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Published: January 23rd 2008
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We made it to Chile! The only major difference between Patagonia in Argentina and Chile is that the cost of everything in Chile is about twice as much. I´m glad we made the choice to spend a majority of our vacation in Argentina.
Our first stop in Chile was Puerto Natles. It is a small town that is popular because it is the easiest entrance point to Torres del Paine National Park. We didn´t know much about the area before we got there and consequently had no idea what we were going to do. The first night in town we ran into a couple that we did the Hielo Azul hike with back in El Bolson as we were trying to find a place for dinner. We much have looked very lost/confused as were were trying to figure out how much the food was on the menu outside the restaurant when we saw them waving from inside. It made the decision of where to eat much easier. Over dinner they told us about a couple 1 day trekks that were possible in the park. Since we didn´t have anything planned for the following two days so we thought we would
View of the Lake
Torres del Paine check it out.
I had heard of the park before we got there but didn´t know enough about it to feel it was a "must do" activity for the trip. There is the famous W trekk that takes 4-5 days or the Circuit that takes a few days more. We had no intention of going on another multi-trekk so the one day it was. We took the early morning bus to the park. What we didn´t know is that is cost $30 per person just to get into the park! Are you kidding me!!!! What made it even better is we had about $40 worth of Chilean Pesos. Luckily we were able to trade some US money with an Austrailian or we wouldn´t have made it. . .. I´m not sure which would have been worse. Oh. . . a little side note. . . . . we went to an ATM first thing when we got to town because we didn´t have any Chilean money. Out of habit I wanted to take out as much cash as possible because you get hit with the ATM fees every time. Without really knowing the conversion rate (Which is 500 pesos
to $1 approx) I hit the highest amount of money. I thought Matt was going to have a heart attack as he was holding $100,000 pesos. . . . needless to say it was a little tense there for a second!
So, back to the trekk. I shouldn´t bag on it that much. There were some amazing views of the mountains and most of the hike was on a ridge above a big lake. However, since we had a total of $1.25 left after the park entrance fee, we had to hike an additional 5km to the free campsite, each way. Luckily we made it there, and we were talking to eachother by the end so not all was lost. We also got some great pictures from the trip that help justify the amount of money we spent for a "walk in the woods".
The day after the trekk we hopped on the bus to Punto Arenas so we could go see the penguins, and yes, it was AMAZING! Penguins are very strange little birds. I had no idea how vocal they were! We have a video of the penguins yelling that Matt is trying to upload, but
we aren´t sure if it is going to work on these connections. The island that we took the ferry to was absolutely covered in penguins! There was a path that ran from the boat to the lighthouse in the island. However, the path did not stop the penguins from walking right up to you. It was very entertaining to watch them interact with eachother and the people. It was a little creepy how human like a lot of their actions were. If you get a chance to see penguins in the wild I would definately recommend it!
Today we had the afternoon to kill so we walked down to the Cemetary in Punto Arenas. I know that sounds a little morbid but it was recommended by the guidebook. The Cemetary highlights the wealth that used to be in this area. Puntos Arenas was a huge producer of wool and the beginning of the centry and there were a ton of REALLY wealthy families in the area because of it. There are huge mansions all around town. Some of them have been kept up and are open to the public, but many of them have started to fade, as well
as the rest of the town. The cemetary is covered with HUGE marble shrines for families. Some of these buildings are big enough for families to live in! Very different from cemetaries in the US. It was also a little strange to have pictures of the people in the buildings or in a covered box near the headstones. The pictures should give you a better idea of where we were.
Tomorow we are off to Rio Grande where we have the car from Saturday until Wednesday. We are really looking forward to having the freedom to travel where we want for a while. We have a friend that is meeting us down there and is going to travel in the car with us. We actually met him at our first stop in Lima back in November and then happened to be staying at the same hostel in El Calefate last week. He is from Alaska and is riding his bike through South America. He is riding to Rio Grande and should be there by Saturday. . . . I´m glad we are taking the bus!
Well, I think that´s it for now. We only have 3 more weeks
left 😞. . . . the end is coming quickly!
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Erin
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Cool---are you bringing one home???
I think that baby would fit in one of th backpack pockets--- Sounds like you are having a great time. It was 11 degrees this morning---the radio station said 6 but I think they were fibbing. Keep updating us and stay safe.