After a one night stay in El Calafate, we boarded a bus for a 5 hour trip to Puerto Natales, Chile. El Calafate and Puerto Natales are towns considered to be in “Patagonia,” which are southern provinces in both Argentina and Chile. Since we were crossing the border from one Patagonia to another, we had to make our way through customs in both countries, which was rather uneventful -- at least on the way into Chile.
So, our Patagonian bus ride was pretty amazing, somewhat magical in fact. I felt like we had just made a lunar landing -- the countryside was dry, vast, nearly-treeless for most of the trip, but full of giant creatures whose presence in such a landscape seemed surreal. First, there were the guanacos, large relatives of the llama and alpaca. How these large omnivores live in a place void of any real vegetation is a mystery. Of course, I did see some dried up carcasses far from the road, rib bones bleached pearly white by the hot sun, and realized that the environment can even bring the hearty guanacos to their knees.
Aside from the guanacos, there are the rheas, large birds in the ostrich family. Very cool to see such large birds running wild in this moonscape. Eventually, the landscape sprouted trees, and the vegetation became greener, signaling the ground received more water on the Chilean side.
After a 5 hour bus ride, we arrived in the lovely town of Puerto Natales, the stop before Torres del Paine National Park. Jenny and I came to realize that the bus companies are in cahoots with businesses in El Calafate and Puerto Natales: the bus schedules make it impossible to get from El Calafate in Argentina to the park entrance in Chile in one day, though the entire trip would be a mere 7 hours. Instead, one has to spend the night in El Calafate, take a bus the next day to Puerto Natales in Chile, spend the night in Puerto Natales, and finally get on another bus to the park. This same fate will befall the unsuspecting traveler upon their return from the park: another night in Puerto Natales followed by a second night in El Calafate. Despite this fact, never shall I utter a complaint about spending more than one night in the lovely, quaint, end-of-the-world town of Puerto Natales. The town is surrounded on three sides by saltwater and farther in the distance, scenic, snow-capped mountains. There is a boardwalk along the waterfront where a birder can enjoy shorebirds and a photographer can snap some beautiful pictures. And, of course, the food is phenomenal. Patagonia is a big sheep herding area, so it’s no surprise that I feasted on the best lamb of my life in this little town.
The only challenging thing about Puerto Natales was trying to figure out the monetary system. We came from Argentina, where 1 US dollar is equivalent to 3.4 Argentine pesos. In Chile, they work in thousands, so one US dollar was equivalent to 615 Chilean pesos, while 5 US dollars are over 3000 Chilean pesos. Of course, we came from Argentina, so 1 Argentine peso equals 177 Chilean pesos. Yes, it was a bit of a mess, and Jenny astutely pointed out that “we should have bought that little calculator on the first day,” referring to a small, cheap calculator that a street boy tried to sell us in Mendoza. Note to self: buy the calculator when you decide to travel in and out of 4 countries in 2 weeks.
Chile welcomes us.
A photo of a building showing our latitudinal coordinates.
Photo of a beautiful, but fire-gutted lighthouse.
We didn't get any good photos of live guanacos and rheas, so these murals will have to do. The first picture shows the guanacos and rheas, the second photo depicts a native hunting guanacos after horses were introduced by the Spanish, and the last photo shows me doing a spirit dance with the natives.
Statue of a Giant sloth, which apparently roamed these parts years ago along with the Sabre-toothed tiger.
First is a photo of the local skate park and BMX kids followed by a picture of me watching the little punks on their bikes.
Two pictures of cormorants on an old pier followed by a photo of me birding on the boardwalk.
Rocks and reeds. Can you smell the ocean?
Me sitting on a giant thumb. I can't remember the artist who did this, but he also did a similar hand in Uruguay, which I will post in a later entry.
A woman taking out the trash in Puerto Natales -- the fireman has the trash bin on his back.
The church across from the main plaza followed by a photo of a side street.
Me kissing Darwin.
Jenny was extremely embarrassed of her white shoes that scream "I'm a gringo." I was obliged to digitally document the moment.
Jenny after changing her shoes.
Rubbing elbows with my kind -- last night's dinner being distributed to street dogs.
