We're Baaaack...........

Monday February 17, 2020

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, Chile

We're back at the "We Are Patagonia Backpackers" hostel for the third time now - before and after the O circuit, and now getting ready to board the ferry.

Jill and I took the 3 hour bus trip from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales this morning.  Barb has left us to join her Antarctic trip and Carole is flying home from Punta Arenas.  The bus ride was uneventful but I did get more of an appreciation of Puerto Natales' beautiful setting by coming back in from the south - a lovely natural harbour with lots of snow-capped mountains in the background.  We made the long walk back to our hostel with our packs and logged onto wifi.  It seems that they are anticipating that the ferry will be late in arriving from Puerto Montt tomorrow evening.  The weather is supposed to be a bit gruesome tomorrow.  In fact, the wind has picked up quite a bit this evening although the rain has so far held off.

Unfortunately our current hostel has no availability for tomorrow night so we have had to find another hostel to move to in the likely event that we can't board the ferry until Wednesday morning.  Not ideal, but at least the ferry is just delayed and not out of commission.  I got a note from Joan yesterday (she took the same ferry last week) that her bunk light shorted out and started a (what sounds like) significant fire in her room - yikes!  Thank goodness no one was hurt.

We went for a walk along the waterfront to put in some time before the forecasted rain.  They've done a nice job of it in spots.  There is an interesting sculpture called "Monument to the Wind".  Also - a bike path, walking paths, bike/skateboard park, basketball hoops (where I joined a local fellow for a few minutes and totally embarrassed myself) and of course a working port.  I may try to get out to explore more tomorrow if the weather is OK.

It seems I've eaten an awful lot since I finished the trek, and today was no exception.  The recommended ice cream shop across the street was closed on Mondays so we found a small cafe just down the street.  I had the most amazing brownie - served warm and smothered in chocolate sauce; delicious!  Then back to our hostel's restaurant for a nice big salad.

Not sure what tomorrow looks like yet.  We will check-in for the ferry but we won't know if we board Tuesday night or Wednesday morning until sometime later in the afternoon.  Hopefully the weather holds and we can get some exploring in too.