Last days in Chile

Our second day in Puerto Natales was a free day for us to explore the town and surrounding area. The weather first thing was overcast and the mountains that we had seen so clearly yesterday were nowhere.to be seen. After a leisurely breakfast we donned our coats, hats, gloves and scarves and stepped outside. To coin a phrase, “it’s chilly in Chile “!.
Had a walk along the waterfront stopping for a hot chocolate and then into the town and realising there was more to Puerto Natales than we had originally thought. Many shops were geared up for the outdoor life but there were a number of hotels and restaurants. As we have seen in other parts of South America there are quite a lot of empty shops and bars , a result of the pandemic..
As the morning went on the cloud lifted and the mountains reappeared so after lunch we walked the other way along the waterfront and the views across the water were glorious. Patagonia really is quite spectacular!
Dinner for the last two evenings here have been at a parilla, a barbecue restaurant where inside the restaurant a whole lamb is being barbecued. The first night we had the lamb which was excellent, the best lamb we have tasted in a long time. We went again the following night and had ribeye steaks which were huge and again quite excellent.
We were up early this morning, Tuesday to catch the 7am bus to El Calafate in Argentina about a five hour drive. The road between the Chilean checkpoint and the Argentinian one was a dirt track and this continued for a fair distance until we rejoined a proper road. There was very little traffic. The immediate scenery from the bus and side of the road was somewhat bland but in the distance on both sides were the snow capped mountains and there was a clear blue sky - magnificent!
Arrived in El Calafate around midday where we were met and taken to our hotel. This is our eleventh hotel in three weeks, just two to go!Read more