Hostal del Estrecho Punta Arenas

... quite pleasant, although quite chilly. I´m just spending the one night here as a flight to Santiago tomorrow is about 30 Euro cheaper than flying on Friday, although it does mean I won´t be visiting any penguinos on this trip (the tour leaves at 4pm, exactly when my flight takes off). The hostel here isn´t so great - dark, grungy and the only real common area is the TV room where people just sit and watch TV. I do have ...

... the ferry was very extreme and suddenly the whole dining room with tables and chairs and food trays and us pitched to the right. Like a movie scene everything overturned and shot off tables .People slid to the floor and across the floor. I was lucky as I gripped my table and tray and managed to hold on to them and stay upright. It was funny only once we knew no one was hurt. After this the captain arrived to inspect the mess and then the crew tied up all the tables and ...

... club twenty seven years ago, my kayaking experience consists of paddling gently across still lakes in Canada and the States, in sunshine... this was different: there was a raging wind, driving rain, chunks of ice to be navigated, and I really, really, really did not want to capsize in water of that temperature! Two friends of Quito's were sharing a double kayak, and so our three vessels eased away from the ...

... walked 10 hours in the blinding sun until be got cellphone reception. When they found him he was severely burnt and when they found the car their 9 month old child(!) was in bad shape. But at least Nuno was riding with a friend. Nuno also traced the voyage of Che Guevara, with is very difficult, a lot of jungle and boats, and made a video in the process and sold it to Portuguese TV, which aired it! Great stories. Another ...

... I note that Mike is surrounded by 4 other motorcyclists and they know where to get the tire fixed in Punta Arenas, which is an hour and a half away. Mike packs up the tire, the Italian and the new motorcyclists head into the sunset. I walk around the ghost town of Estancion San Gregorio, checking out the old ship wreck. The sun getting lower on the horizon and the wind picking up I put my sweater back on and sit beside a building to keep out of the wind. I ...

... is around 11pm or wake early 3am and watch the sun rise. Considering that I had a 5 hour hike the next day to Los Curreos from Chileno I decided a 4 hour hike to and back to chileno the next day was not a good option, nine hours of hiking, I don´t think so. So I decided to not worry about the sunrise or sunset and left for the Torres peak late in the afternoon. I was told that the last 1 hour up to the peaks was a slight scramble up rocks so I wasn´t to concerned after all I ...

... but we had already spent lots of quality time with those furry little things back in Ushuaia so skipped the visit here. Our goal in Punta Arenas was mainly to relax, and that we did. After a bit of cruising we found a great Chocolate Café where we wasted countless hours sipping amazing concoctions of milk, espresso, and various chocolates. Once able to escape from ...

... miles. The land is so flat and the vistas so broad that Nevada would fit right in, literally lost in the vastness. Then below the 50th parallel things change again, Patagonia morphing into Tierra del Fuego. The terrain becomes a little more broken up, but the main characteristic is the wind. Winds blow at gale force it seems like all the time, so there's no need to give them names as if they're special or something. The ...

... good throughout the day and aside from the occasional clouds, we had unobstructed views of the Torres del Paine peaks for most of the day.  The next day, we went for a boat trip along the Seno Ultima Esperanza to two other glaciers: Balmaceda and Serrano.    It was another beautiful day and the trip was just gorgeous. The fjords were breathtaking, with mountains rising steeply on both sides to their snow-covered peaks more than 2,000m high; cliffs that harbour a ...

... to do there really out of season so we just veged there for a few days and watched cable tv. I even got to see the ¨Wind that Shakes the Barley " with Spanish subtitles so was keep quite amused. We are getting the Navimag ferry tonight (25th ) to Puerto Mont up north for four nights. Apparently we will see some fjords and possibly some whales. Have an ample supply of sea sickness tablets and wine so hopefully everything shall be fine!