Chalten

After tasting a piece of patagonia with lovely perito moreno we were ready to get hiking. The next day we hopped on a bus toward the quaint mountain town of Chalten.
Nestled within a valley of snow covered peaks, Chalten is an outdoors enthusiast's paradise. All of the trails can be reached by foot a short walk from town. The trails were marked amazingly well. Coming from Peru where mule routes were your best shot at a decent trail, the well groomed trails and clear signs were a welcomed surpise in Argentina. The first day we arrived Dusty and Josh went on a nice hike, I headed to an internet cafe to get my final nursing CEU's caught up before renewing my license. After I finished nursing work I went for a small 5k hike up to a viewpoint. It was lovely and remarkably safe with rangers nearby. The next morning we were planning on getting an early start on a nice hike that would lead us to a lovely viewpoint of Mount Fitz Roy. Rain was pouring down all through the morning and with the heavy hike of Torres Del Paine ahead which nearly guaranteed a few bad rainy days, we decided to sit this rainy one out. We waited till mid morning when the rain let up and hiked up a ways. We didn't see much in the way of mountains. However, the walk was nice and we did see a beautiful pair of woodpeckers. We left Chalten a bit disapointed that we didn't have more time to get deeper into the mountains. But as Josh always says, "have to leave something for next time."

Perito Moreno

We stayed in the town of Calafate for two night in order to see Perito Moreno, one of the worlds last growing glaciers. Hostals/hotels were painfully overpriced, but we bit the bullet and payed it for the glacier.
Upon entering Parque Nacional Los Glaciares we were amazed by the beauty. This was for me what I imagine Patagonia to be, pristine lakes, snow capped mountains, forest of green, fresh air all around. The ride to the glacier was lovely, windy mountain paths making you want to get out and hike.
The bus eventually dropped us off in a spot and directed us toward a trail that would lead to a viewpoint of the glacier. Our first look of the glacier filled us with awe. Massive, so blue, incredible! Nicely kept walkways made of metal lead you to various viewpoints of 3 different sides of the Glacier. Constantly you can hear the glacier creaking and groaning. Every few minutes you hear the thunderous sound of a chunk caving off. All eyes scan the glacier for the area in hopes of seeing the ice sheets plummet meters before crashing into the icy water.
The experience was amazing. Josh and I agreed, probably the best single experience of the trip thus far. Josh took over 230 pictures and I video taped over an hour of glacier footage- which turns out to be quite boring upon review, shocking. If you're going to Argentina I recommend Perito Moreno for it's enormous presence and awesome beauty- simply awe inspiring.

Arrival in Puerto Natales

We arrived in Puerto Natales on a Monday night and headed to Nancy's Place where Josh had made a reservation. That night and the following day we wandered around the scruffy town of Natales. A few overpriced outdoors sporting good shops lined the main drag along with another handful of regular restaurants. As far as we can tell the Chilean diet consist of hot dogs in Santiago and a large plate of fries topped with egg, beef, hot dog and tomato everywhere else. Of course every restaurant advertised fish, but not one had a fish to serve up. We did run into a nicely casual microbrewery that served up some mean pork tacos.
Knowing that our friend, Michael would be arriving in a week we had time to kill. The next day we took an 8 hour ride across the border to Calafate, Argentina.

