Backpackers Kawashkar Puerto Natales

... dagen heeft het alleen ´s nachts een keer geregend. Het stuk over de stille oceaan was daardoor ook leuk stuk doordat de golven nu maar 3 meter waren viel het met de schommelingen wel mee. Je kon nog rond zwalken aan boord en werd niet uit bed geslingerd. Onderweg hele mooi landschappen gezien. Tussen de stille oceaan en Chili ligt in het zuiden een fjorden gebied waar we ...

... of leftovers) and the rough seas (we spent 12 hours in the open waters of the Pacific with 40-50 knot winds) easier to take. The scenery was fantastic (pictures to follow soon - if I can find a decent computer) and the Captain was a character (at one point having a heated debate about the fact/fictions of global warming with a 63 year-old Republican from St Louis, whilst steering through channels 80 meters wide, only ...

... to stay awake chatting, bouncing around, listening to the iPod. Its so bloody hard. We see this guy wander out of the pub at 4am baloobas drunk staggering up the street alongside the police station. H estops right in front of the station and turn to walk directly in. Before he gets to the door he stumbles, hits the door head first and lands on his face inside the station. We are rolling around in the fits of laughing and it picks up our spirits no end. After around 10 ...

... get out of this park. The highs of making the pass were behind us and we were left with only the sad fact that we were cold, wet, sore and a long walk(s) from home. The only shining light was that we would be traveling downhill on the popular and open "W" circuit. This actually proved to be the most enjoyable day of them all. Our goal to make at least one section within the suggestion time limit was reached on the first attempt and superceeded by halving the suggested ...

... plane ride south was really spectacular. It was a clear day, and I had a window seat on the side of the plane overlooking the Andes. The whole way down, I kept snapping photos of the amazing views through the plane window. Welcome to Punta Arenas We arrived at the tiny airport in Punta Arenas on schedule, and luckily, so did our luggage. While we waited for Julie's flight to arrive, Scott and I sorted out a rental car for the next few days for our ...

... be smuggled into the country, came upon our instant falafel mix, which we were so looking forward to cooking on the trail. After some confused attempts at explaining the contents in Spanish, Chris finally shrugged and said, "uhhh, falafel?" This evidently meant little to the guard, but a lot to the two Israelis in line behind us, who immediately shouted "falefel? Who has falafel? Where did you get that? You must come to Israel!" Back on ...

... in the next day, showered, checked out, then went for a nice hike along the Serrano River for a few hours. After a relaxing nap outside in the beautiful weather, we caught a bus to head back to Puerto Natales... took WAY longer than expected... there were several stops along the way to drop off passengers, or pick up new ones... I think we may have had our fill of buses for a few days! We got back to our hostel around 10:30 ...

The bus ride to Puerto Natales was relatively uneventful. We have grown accustomed to the Patagonian scenery, open barren fields, with occasional mountains popping up here and there. We arrived in town, and after some orientation problems found Casa Teresa, and checked into a small room on the second story of ...

... the people of this place. The civil war which started in the early 70's really divided the country. I suggest if you are interested you read a little literature or wait until I return home to find out more. Not that I am an expert. Anyway, the weather was extremely hot and you really could not do anything until late afternoon. I did some walking tours of the city and was lucky to come across the Chilean theater company rehearsing for their outdoor concert and I spent a ...

... up all the loose ends we walked over to the main square and enjoyed 2 excellent pizzas, named after some of the trek trails in the park. <br><br>It also offered some local beers, which were frankly disgusting, but the pizzas were tasty enough to have us walking out smiling and patting our tummies ;) <br><br>We walked back to the hostel and spent the next hour or so packing for another early start tomorrow. <br><br><br>Lots of love, <br><br><br>Al &amp; Katie xx