Southern Patagonia

After our trip to Chiloe, we spent a week in Southern Patagonia. Patagonia is the large area that encompasses approximately the bottom 2/5 of Chile. It is known for its remoteness and the adventure it offers to travellers, including trekking, rafting, kayaking, and climbing. Punta Arenas (near the very bottom) is known as "the end of the world" because it is one of the southernmost large cities on the globe, with the exception of those in Antarctica. Cape Horn, Chile is literally "the end of the world" (not including Antarctica), but from what we read it is difficult to reach and the winds are unbelievable there. During our stay in Southern Patagonia, we spent three full days in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile's most famous national park, and arguably its most well-known attraction. We flew into Punta Arenas, spent a night there, and then drove our rental car North for about 2 1/2 hours to reach Puerto Natales, the "gateway" to the park. We liked Puerto Natales - it has a beautiful ocean view, the obligatory town square, and some good restaurants. From Puerto Nortales we drove another 2 hours, about half the time on a dirt road, to reach the park.

Spending time in Torres del Paine was an amazing experience. The scenery is breathtaking (photos don't seem to capture it - but we're posting some anyway!). The park is named after three rock towers ("torres") and surrounding dramatic, jagged peaks seemingly constantly engulfed by wispy clouds. Photos of this landscape are often featured in the media because it is so fantastic. In addition, there are stunning lagoons and lakes, some a brilliant teal color, as well as glaciers, some of which are a radiant blue. We wanted to visit Glacier Grey, the most famous glacier that includes a massive blue field of ice, but unfortunately were unable due to poor planning (on Nikki's part) and logistical concerns. Torres del Paine had massive forest fires right before we came. They occurred around Glacier Grey, so some of the ways to access it were closed. We will have to return some day to see it.

View of the Towers on our Way into the Park

Llamas

Ostriches

The wind that was whipping through the park during our first night there, and shaking everything in its path, unfortunately followed us on our first hike. We hiked to the base of the towers. This consisted of a lot of upward climbing, and the beginning was against an incredibly strong headwind (Nikki did NOT enjoy this part!). At one point, a woman in front of us was blown about five feet to the left by a big gust of wind! (Thankfully, there was relatively little wind the next two days. We probably could not have expected better weather in general because we had clear or partly cloudy skies and perfect temperatures - probably about 60-70 degrees Farenheit - all three days.) The view of the towers from the lagoon at the end of the hike is overpowering in its beauty. While the Grand Canyon may be the most beautiful place we have seen, it had a size advantage: the lagoon under the towers is perhaps the most beautiful (relatively) small spot we have ever seen.

The next day we had a  pleasant four-hour hike along a couple of beautiful lakes, with the view ahead always framed by mountains. This brought us to a cabin at Los Cuernos where we spent two nights. We had spectacular scenery, looking at a lake below a snow capped mountain from one window, and a towering peak in the other, all while hearing the nearby waterfall where we got our water. The mountains showed off their power by letting out a few loud rumbles. After one of the rumbles we were able to see snow falling over a cliff - the result of the small avalanche making the noise. The restraint of these mountains made the atmosphere all the more peaceful.

Sitting on the Deck of Our Cabin at Sunset (around 10pm!)

After leaving Torres del Paine, we spent a night in Puerto Natales and then returned to the Punta Arenas area. We visited a penguin colony in the Otway Sound, about an hour away from the city. It was so much fun because we got to walk on a long, winding bridge over land where the penguins burrow. We saw dozens of pinguinos on the walk, and at one point came within two feet of a small family. Penguins only live in the Southern Hemisphere, so we are glad we had this opportunity to see them up close in nature.

We also decided to visit another national park in the area called Pali Aike. The only way to describe the landscape is bleak, forlorn, and as Greg repeated over and over again, "desolate." Driving within the park we watched hundreds of llamas, as well as ostriches and foxes (see the photo of the baby fox below!) eat and frolic on the steppe. This park was called home 9,000 years ago by inhabitants of a cave formed by a volcanic lava flow. We visited the cave, which was excavated in the 1930s when they discovered paintings. This was one of Nikki's favorite destinations because she loves history and historical artifacts. We stood in the cave and attempted to see traces of the 9,000 year-old paintings, but time seemed to have worn them away. Although we couldn't make out any definite images, it was so exciting to be there and imagine what it would be like as an ancient people living in that harsh but beautiful environment. Also while in this park we hiked over fields of lava to reach three very large, volcanic craters. The inside of one was red and inspired it's name, Devil's Crater. The largest one seemed to have its own little world down inside, complete with a group of llamas grazing! Greg enjoyed bounding about giant rocks and lava flows, and we both enjoyed the solitude. The entire time hiking in the park the only evidence of humans was trail markers and signs, one back-packer, and one van.

Baby Fox

9,000 Year-Old Cave

One of the Craters

Lava Field We Had to Cross

Traveling to Pali Aike by rental car was a somewhat nervous experience. Google maps showed a few small locations along the way, one of which was called San Gregorio. This town actually consists of about five (no exaggeration) abandoned buildings near the ocean, with one "cafe" (that served basically nothing). We were hoping we might be able to get a meal there but the old building with a "cocina" sign was of course abandoned! The town we ended up spending the night in near the park was frequented by truckers alone, which was reflected in our accommodations. We were surprised to find out there were no gas stations in town, and we weren't sure if we would have enough gas to make it back. We knew of only one other gas station along the way back to Punta Arenas that we had stopped at briefly before. At that time, the attendant had tried the pump and concluded there was no more gas left. In the town near the park we were told there was a gas station 50 kilometers away in the direction of Punta Arenas, and were able to find it on our way back. It was the smallest gas station we have ever seen, with two pumps and a small shelter from the sun for the attendant - very easy to miss!

We always thought the Latin American custom of eating dinner late at night was strange. However, it made a lot of sense when we were leaving a restaurant, realising it was finally starting to get dark and that it was past 11 pm! Due to its location, there are only roughly five or six hours of darkness in the summer in Punta Arenas. Travelling through southern Patagonia was a little exhausting, probably in part because it can be difficult to get enough sleep with the long daylight. Overall, however, it definitely made travelling nicer because we never had to worry about reaching a destination before dark! We hope to come back again here someday and visit the Argentinean side of Patagonia.