Navimag to Puerto Natales

From Chiloe Josh, Dusty and I took a bus back off the island of Chiloe to Puerto Montt. Before leaving Santiago an employee of Casa Roja, the hostel we had stayed at helped us arrange the Navimag boat ride from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. We chose to take the ship rather than bus because it traveled through the various fjords that make up the west coast of Chilean Patagonia. We heard also that there was the possibility of sighting whales.
The ride was delayed a bit due to bad weather that caused it to arrive late into Puerto Montt. We finally were able to board the boat at about 11pm. We all hurried on with our huge bags excited for the adventure ahead of us. Dusty, Josh and I hauled our luggage up the steps and were pleasantly surprised with the sleeping situation of the dorm rooms. Each room contained 4 beds with a locker and a reading lamp. The three of us shared one small dorm with a Chilean fellow that was on his 3rd or 4th pass on the Navimag.
We headed up to the top deck just before midnight to toast the trip off with some boxed wine in our camping squishy cups. On the top deck there was a bar with a decent sized lounge room and 3 or 4 card tables. The bathrooms even smelled clean in the place. Everything was looking good.
We were on the boat for a total of 4 days and 3 nights. We ate 3 very good meals each day and slept well every night, including naps. Day one the weather was lovely and the scenery increased in beauty as we pushed on further south. We heard that the section of the trip in which we head into open water can be very rough. Thus I stocked up on seasickness medication prior to the trip. 2 am on the second night we broke into those open waters. Josh and Dusty slept soundly, snoring included but the rocking woke me. I took a pill and headed to the door to check out the action. From my bed I could hear the waves crashing up on the deck, from the window on the door I verified that waves were definitely crashing aboard. We swayed from side to side for awhile, and then I fell into a Dramamine sleep. By the time everyone arose for breakfast the sea had settled down. Dusty was disappointed at the lack of swaying, the rest of us were relieved.
During a nap I missed the back of a whale, the boys saw. Josh was kind enough to say that I didn't miss much. We saw a few dolphins and some happy sea-lions playing in the water as well.
Other that that, the ride was fairly uneventful, very relaxing- probably the closest we'll ever come to a cruz.

Chiloe

From Santiago we took a night bus south to Puerto Montt. From there we immediately got on a bus to the town of Castro, the capital of the island of Chiloe. We found a little place to stay, a bit overpriced for the lack of space and cleanliness. Dusty, Josh's buddy from college (the first years) has rejoined us for Patagonia. The three of us went to a schoperia- place that sells draft beer, and had hotdogs and beer for lunch in celebration of entering patagonia.
The island is famous for it's houses on stilts- palafitos, pictured here. We didn't actually see quite as many as I was expecting, but they still looked neat. The next couple of days we spent taking mini-buses around the island looking at the wooden churches.

Back to Santiago

We took a night bus back to Santiago with the girls. We had one more night booked at Casa Roja before Katie and Abby were to fly back to Grand Rapids. We spent the day hanging by the pool. Abby developed a bad case of bed-bugs so called it an early night while Katie, Josh and I toasted off the night with some nice Chilean wine. Our last day, Katie and I went shopping for a few things in the city and later, Abby Josh and I got some hot dogs for dinner. Josh loves the completo- hotdog smothered in avocado. Josh and I departed for the bus station and shortly thereafter the girls got a cab to the airport. It was awesome to have some friends to share the vacation with.

Punto Chorros

From the tourist office in La Serena we were given the number of a company that would provide transfers to Punto Choros. Punto Choros is a beach located 1.5 hours from La Serena where a small colony of Humboldt penguins reside. Josh made the phone call and arranged the transfer for the four of us.
We were picked up in the morning and made it to Punto Choros by early afternoon. We checked into a lovely Cabana (Amarilis Cabanas) owned by a charming Chilean couple. Shortly thereafter we headed to the dock to check on Penguin tours. We were able to get on a tour quickly. We ordered shrimp and cheese empanadas for lunch, bought some bottled water and boarded the boat.
The tour lasted about four hours. We saw a variety of birds native to the area before arriving to the island. Curious dolphins jumped along side the boat. We visited two islands, Isla Damas and Isla Choros. We didn't see a huge number of penguins but the 20 or so that we saw were on the first island that was restricted from landing on. An enormous colony of Sea Lions was the highlight of the trip for me. They played in the water together, slipping off the rock and jumping back up. The shear number of them was astounding.
After the tour we made some pasta, taught the girls cribbage and shared some wine in the cabana. The next two days we spent relaxing on the beach, playing cards in the cabana and eating tasty cheese & seafood empanadas. Josh, Katie and I rented kayaks for a few hours on one sunny morning. Katie and I were a bit nervous to try sea-kayaking, but it went well and we had a great time.