Better Late Than Never

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OK, so it´s been a while since I´ve updated this. Currently, we are in Puerto Natales and have been in the area since the 4th, so I´ve backdated this entry to reflect the date the events should have occurred, had time permitted. If you would just care to read about our hike in Torres del Paine, you can skip ahead to the next entry.
So, when last I wrote, we had just returned from a short trip to Iguazu Falls and were in Buenos Aires waiting to catch our first overnight bus, with the final destination of Puerto Madryn, a smallish seaside town near the Valdes Peninsula, known for it´s wildlife viewing. The bus trip was uneventful and we arrived in Puerto Madryn around lunch time. We took a taxi to our hostel, which was a pleasant enough place near the south side of town with a very helpful owner who went over our options for the a trip to the Peninsula the following day. After booking our trip, we went for a walk around town to see what else there was to do around town. Many people come down from Buenos Aires to vacation here, so it was fairly crowded with Argentine tourists enjoying the sunny, warm, and dry weather of northern Patagonia. Though the many beach goers seemed unperturbed by it, the constant wind made the beach an unpleasant location, for me at least, unless a mouthful of sand sounds like fun. We took a walk on the boardwalk, confirmed that all the tours cost about the same ($40US), and got dinner at a pizza place.
The following day we awoke early for our 7:30 tour bus to the Peninsula, 150km away. We gathered up the lunch we had bought the day before, and were off on time with a full bus. The sights we had hoped to see were Right Whales, elephant seals, and killer whales. Unfortunately the whales left in December, the male elephants seals (which give the species its name) don´t arrive until February, and the killer whales are sporatic at best. So that left the remaining elephants seals (plenty of pups and females), Magellanic penguins, and sea lions. The penguins were very interested in people, coming right up to the fence, creating excellent photo ops and the sea lions were very active with several males battling for something or other. The elephants seals were quite save one, who was swimming a running awkwardly around the shore. It was a long day and quite worthwhile.
After a full day of seeing wildlife, we attempted to get a bus out of town to Ushuaia, the southermost city in the world at the tip of Tierra del Fuego. Intially, we had planned to go straight to Punta Arenas in Chile, but with the extra days saved by leaving Buenos Aires early, we decide to attempt the additional trip. We soon learned that making plans this late means quickly scrapping them. All the plane flights were full and by the time we scrapped the Ushuaia plans, the the buses south were all full. So, stuck in Puerto Madryn for an additional day, we relaxed, downloaded pictures from previous trips, and had our laundry done. After an uneventful evening and following day, we caught another overnight bus to Rio Gallegos (pronounced Guy-shay-gos, which took awhile to get down) and then a shorter trip to Punta Arenas.
Punta Arenas is a fairly wealth town, with a heavy German influence and many brightly colored corregated steel roofs. The town square was nice with very interesting trees and enormous lupine growing everywhere. We stayed at a clean, cheap hostel for the night a bit out of the center of town and after the long bus trip, went to bed very early. The following morning we went the the Duty free zone, and bought gas for our backpacking stove and dried food (Ramen noodles and Idahoan mashed potatoes, just like home!), in preparation for our trip to Torres del Paine National Park and an 8 day backpacking trip. Bus tickets were easy to buy and we left Punta Arenas around 2pm, arriving at 5pm in Puerto Natales. Our hostel host picked us up at the bus station, we found a nice vegetarian restaurant in town, and packed our bags for the trip I´ve been waiting for, the Torres del Paine Circuit. More to come shortly. . .

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Photos

Penguins (with Baby)
Sara´s favorite part about Peninsula Valdes.

Elephant Seal
The only active seal.

Sea Lions
These sea lions were quite active, and clearly having some marital problems.

Furry Armadillo
These guys were all over the parking lot, actually crawling up a little girl´s leg begging for food.