29 March: Drive to Puerto Natales
Today we have to drive to Puerto Natales in Chile. Left at 8 am for the about 5 hr drive. The drive initially was quite boring. Just vast land of nothing. No mountains or rivers, just the semi desert. We stopped after about an hour and half for bathroom and coffee break. Pili had some great croissants for us from Don Luis in El Calafate. Really tasty. And what a nice surprise. Then she also had us try mattey – an Argentinian hot tea kind of drink made from local plants. Kind of like green tea, but it was bitter for me as it was without sugar or milk. But very nice of her to explain so much in detail on how to make it. (Add some mattey to a cup, shake it dry with hand to get the powder out as it is acidic. Then move it about 45 degree angle and add hot (not boiling) water. Use a straw with holes to drink the mattey. Add more hot water to get more mattey out of the leaves. Do not stir the leaves as it will become useless. No one says thank you to mattey unless they are done and don’t want anymore). It is quite a tradition here. I see many people walking around with the mattey cup (with straw). Interesting.
We stopped at the next building over for lunch. It was a nice coffee/snack and gift shop. I had a margarita empanada. It was okay. Gift shop was expensive, but I did buy an magnet and some chocolates. We also picked up our Chilean guide, Yasser (pronounced Jasher). Nice young man.
From the gift shop, we started our about 40 min journey to Puerto Natales. The scenery got better and better. We could see the Torres Paine (pronounced paayney) park on the right. The huge mountains covered in snow. Apparently they are not sedimentary but granite rocks (like the Fitz Roy), indicating that their formation is a bit different.
Stopped at a huge lake which was really really green and full of algae. It was very strange looking. Saw some condors flying over. For the past hour or so, we have seen the foliage also change, so the sheep are gone and cows are in as it is more grassy and there are also trees.
Puerto Natales came soon enough. We checked into our hotel, Vendaval and are down again for the city tour. Walked around the small touristy city. It has a nice character. El Calafate was nice too but this is cuter. There are plenty of places to eat. Sadly, I have not needed to eat dinner yet. Maybe tomorrow?
We walked around for 2 hours. It was a slow tour. Not much …city is about 120 years old. Spanish came and colonized it – killed off all the natives. Geologically, all this was a huge water body – about 100 million years ago. Then things changed, there were ice fields and now ice fields are receding, leaving this vast space of greenery.
It was really windy and cold. Tomorrow I will have to take my scarves with me, wear two socks and both my jackets. The only thing I am missing is gloves.
Came back to the hotel around 5:30 pm. At 6ish went up on the rooftop bar to get my free drink – coffee 😊. It was nice. Talked a bit to the group members. Went to see the tourist shop Nandu. Not much to buy, but got luggage tags as gift items. Walked back to the hotel to go upstairs to see the sunset. Changed my mind and decided to walk to the water to see it. And I am glad I did. The sun set behind the clouds quite quickly so not much to see there, but the colors afterwards were pretty for about 30 mins. It was cold and windy, but I made it!
That is it. Day is over!
30 March: Torres Paine National Park
Off to Patagonia today – the Torres Paine national park. It is a huge park! Got ready to go by 7:30 am. It is cold today. I really should have brought some warm clothes. At least gloves! Some rain pants and jacket would have been good too….well.
The main thing in the park is the big granite rocks in the middle which are not sedimentary rocks but granite. There are two main peaks – the horns (Curenos) and the big mountain (Paine Grande). Both are snow covered and are quite challenging for mountain climbers. There are many lakes in the park from the melting glaciers on the peaks. Some of the colors of the lakes are amazing – grey, green to blue.
We entered the park after about 2 hours of driving from Puerto Natales. Our first stop was a bathroom break. With some scenic points here and there, the second stop was the hike to see the Grey Lake. I did not go, it was raining and was cold. Sanjeev also did not go. We had coffee and sat and chatted for a while. The sun came out so I decided to go for the hike for a bit. It was lovely. I walked for about 15 mins when I saw the lake and the mountains behind it. It was just gorgeous. The sun was out and life seemed just great! There was no one for far far away. These beautiful mountains and lake was all mine to enjoy. But soon everyone came back from their hike. I don’t think their view was that much better than what I saw.
