four that had stayed in the cabins at the back of our B & B. They were walking in the rain with the girls in tow, five and two and a half years old. Hmmm ... I thought better them than me!! Still very dark but we are underway. Eileen feels the call of nature but she comes scurrying back saying there is no light and when she went to step into the stall her foot landed in a small pond!! Thirty minutes later and still dark the call was sufficiently loud enough for her to venture back to the ... read more
Quite possibly the best hike in the world... ever
Published: April 6th 2012South America » Chile » Magallanes » Torres del Paine
March 29th 2012
When I was thirteen, my parents took me to Tuscany. In between the noisy chaos of Florence and the gravity-challenging architecture of Pisa, we went to a little village in the Apennines on the strength of my mother’s curiosity in Milton’s choice of simile, “Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks of Vallombrosa”. If he had written “as glorious as autumnal leaves in Patagonia”, would we have gone there instead, I found myself wondering last week. For surely there is no more wonderful palate of natural colours above sea level than this, the gold, bronze, flame-orange, scarlet, pink and red of the lenga and the ñire, set against the bare rock, snow and glacial blues of Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, a reward only for those prepared to invest a couple of days walking ... read more
