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Caroline's World Tour
So, here we are now, back in Chile, this time in Punta Arenas, still down in Patagonia. Since my last entry in El Calafate we have also been to Puerto Natales, which is the closest town to the Torres del Paine National Park, apparently one of the most spectacular sights in all of Latin America. And I'm sure it is, what we saw was pretty amazing, but unfortunately most of the mountains spent most of the day covered in clouds!!
We arrived in Puerto Natales still unsure of exactly how much time we wanted to stay there. After we'd been there about 20 minutes though, we knew it wouldn't be long! There isn't really a great deal to do...... We decided to just go for a day trip to the park, as to be honest, spending two or three nights camping in the cold in a place described as having "winds strong enough to break tent poles" was not too appealing! We liked the idea of doing some walking, but probably not the full whack! Plus I was still hobbling a bit, so in the end we went for a guided bus tour, starting at 7.30am (too many early mornings recently!) and taking us to the park and driving through with various stops for view points and little walks - not too strenuous, and not too cold! The park itself was amazing, beautiful lakes, rolling hills, and what we could see of the actual Torres was spectacular. The weather wasn't brilliant, the above mentioned clouds kept giving way to rain, and the tent pole winds were pretty intense. Kind of wind where you're quite afraid to go too close to the edge to see the lake in case you end up in it! And to be honest, our guide wasn't up to much. Most of the tour guides we've had have been really enthusiastic, they obviously like people and the places they're touring around. This one gave the impression that he couldn't really be bothered, and his english was very hard to understand. Its only because we listened to the spanish commentary as well that we know the most common animal in Patagonia is the sheep and not the chimp!!
So the park was lovely, but the 12 hour day trip was enough, even if everyone else was heading off into the blue we didn't really feel the need! Much preferred to head back into town and to our comfy beds in a really lovely hostel, a very homely feel! The next day we had a wander around the Last Hope Sound, which was pretty if a little bleak, and then got on our bus to come here to Punta Arenas. We'd been hoping to change our flights from PA to have more time in Santiago, but it turned out to be too expensive, so we're here for 4 days with lots of time to kill and not that many activities to kill it with! We're off to see penguins again this evening, and we'll probably visit some of the town museums, but I can see a lot of time being spent on the internet (I'm hoping to put some more photos on!) or watching movies in the hostel while it rains! We spent the first night in a bizarre hostel, which was just a room in someone's house - now while we enjoyed the homely feel of the previous hostel, this was just a bit too much! So we've moved, and are in a much more comfy one now that we can get up late and laze around a bit in - I know that sounds terrible, but we've been on the move a lot recently, so its nice to have a rest! Plus there isn't really a great deal else to do.....!
Off to Santiago on Thursday, and then New Zealand on Monday! That will be strange, can't really imagine leaving South America! We'll be very excited though!
Caroline x
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