Long Break, Part III: Chilean Patagonia

Oh my heck - it's nearly April and here we are, on installment three (out of five) of the long break write-up. Well, after our friends headed back to the USA, we hopped on a bus (actually two) for an overland border crossing into Chile. This part of the trip was not thoroughly planned, had some loose ends to sort through on-the-go and all worked out just fine. 

The first destination was Punta Arenas, not a tourist town (and a bit downtrodden) but the port from which Jonah set off for Antarctica some big number of years ago. So this stop was mostly for nostalgia with the added bonus of seeing the Straights of Magellan and taking a boat trip for some penguin viewing.

THE port with two fancy US Antarctic research vessels at the dock:

Liam. On a boat.

Disembarking on Isla Magdalena:

Awwww......

Fluffy penguino chickies:

An interesting little museum with replicas of a few exploration vessels, most impressive was Magellan's Victoria which was the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the globe. Did you know that Magellan died along that voyage? Me neither.

The tradition is to rub the toe of the indigenous person seated below Magellan, to bring good luck at sea and safe return to Punta Arenas. It worked for Jonah in 1995 so made sense to give it a go this time around too.

After a few quiet days in Punta Arenas, we moved on to Puerto Natales, gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park. The town was quite charming, with a sweet town square to which a local family hauled a collection of big wheels for big kids, for rent in 15 minute increments. A fun pre-dinner activity all the nights we were in town.

Looking across Última Esperanza (Last Hope) Sound, toward Torres del Paine:

We spent two days in the park. The first was on a tour that took us in a van (along with several fellow tourists) to see the most scenic spots. It was a beautiful and very windy day.

After riding around in the van most of the day, the boys saw this beach and asked if they could "just run". And run they did.

The next day, we rented a car and returned to the park for another look around.

Many come to this park to hike the "W" which takes four days. We decided to stroll a very short bit of the trail (ie. less than four hours). We rewarded ourselves with Milky Ways.

We thought our Maine friends, and perhaps those in charge at L. L. Bean would appreciate this pic:

Back in Puerto Natales, a cool pair of sculptures called "Amor al Viento" or "Love of the Wind". These were commissioned by Chilean artist Marcela Romagnoli for the 101st anniversary of the founding of Puerto Natales in 2012. I just adore the spirt of these flying bronze people.

After a lovely four-night stay in Puerto Natales, we said farewell to Chile, crossed back over the border to Argentina and bussed north to El Chaltén, where we had some unfinished business from the start of break. Stay tuned for Part IV!