Chilean Patagonia

Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine

In the morning we flew down south to Punta Arenas in the Patagonia region of Chile. As soon as we could find an available bus to take us we headed straight up to Puerto Natales, the town closed to Torres del Paine National Park. 12 million years ago there was a tectonic shift spewing forth volcanic magma which slowly cooled to form granite towers (torres). ‘Paine’ is an indigenous word meaning blue. So the name of the park means blue towers. We knew we wanted to go to the park and there are 2 famous treks in the park, the O circuit and the W circuit which we didn’t really have the time for as they were 3-night hikes and camping had to be booked in advance. It was freezing in Puerto Natales as well, so we weren’t up for camping. The town itself was really nice, just the right level of touristy, and our hostel was warm, cosy and inviting. 

Vicuna or Guanaco

We decided to book a daytrip to the Park for sightseeing, with the option of a days’ trekking the following day. The sightseeing tour was a whistle-stop trip around the park, but we saw the main sights albeit very briefly and without being allowed to leave the group for any length of time. We saw lots of the wild guanacos that live in the Park, whose numbers are kept in check by the wild pumas roaming around -  we didn’t see any of those though. The scenery was stunning, the snow-capped mountains and granite towers which give the Park its name, the pampa and wild flowers, the craggy hills and deep lagoons, and the Grey Lake and the Grey Glacier which is 7km wide and stretches back over 20km. 

Iceberg

To get to the Grey Lake and the glacier we had to walk through a forest across a river on a rope bridge which could only hold 6 people at a time and on the other side was a woodpecker going at the tree like a pneumatic drill. It was so good it looked almost fake! At the end of the forest trail we arrived on to a stone ‘beach’ where the winds were 100mph and the stones whipped our faces. It was impossible to walk in a straight line without being blown sideways, in fact it was extremely difficult to stay on our feet. The glacier was around 15km in the distance so we couldn’t get up close and personal, but floating metres in front of us were 2 bright blue icebergs.

Torres del Paine

We decided against doing the trek the next day because it was a good 100km plus to get to the Park. Instead we took a bus back to Punta Arenas (we were flying back to Santiago from there). Torres del Paine Park cost us an eye watering 21,000 Pesos entry each, (6,000 if you’re Chilean), plus another 35,000 each for the tour. Not a cheap day out, but the entry to the park would have covered us for the next day as long as we got the ticket stamped and possibly the day after too. 

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is a lot bigger than Puerto Natales and has more to do in the actual town, such as the Salesian Museum Maggiorino Borgatello, which showcased everything from history, religion, ethnic groups and culture to flora and fauna of the region, next to the Santuario Maria Auxiliadora church, the architecturally gorgeous Centro Cultural Braun-Menendez museum and the impressive Cementerio Municipal, the cemetery, which we visited the day after we got to the town, but there’s less to see around the town in comparison with Puerto Natales and the awesome Torres del Paine. That afternoon we met up with our new Chilean friend from our hostel and visited the numerous artisan markets and shops, trying on llama wool ponchos and Christmas jumpers, and being introduced to a typical Chilean dish called Paiso Marinos, which is a delicious shellfish broth, brimming with mussels, crab, lobster and squid, all fresh that day and costing only 5,000 Pesos.

Municipal Cemetery

The location of Punta Arenas is great though, being between Torres del Paine to the north and Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south, and there are a few trips from the town to see wildlife such as penguins, sea lions, whales and dolphins, depending on the season. We booked up to see the Magellanic penguins on Magdalena Island and the sea lions on Marta Island. It cost us 63,000 Pesos each but we booked through our hostel so we may have found a better deal if we had shopped around but I did check online and I only found a cheaper tour for 50,000 Pesos which didn’t include the sea lions. 

Magellan penguins

The two islands can be found in the nearby Strait of Magellan, 35km north of Punta Arenas.  On Magdalena Island there is a colony of approximately 58,000 penguin couples. The penguins arrive at Magdalena Island in September and lay their eggs in October and the chicks are born in November after a 40-day incubation period. These little black and white dudes leave the island in April and return to start the cycle again in the following September. The boat ride to the island was about 45 minutes and we had around an hour to walk around the island on the path, giving way to penguins marching across it to the sea. All around us were holes dug by the penguins where they nested and every so often we would see a penguin pop out of a hole, or disappear into one. A few times we saw the chicks protected by their parents. It was lovely to see the penguin couples lying side by side and preening each other. It was a memorable experience, but I’d rather forget the smell.

 

On Marta Island there are several different types of bird and mammal such as cormorant, gulls, sea lions and fur seals. Most of the trips out to see the penguins and sea lions had been cancelled in the previous days because of the weather, and as we headed towards Marta Island the captain indicated that we would only stop for a few minutes, at some distance from the coast, because it was too choppy. I think the only person not to get seasick on our boat was me and that’s because I had taken some heavyweight Mexican medication which made me sleep the whole way to the islands. We stopped about 50 metres from the shore and the waves were huge so it was impossible for us to get a good view or photo of the sea lions. I think the tours only take small boats out as they restrict the number of visitors to the islands, and they never disembark at Marta Island anyway. It was a good trip but expensive, which has been the case throughout the whole country for most things. 

Back to Santiago overnight before heading up to Lima in Peru. A 6am flight on Baby D’s birthday. We both loved Chile; the landscape and nature is fantastic and so diverse because of the country’s geography and it being so long and thin. We saw the clearest, most magical night skies, the driest deserts, the hippest cities, the most warm and laidback people, the friendliest street dogs (including a SHAR PEI!), the best wildlife and the most impressive nature.

 #magellanpenguins #torresdelpaine #puntaarenas #puertonatales #patagonia #magdalenaisland #martaisland #greyglacierpatagonia