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Published: January 4th 2007
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Happy New Year from Puerto Natales, Chile. We had a great time there even if we didn’t do what most people go there for! It turns out that it’s almost impossible to visit the Torres del Paine National Park on public transport and complete a decent day’s walking without staying in the park. Trish insists she is to old for camping (she’s NOT!) and the refugios would have blown our budget completely.
Instead we settled for climbing a small mountain nearer to town. We had to pay an entry fee to walk on the land but were promised “coffee and cake” when we came back down. The climb was much tougher than we had expected, but the views were worth every aching muscle. We sat inches from a precipice and ate our lunch before a condor flew around us. It was like having your own private nature show and we looked on in awe and wonder at the magnificent bird which has a wingspan of almost 3m. The rain clouds then blew in and we got a good soaking on the decent just to prove that we are not entirely fair-weather walkers! Next came our “coffee and cake” which turned
out to be a full blown afternoon tea. It was delicious with an array of biscuits, crackers, bread, cheese, meat, and even some guacamole.
New Year’s Eve was a bit quiet really, but we found a bar where we could drink and got chatting to a Dutch couple we had met earlier. We wouldn’t even have noticed midnight approaching but for a party of Americans who began an impromptu countdown. The bar even produced some free champagne for everyone which was a nice touch.
So, we didn’t see the Torres, but we did do an excursion on “Last Hope Sound” to see some glaciers. Trish was relieved the water was calm when we got to the boat at 8am. Fortunately the weather wasn’t as changeable as it usually is and we had a fabulous day with just the odd shower. The glaciers were incredible once again. It is amazing to think that the Balmaceda Glacier came all the way down to the water just 20 years ago. The Serrano Glacier was the star of the show though, and we were able to get quite close to it. There were no major ice falls into the lake whilst we were
there, but we witnessed and icy avalanche high up on the glacier whilst watching 3 pairs of condors soar in the sky. It was a beautiful sight. Lunch for most of our fellow passengers was at an estancia but we packed our sandwiches and opted for a hike instead. The scenery was spectacular and we really loved the trip.
That was our first few days of Chilean life. We have to return to Argentina now to travel northwards but we will return to Chile in a couple of weeks. Our passports are certainly filling up with all of these border crossings!!
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amanda the great
non-member comment
hmmm...
see in the new year or BRING in the new year? I am going with BRING in the new year. lovelove