Next stop was another visitor center where we had lunch. Great lunch, they give a lot in that bag – salad, nuts, granola bar, chocolate, water and banana. I could not eat it all. Jasser gave us a little geology and geography lesson of the park in the visitor center. Interesting. It’s really a big park.
Then it was time for the next hike. Now the rain started. We were getting close to the center of the park where the granite peaks were. We saw a waterfall on the way, which is where we were going. I managed to get my scarf and made myself a little warm to walk up to the waterfall. Luckily it cleared just enough for us to see the horns. But it was windy and too damn cold. I think I could have managed both, but the rain was not acceptable since I did not have waterproof gear. This is one hike I wish I was prepared for. I missed it. But my jeans were already wet and I did not have gloves so I was miserably cold! The waterfall was lovely. It was just too windy to even walk straight.
Reached PN by 7:30 pm. Too cold and rainy to go anywhere. I just wanted to get warm. Did I mention we saw so many rainbows??
That is it….
31 March: Cruise to Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers
Really early start to the day today at 5:30 am to reach the cruise/boat place by 7 am. Met everyone in the lobby by 6:45 and Pili walked us to the boat place 21MayTurismo. Really nice of her to make sure we sat together for lunch. She is just amazing! A but promptly took us to the boat and we all got on. As soon as the boat started we were all outside, the sunrise was gorgeous. The staff served us coffee and a granola bar. Soon after the snow capped mountains came and it was almost impossible to sit inside. It was so cold outside but it was just one thing after another, the mountains, the cormorants, the seals, the waterfall, the Serrano glacier.
Last was the 2 mile (round trip) hike to Balmaceda glacier. What a lovely hike!! The flora was just beautiful. It started drizzling a bit, but still the hike was very beautiful and the glacier was gorgeous. The walk back was on slightly different trail.
What was really nice was that all the staff on the boat were also on the trail guiding us. One of them brought a piece of glacier on the dock…awesome! It was so big and heavy. Looked really pure. There were restrooms at the end of the walk. As we departed from there, the staff brought us juice or whiskey with glacier ice. Such a great trip!
Then it was time to dock and get off for lunch. This was done on an island off the fjord. My, what a nice building they had made. So beautiful. The Say Hueque group sat together. We had a lovely lunch. First drinks, I had pineapple juice. The bread and salad were already there. Then came soup, split pea soup for me. really good. Then the main meal, I have no idea what I ate….it was okay. And finally dessert. So good – like a creamy thing with fruit on it.
Walked around a bit around the island…so peaceful. Saw rainbows! I think I got this one as the half circle. It was just a lovely feeling.
The ride back was quite uneventful. Went out to do one last photoshoot and then the next 40 mins or so were inside playing games on the phone. Everyone was either taking a nap or taking a break from talking. We are going to meet later again for dinner anyways….
Off from the boat, into the van and back near the 21mayo place. Malu and I went for coffee in a cute pink coffee place. It was nice to sit and talk to her. I wanted to go for a little shopping after coffee so we went our separate ways. I found the wonderful souvenir shop that had some nice affordable and different kinds of things. Bought some stuff. Started walking a bit here and there, enjoying the shops and got a little turned around. Started walking back and ran into Isabel who was going lotion hunting, so went with her. Went into a couple shops and then came back. Left her to do some shopping while I needed to decompress a bit before dinner.
At 6:15 everyone was downstairs and we walked together to El Bote. There really was nothing much vegetarian there, but since I am the only different one, I went along with it. I ordered some zucchini fritters, which came with mashed potatoes with Merken, a powder of smoked Chilean peppers, mixed with coriander seeds. I did not care much for the spice, but apparently is liked all over the world. Everyone ordered some fish dish. After about 30 mins of smelling it, I almost wanted to throw up, so I had to leave quickly. It really got too intense suddenly. I really wanted to have tiramsu but I could not even stay for that. Coming out of the restaurant into the fresh air was such a relief.
That is it – that’s the day. Tomorrow we go back to El Calafate.
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