Into Chile

Monday February 3, 2020

El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile

Well - another early day.  Have I said that before?  Breakfast at 6:30 and off to the bus station around 7.  Had to step over the resident stray dog to get out the door.  I don't think I have ever seen so many stray dogs on the loose.  We must have seen hundreds in El Calafate.  I was beginning to think maybe I should have sprung for my rabies vaccine, although they are all well behaved and have left people alone.

Another comfortable bus ride.  This one was almost 7 hours, including bus-emptying stops at the border stations of both Argentina and Chile.  No issues, although a bit time consuming.  We saw some interesting-looking birds along the way.  I would have guessed that they were ostriches or emus, but apparently they are a distant relative called rheas.  Once into Puerto Natales it was about a 45-minute walk to our hostel.  Probably a good exercise to remind us to lighten our packs as much as possible before the trek.

Once settled in there we set about reorganizing our packs and deciding what goes trekking and what gets left behind.  As usual, my pack is heavier than it should be.  Oh well.......

About 5:15 Ray & Lu surprised us by walking down to our hostel and joining us for dinner.  So nice to see more familiar faces!  Our visit was cut short, though, as we had to meet with Jose to get briefed on our trek logistics.  So exciting!  Our journey starts with pickup at 6:30 tomorrow morning.  We "lost" Joan today, as she has joined her EcoCamp group for the W trek.  Jill & I will meet up with her again in a few weeks.