Bored in 4 Ports

---

These 4 days were pretty dull, but we figure that sometimes it is good to be bored, otherwise you can get sensory overload... if you can’t be bothered to read on, have a look at the pics instead... (and just for fun the Smiths/Morrissey fans amongst you will spot the references).

Day 28

Saturday morning and we are off to catch the bus to Puerto Montt back on the mainland where will be catching a flight further south on Monday. Arrive in Puerto Montt, a very busy port, where it is raining so we “waterproof up” head to toe, and head to a sushi restaurant that has a good review in the guide. We are not disappointed and the fact that they are playing the Smiths and Morrissey makes Emily’s day. The food is fantastic (prepared by a Japanese sushi chef) and with our bellies full of raw fish, and humming, ‘everyday is like Sunday’, we continue our tour of the town in the pouring rain.

There isn’t much to do in Puerto Montt as it is mainly a travel hub for exploring further south. The Navimag ferry also departs from here but with tickets at £1000 each we decide it is cheaper and quicker to catch a flight. As the rain is still pouring we settle in for the night and watch our last DVD in our room.

Day 29

Take the local bus to the nearby prettier Puerto Varas which is described as a smaller Pucon (we previously visited here). As it is still raining so decide not to take a tour, have some lunch and follow a tourist trail instead, involving following coloured arrows in the pavement. The trail goes past lots of old colonial houses up to 120 years old. Feeling slightly bored we head back to Puerto Montt where we monopolise the TV in the hostel and watch ‘Valentine’s Day’.

Day 30-32

We fly to Punto Arenas and then catch a connection to Puerto Natalas. Arriving at Puerto Natalas we are a little shocked to see that the airport is in the middle of nowhere and is smaller than a garden shed. Luckily there are some local people offering to take people into town and we team up with a Dutch couple to share the cost. Amazingly I find someone with worse language skills than myself and for the first time we manage to impress some fellow travellers with our ability to communicate the journey and agree a reasonable price.

We stay at the Erratic Rock II hostel (recommended by Andy ‘n’ Leah) and Em is for once highly impressed with the cleanliness of the place. Next a monumental moment in our 11 year relationship happens. Being Valentine’s day I agree to take Em out for dinner, (normally I would complain that this is just a commercial day to allow card companies to make money and restaurants to charge more). Anyway looking for something different we decide to try out a fusion of African and Patagonian food. Em digs into the scallop and prawn curry while I opt for the crab salad, both being delicious and we break our week of no drinking and order a bottle of wine.

Em refuses to do a 60km bike ride and so we spend the next few days resting in preparation for the 4 day hike in Torres del Paine. Highlights of our days include posing with the various dummies around town, finding the most ‘chorlton’ restaurant we can find (which serves black bean and aubergine chilli), buying the webcam (look for us on skype) and finding a dog we think looks most like me. We momentarily panic when it appears that the plague of goretex wearing tourists have bought the entire town’s supply of trail mix (nuts and dried fruit), but happily find a man in a fruit and nut hut and stock up with plenty to keep us going on our hikes.

More importantly since we have been in South America we have been trying to work out a cheap way of getting to Easter Island to see the impressive Moai statues (not giant Easter bunnies), as the flights are > £1000 each. After much seaching we finally spot some cheap(relatively speaking) flights from Santiago and before you can say 'chocolate egg' we book them for a weeks trip in June!

This is the furthest south either of us have ever been 1,188 kms from Antartica at longitude 53°10´S and it really feels completely different to anywhere else. You literally feel closer to the curve of the earth and the clouds and light from both the Sun and Moon is breathtaking. You really get to understand how people used to think that you could fall off the edge of the world. Anyway we are both really exciting about trekking in Torres Del Paine over the next few days so hopefully the next installment will be more interesting...

---

Comments

[KT]

Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday Emily!!!xxx