Weather Day

Tuesday February 18, 2020

Puerto Natales, Chile

Sure glad we weren't on the circuit these last 24 hours.  Torrential downpour last night!  It was supposed to continue until about noon but it was surprisingly OK this morning.  We headed up to the bus station to check-in for the ferry.  They didn't have final details yet on boarding time but almost certainly it will not be until tomorrow morning.  Good thing we have a hostel booked for tonight.

We wandered over to where I thought we would find a free walking tour but alas the tour started on the waterfront.  We hustled down there, were almost 10 minutes late but thankfully they hadn't departed yet.  The wind was a-howlin' so our guide did a pretty good job of trying to keep us protected from it as much as possible.  Now - if he could only have done something about the band of stray dogs that followed us around and barked way too much.  It was good to hear some of the local history and see some of the local landmarks.

It seems we ate an awful lot today.  We went to Cafe Artimana for lunch.  Rated the #1 lunch spot on Trip Advisor and it didn't disappoint.  I had a huge sandwich with chicken, spinach, mushrooms, red peppers, grilled pineapple, etc.  Yum!  Somehow I then found enough room for a repeat of yesterday's brownie.  Yum again!

Back to last night's hostel to pick up our bags and then find our new hostel.  I really like this new one - nice amenities and a very nice young hostess.  And - it's closer to the bus station.  And - they'll leave breakfast out for us since we have to leave so early.

We still didn't have an e-mail from Navimag so we made another trip to the bus station to confirm a 5:30 (yawn) am bus departure for a 6am ferry loading.  At this point in time it appears that I have a room to myself - yay!  It also appears that Joan's burn unit will be unoccupied.

Back to the hostel to settle in and before we knew it it was time to eat yet again!  We tried a seafood restaurant quite close to the new hostel, and it was very good.  Once again we managed to be inside eating while the big rains and winds hit.

We're in a mixed dorm room of 8.  Lots of activity with people either coming from or going to trekking in Torres del Paine.  We'll be up @ 4:30 so I hope we don't wake them all!