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Published: February 3rd 2012
Torres del Paine National Park...in the haze
Thousands of hectares are ablaze, far to the west and south of the area shown here.And so to Chile. We've been in Argentina so long that it feels strange to be crossing the border. How on Earth will we adapt?
A bus from El Calafate zips us across the border at Río Turbio, a (yet another) dull, windy, workaday town, and into Puerto Natales.
Located on the shore of Seno Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope Sound) in Magallanes, Chile's southernmost (and that's saying something) province, Puerto Natales - not a city I'd write home about - is well known as the entry point for a place whose reputation worldwide is nothing short of Legendary. Torres del Paine National Park is, pretty much everyone agrees,
the reason you come to this ever-so-distant part of Patagonia.
Well, much as I hate to disappoint, this blog entry stops here. The day we arrived in Puerto Natales, the Park was ablaze. Some idiot (the incident has been widely reported in both the Chilean and international press) thought he'd set fire to his toilet paper. One careless moment and thousands of hectares of the park - right in the middle of its most scenic, and visited, section - were destroyed. Needless to say the people of Puerto Natales were devastated, bewildered and angry. A few years ago a Czech tourist did pretty much the same thing, but that time at least the fire was limited to more peripheral sections of the park.
The impact of the fire on the economy of Puerto Natales and the livelihood of its inhabitants doesn't bear thinking about. Torres del Paine was high on our list of places to visit - perhaps we'll be back one day. I'm only glad we haven't come here as part of a short holiday - as many people we've met have. We can only hope the park recovers and that
Natalinos' lives can return to normal sooner rather than later.
As for us, we managed to get ourselves out of Puerto Natales just in time (all buses out were quickly booked solid with hikers having suddenly changed their plans) to Punta Arenas, from where we caught a flight up to Coyhaique in Aysén Province, our starting point for a little road trip...
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Drika
non-member comment
Que triste...
Oi William Que post mais triste esse seu. Sempre tem um idiota que se acha o máximo e que, para chamar a atenção, não mede suas ações e principalmente não se importa com as consequências. Triste...