Today was a travel day going from El Calafate in Argentina across the border to Puerto Natales in Chile. We were on a public bus which was great for the legroom and carry-on storage. The ride through Argentine Patagonia is not all that exciting especially when you move away from the mountains.
The bus ride is around 5 hours long (depending on border crossing time). There is nothing along the way, so you have to bring your own food for the ride; however, Chile has very strict importation restrictions, so you can’t take food across the border. Thus Mike and I ate our plums and salami sandwiches en route.
After crossing into Chile, the scenery was relatively the same, but with a more mountains..
We got checked in to the hotel which is right on the coast. Puerto Natales is on the Pacific Ocean on the Ultima Esperenza Sound which was originally thought to be a shorter passage than the Straight of Magellan, but ended up being landlocked. However, the view is incredible.
We skipped out on lunch and decided to go to the grocery store before meeting about our 3 day hike in Torres del Paine National Park. They are 16km, 24km, and 11km respectively all with about 700m of elevation gain to a viewpoint at the end. We are camping on those nights, and as such will be incommunicado for the duration.
In the evening, we went out for lamb which is about all that can be “farmed” in the land here. It was quite tender and flavourful and worked quite well with side of garlic stuffed tomato.
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