Casa Cecilia Puerto Natales

We liked the small town of Puerto Natales. Whilst every other building seemed to be a hostel, travel organisor or restaurant, the place did not feel too touristy. It's prettily situated in the Ultima Esperenza Sounds with a backdrop of mountains. Good to have a "day at leisure" there as well as a (long) day for visiting Torres del Paine. The hostel we stayed at was very helpful with information and arranging things ... within half an hour of arriving we had organised the tour to Torres del Pa...

Got the bus from El Calafate this morning, drove through some amazing Patagonian landscapes - saw some ostrich-type birds roaming free and we think some condors - weŽll verify that later. Crossed the border back into Chile, only took an hour and a half (which involved unloading a whole coachload of people and their gear and back on the bus again) and we finally sussed the customs restrictions and didnŽt have to abandon any cheese sandwiches or nuts. Arrived in Puerto Natales just after lunch ...

24th-26th January - Puerto Natales So we arrived in Puerto Natales, glad to get off the boat and have the chance of some decent food. We quickly found our hostel and immediately headed off to try and find a decent coffee and explore Puerto Natales which is pretty small but has quite a nice laidback feel to it. We quickly discovered a great vegetarian restaurant : El Living and settled in for little rest and relaxation even though we knew we only had that evening and the next day to organise o...

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3 5594&l=e933b& id=551865803 6- 10 Jan We booked a bus at 1pm to take us to Puerto Natales which took 3 hours. The drive was pretty dull as there was only pampas to look at so we managed to catch a few hours sleep. We are staying at Casa Cecilia which is pretty good and has homemade bread - yum. Still on the weird breakfasts of bread, cheese and ham though we have an added bonus of scambled eggs here. Mon 7 Jan We booked ourselves onto a b...

I managed to get some trekking in down at Torres del Paine, after pulling some hiking routes off of this site. I was going to try some climbing and horseback riding, but the hiking really managed to wear me out. Luckily, my hostel (Casa Cecilia) was always there ready with a hot meal to warm me up. I'm still debating about where to go next, but if you're into the outdoors definitely make time for Torres del Paine and a stay in Casa Cecilia!

We had envisaged a 5-day trek through the mountains but a recent heavy snow fall thwarted our plans. Instead we made good use of the 5hr bus tour trip through the lakes, waterfalls and mountains of the park and jumped off at Lake Grey, home to one of the few moving glaciers in the world. After a 10-mile boat trip avoiding icebergs we arrived at the 30m high sheer wall of ice that spans the valley and lake. Its presence in the valley is immense and the rich-blue colour mesmerising. With only h...