Chiloé to Puerto Natales 14 - 21 February
We had booked a trip on a ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales leaving on Valentine's Day BUT the ferry is delayed by three days due to bad weather, so we now leave on Friday 17 February. Puerto Montt isn't very interesting so we went to the island of Chiloe for 3 nights (about 175 Kms away)
We spent two nights in the capital, Castro, which is a pleasant town. Our hostel/ hotel wasn't a great success - several signs to say ' thou shalt not' smoke/ drink/ play the TV loudly/ behave like a hoon.
Went out for a beer and ended up having a delicious two course meal for "love day" (to quote the chef) [Valentines Day of course].
Wednesday 15 March went on our own walking tour and had a coffee in a funky coffee house.
We viewed the 'palafitos' - houses on stilts.
 |
Walked up to the Castro Mirador/ lookout and down to the main square for lunch and a look round the cathedral and an artisan market. I enjoyed the statue of St Antony of Padua, with the child in his arms wearing local knitwear.
Iglesia de San Francisco
And the sign asking visitors to the cathedral to turn off their mobile phones.
Failed to find the museum despite Google maps.
16 March we catch the bus to Ancud in the north of Chiloe - really nice hostel, Vista Al Mar, with hot water! Go for a wander and buy, with some difficulty, a small sewing kit for running repairs. Visit the museum and go for a good meal at Club Social Baquedano, as recommended by Lonely Planet. Great venue, good food - almost empty when we arrived but packed when we leave around 3.30 pm.
Club Social Baquedano
17 March bus back to Puerto Montt for a long day of hanging around. We hang around the bus station and have a snack lunch there, then John heads out to buy a bottle of Pisco. We then get a taxi to the hotel 7 kms out of town where people are asked to check in for the ferry. Very friendly lady taxi driver with whom we have a bit of a conversation in Spanish.
The Hotel Versalles (sic) is a relatively grand hotel with beer and sandwich prices to match 😳. Apart from going for a short walk to a nearby beach we just wait. Eventually around 6.00 pm people are herded into mini buses and driven a further 4 kms to where the ferry is docked.
John had had a rush of blood to the head when booking and has gone for the best cabin - there's a sign over the door saying 'owners suite ' - I hope not, as this is a goods transporter that takes passengers, not a luxury liner!
The most luxurious element is deck chess, mainly played thru the voyage by children. We have dinner - canteen style self service - and attend the safety briefing from the captain and a crew member. The captain has a wicked sense of humour eg asks passengers not to run, unless they see him wearing a life jacket and running, in which case follow him. The ship is dry and the captain says he knows people have brought booze on board (yup) but please to drink in your cabin and to "put on a sober face" if leaving the cabin after drinking.
18 March we got under way after we'd gone to sleep. Attend another briefing after breakfast, this time about the boat, what to expect etc. Told that the boat can take 220 passengers but there are 87 on this trip - my guesstimate is about a third Chileno and the rest a mix of French, Italian, German, Korean, Polish, American and us, the sole Brit and sole Antipodean. No internet/ data connection so we'll have a social media free time, tho' apparently we might be able to connect when we make the one stop on the voyage at Puerto Eden
Discover that we'll spend four nights at sea, not three as we'd expected, so will have to ration that Pisco! We arrive on a Tuesday, not Monday and we have a tour booked on the Wednesday so keeping everything crossed for no delays.
First two days are good weather with a spectacular sunset one evening.
We are out at sea for a bit, tho it's fairly calm, and for the rest we sail through inland channels. Stop at Puerto Eden on day two to pick up a few passengers; this is one of Chile's most isolated inhabited places, of some 175 people, dependant on the boats for supplies. Wouldn't suit me!
The third day is overcast and wet but we have good views of waterfalls.
On day four, Tuesday 21 February we arrive at our destination, Puerto Natales. The wind is blowing so strongly that we can't dock in the fairly exposed port so we anchor up. So close to the land and yet so far - but can get weak 3G data.
After lunch we go for a little cruise to look at the landing area…. and then sail back to the anchorage. We do see some spectacular rainbows which is something.
Then dinner is served. Finally the wind drops enough for us to berth and passengers and luggage are randomly mini-bussed 15 at a time, to a nearby hotel. Fortunately by 9.00 pm we and all our bags are together and we can walk the 2 Kms to our hostel, Lago Condor. John had been able to contact them re the delay so they are expecting us to arrive late. Then there's a small matter of having to buy two lots of tickets on line for tomorrow's trip, which takes forever, and then we can go to bed.
Wednesday 22 February up at 6.00 am to make sandwiches (from the breakfast items in our room) and are collected at 7.00 am. The mini bus is full and not very comfortable but our guide is very helpful and knowledgeable. We are going to Torres del Paine National Park about 60 Kms north of Puerto Natales - the weather is 'mixed' ie rain one minute, sun the next. Sadly mostly cloudy, so we don't see the Torres (rock towers) but we do see rivers, waterfalls, guanacos (a sort of llama), rheas (a sort of ostrich), lakes, a far off glacier and an iceberg. Plus some more fab rainbows.
End the trip with a visit to the Milodon Cave where the remains of a now extinct creature were found, as well as evidence of early humans living there.
Thursday 23 February catch up/admin day. Take 6 kgs of laundry to be washed; we collect it at the end of the day dry, neatly folded and, most importantly, our wollens haven't been shrunk. Write blog (I think today was when I managed to delete three episodes 🥺) and explore the town. Have a couple of beers at Wild Bar, and book an ATV trip for tomorrow.
Friday 24 February do little in the morning and are collected at 2.00 pm by Jacov (sic) and driven half an hour south to his parents' estancia. Very courteous - given a coffee and shown the family's vintage model T and Willys jeep. Kitted out with helmet and gloves, agree that we would like an ATV each please, and are given some instructions (automatic gearbox, accelerator and brake - good to go). Have a practice run round a paddock then off for a c 20 km circuit round the estancia.
Lovely views of river, sea and lake and we see geese and flamingos. There's a stop for a huge picnic lunch. Jacov a great guide and we wish him well with his new business.
Saturday 25 February a quiet day again but we go for a walk along the sea front, visit an artisan market, go for dinner at a hamburger place, book some bus trips and expeditions for the future and generally pass the time.
Sunday 26 February - the town is very quiet, a combination of being late in the season and a Sunday. We buy supplies for tomorrow when we have a 13 hour bus journey to Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego (not the nightclub in Ibiza). Visit El Brisket for soup and cerveza and go to bed early - we're leaving early doors and the lovely people at Lago Condor hostel have given us a packed breakfast for tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment