Puerto Natales

Today I arrived in Puerto Natales, the town from which I will head to Torres Del Paine national park and start my five day hike. We got a bus from El Calafate which took 7 hours as two hours were spent at the border to enter Chile. Which means I am also officially now in Chile :)

Carmen and I tried to bring a flimsy supermarket bag with half an onion, half a pepper and some cooked rice in it across the border. Carmen kindly left me to declare it and laughed as I eagerly informed every official person I met that 'tengo una cebolla' while shoving the manky bag at them. The rice made it but the onion and pepper, sadly, did not.

The bus was luxury and we were on the top deck right at the front. Winner. We ate a packet of biscuits each. Another win.

Puerto Natales seems cool. It feels quite a bit 'further down' the continent than the other places I have been to so far. It's not quite the furthest south that I will go but nearly.

The hostel is nice and homey and has a kind of primitive Aga meaning it is very warm. The house has been in the owner's family for three generations.

I met some very enthusiastic Germans including Dennis who played Numb over his speakers and kept spasming with excitement over how many things he had to look forward to.

Talking to others who have been through Chile already (going the opposite way to me), there is so much to do and look forward to over the next month or so! It's hard to remember to focus on the here and now when you hear all about the places you will be heading to in the future. I must take time to appreciate where I am at the moment! On the 1st I will start my trek. I'm excited about travelling across Torres Del Paine NP and quite excited about going off on my own (although it is a very well trodden path so I'll probably see a lot of other people). I'm even looking forward to cooking on a little camping stove although I'm sure after pasta dish number 7 the novelty will have worn off. Hopefully my knees will survive (they've been struggling a bit recently)!

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I've had a long sleep and today I roamed about and bought shit tonnes of pasta for my walk. Carmen has gone off to do a day trip as she hasn't booked the 5 day trek. Feels weird without my shadow! PN is next to the water and has lots of low, colourful houses and large mountains swooping in the background by the water. I really like it. It's peaceful. There are two groups here: locals (fisherman or hostel owners by the looks of it) and gringos (backpacks and off to do the trek) but the gringos haven't made the town gross and touristy, oddly enough. There is still a lot of charm and a lack of horrible buildings and all the usual stuff that comes with lots of tourism.

Later I'm going to a talk about the TDP walk as I cannot resist a slideshow! Sadly I'm coming down with a cold...which is hovering around my chest...I also look like Reese Witherspoon from Wild with my backpack on...so wish me luck :P

Pic 1- slide as an exit from a school
Pic 2- coffee excitement post-bus
Pic 3- nice house
Pic 4- at the cemetery, all like thisRead more