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We flew into Puerto Montt
because we wanted to catch the Navimag ferry through the fjords
down to the Patagonia region of Chile. This ferry leaves this
town once a week at 4pm and takes 4 days/3 nights to get South
to Puerto Natales via the fjords.
At last we were somewhere warm
and we where able to have a much needed hot shower after the
night at the airport! We had a great little cabin with bunk
beds and an ensuite and a good heater which is what we needed to
thaw out.
It was great being on the boat,
not rushing here and there for a while, just cruising along
taking in the views (mainly from the inside as it was cold and
rained a lot), eating surprisingly good food and chatting to
other people. We played many a card game with Dave and Katy and
swapped plenty of travel stories in and around meal times.
The second afternoon and
evening the boat swings out into the Pacific Ocean where the
gentle cruising goes out the window for some serious Ocean
voyaging. Being winter you wouldn’t expect calm seas so the
boat was rocking from side to side, back to front. That night
Rachel included, there weren’t many people down for dinner as
sea sickness took its toll. Rach was so bad she ended up
spending 17 hours in bed! It was very weird being in a bunk and
feeling yourself sliding up and down the bed with the movement
of the boat…
Next day all ok as back in the
fjords. As we got further and further south the mountains
either side had more snow on them and the narrowest part was a
mere 80M apart.
Arriving in Puerto Natales at
about 11am everybody legged it off to their various
accommodations. We dumped our bags in and met up with Dave and
Katy. Well the place was like a ghost town. Most places had
shut up shop for winter but we still managed to find somewhere
to eat for a good steak meal!
Next day we all went on a day
trip to the national park of Torres del Paine. The weather was
surprisingly sunny but with a strong winds. Even felt warm
compared to the northern trip we did to San Pedro. It’s known
for its amazing views of snow capped jagged mountain peaks.
Well we sure saw them but the most amazing sight were the blue
icebergs at the place “Grey Glacier”. To see lumps of ice on
the beach and floating around in the sea was amazing. So after
another great day trip seeing the sights, walking about in all
that fresh air, another well deserved steak was needed…
Next day we
headed off to the airport, which was a 3 hour bus journey taking
you across and slightly south again, to probably the most
southerly point we will ever go in our lives, Puerto Arenas.
There we caught a longish flight up the country back to Santiago
to do some snowboarding. Check that link for what happened… |
