Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Jochem and I are quickly finding out just how BIG South America really is. There are so many things to see, so many things to do, and so many places worthy of a visit that we´ve been rushing through it, which is not the best way to do it, I admit. We´ve only seen a very small fraction of the huge area that encompasses Patagonia, but already we´ve seen so much and done so much that it´s sometimes difficult to remember. But let´s start at the beginning.

After a few hours delay, we finally boarded our Navimag ferry on Friday afternoon, which took us from Puerto Montt in the Lakes District to Puerto Natales in Patagonia in 3 nights and 4 days. On board we found out that we had been extremely lucky in the assignment of our bed bunks - while most of our fellow budget travellers, who also couldn´t afford or didn´t wish to pay for a private hut, had to sleep in the hallway next to the toilets, we had our own little corner next to a wall. This meant that it was just the two of us in that corner and that we had a window! Usually, only first class passengers get a window, so we were very pleased. Life on board was kind of dull, but it did encourage us to crawl onto a couch with a cup of tea and a good book. We were constantly surrounded by the most amazing scenery, including fjords and glaciers.


Chile´s fjords


Iceberg Glacier

On Monday evening it was time to get off the boat. The first thing that we noticed about Puerto Natales was how cold it was. Luckily, we quickly found accommodation downtown.


about to get off the ferry and onto very cold Puerto Natales

The next day we had to switch to another hostel because the hostel of our first choice had been booked up. After we made the move, we took some time to explore Puerto Natales, which was surprisingly nice. It´s a really small town in the midst of the giant that is Patagonia and it had everything that I wanted at that moment - cute houses in pastel colors, a beautiful port overlooking the glacial valley, real coffee served with just the right amount of full fat milk, a vegetarian restaurant and an authentic Italian restaurant with a real pizza oven. HALLELUJAH!!!


Puerto Natales


enjoying a cup of coffee at El Living

There´s a lot to do in the area, but we decided on two things. On Wednesday we went horseback riding with gauchos on top of Mirador Dorotea, a big hill just outside Puerto Natales overlooking the glacial valley. Jochem and I are really enjoying horseback riding. I used to do it all the time as a kid - I even took lessons and participated in competitions, until I fell off a horse and was afraid to get back up. Jochem hadn´t ridden a single horse until this trip, but he´s actually really good at it and I´m also finding that I´m getting better and better each time. We hope to take horseback riding lessons when we get home. We share many passions together - food, travel, hiking, and it´s great to find a new one to add to the list. I had a good connection with my horse and the views were amazing.


Mirador Dorotea


Mirador Dorotea

The next day we went on one of those cookie-cutter one-day bus trips to Torres del Paine National Park. Having come all the way to Puerto Natales we didn´t want to miss it, but we didn´t feel like preparing for one of the many epic multi-day hiking trips either, plus: we felt that we didn´t have the time and had to keep moving. This was ideal then. We actually saw a lot, including the famous ´torres,´ a waterfall, ice bergs and the Grey Glacier. There was also a lot of wildlife to spot. We saw guanacos (a type of llama related to the camel, which is an animal typical of Patagonia), Patagonian ostriches, a fox and an Andean condor - the biggest bird in the world. All day we were surrounded by the grand and majestic outdoors of Patagonia. I guess I finally see what all the fuss is about!


Torres del Paine National Park


in front of the torres (´towers´) that gave Torrel del Paine National Park its name

The next day already we left Puerto Natales, got on a bus and 12 hours later we arrived in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world in the area of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. We had left Chile at last (it only took us 40 days)! Ushuaia is advertised everywhere as being the end of the world, which, technically, is not exactly true. The road that brings you to Ushuaia keeps going into Tierro del Fuego National Park and south of Ushuaia lies an island called Isla Navarino, which belongs to Chile, where there is a small settlement of 2500 people at Puerto Williams. But it does feel like the end of the world, even though the city itself is much bigger than Puerto Natales. While Puerto Natales is small and cosy and filled to the brim with adventurers, here there are a lot of young backpackers partying their days and nights away - not exactly my scene, or maybe it´s just our hostel that we´ve been unlucky with this time. The food remains great, though. While Chilean Patagonia has a lot of German immigrants, Argentina has a lot of Italian ones, which explains the way the Argentinians speak Spanish, but also accounts for a lot of Italian restaurants. There is nothing that this girl loves more than a plate of homemade Italian food, and with the Argentinians, who seems to love nothing more than a piece of dead cow, this works out perfectly!


Ushuaia

Only a small part of Tierra del Fuego National Park is actually open to the public, and since we were blessed with some amazing weather (which we heard is uncommon for the region), we decided on a boat trip through the Beagle Channel instead. This turned out to be the best choice, for we enjoyed the many charms of the Beagle Channel while being able to see some more amazing wildlife, including cormorants, albatrosses, penguins, an elephant seal, sea lions, fur seals and, miraculously, whales.


Beagle Channel


Beagle Channel


Beagle Channel

I can only imagine what kind of wildlife Antarctica has to offer when I can see this kind of wildlife right outside Ushuaia. And imagination it will remain, because although we were tempted to go for the last-minute 3900 US dollar per person offer, we eventually decided against it. We decided that since we still have 3 more months to go in this world trip, and need to start building our life from scratch when we get home, and have student debts to pay off come January 2013, and want to get married and want to keep travelling, that maybe going for this offer was not the best idea.


Ushuaia

Instead, we bought outrageously expensive bus tickets from Ushuaia to Puerto Madryn. To be fair, we had been warned and we do get driven around for more than 1500 kilometers (the fact that we will then still be in Patagonia should give you an indication of what I´m talking about when I say ¨South America is really BIG¨). The bus leaves tomorrow morning at 5 AM and arrives in Río Gallegos at 5 PM. After a 3-hour wait we board bus # 2 that will take 16 hours to drive to Puerto Madryn, where we will arrive at 1 PM the next day. I know what you´re thinking - that´s crazy talk! And, indeed, this gruelling 32-hour bus ride makes our longest bus ride thus far (from Alice Springs to Adelaide in 21 hours) look like child´s play. Flying is not an option, unfortunately, because it´s even more expensive than the bus. We´re still rushing because now we kind of want to get out of Argentina quickly and head for some of the cheaper countries on the continent. But we didn´t want to miss Puerto Madryn - it´s just the right season to spot penguins and, if we´re really, very lucky, ORCAS!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!