In the third post about our trip to Patagonia, we will see the last bits of Chile we visited. We will move from Torres del Paine south to Punta Arenas and meet the locals.
Lago and Glaciar Grey, Torres del Paine
The last part of the W trail took us from Refugio Paine Grande to Refugio Grey. It was also the shortest part, but as we were already quite tired, we were happy that we had plenty of time to finish it. Lago Grey is a product of the Glaciar Grey and its colour is indeed more grey than the other lakes. Thanks to mother nature´s will, we were able to admire the huge lumps of ice in 3 different ways. First from a natural viewing platform in the middle of the trail. It was cloudy with nice light and the scenery was dramatic. In the afternoon, we decided to go closer to the ice and went on a kayak trip. During the trip it started raining and the glaciar was all shades of blue. The next day, we took the catamaran back to the road. But first it took a ride along the glaciar. The fog was very low and the sensation was truly magical, as if from a winter tale.
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas is the southernmost city of Chile on the banks of the Magellan Strait. Chilean ships to Antarctica depart from here and it is also possible to fly to the South Pole from this city. If we new this before, we would have probably given it a thought.
Anyway, Punta Arenas is also a historical city with architectonically beautiful center full of buildings in colonial style. Every other house in the center has a plate explaining its history and importance. For example the Hotel José Nogueira, at which we stayed, serves as a museum as well. If you want to taste the guanaco (endemic wild lamas), head to La Marmita.
Mirador Cerro la Cruz offers beautiful views over the strait and the city. There is a promenade along the Magellan Strait as well, which surely saw better times, but is worth a walk even now.
Meeting the locals
Meeting locals usually means having one of the best times from travelling. It was the same for us in Chile, in a small village called Punta Delgada, near the Argentinean borders. Our plan was just to spend the night here on our way back to Argentina. But we heard some loud music coming from a big hall, and so we went to see what was going on. I was quite shy, but Michal persuaded me. We found out that a local fiesta was just about to start. The whole village gathered around midnight, including small children. Everybody was dancing, drinking, eating and having a good time. Half of the men were dressed in gaucho style. We tried to dance the gaucho dances and the locals loved it. At about 2:30 we were the first ones to go to sleep, even the little children were partying on :-).
The next day, we went to see the small Pali Aike national park. The gravel road was quite bad and it looked like there is nothing at its end. The park was nice, with wild guanacos running by and a cave where supposedly prehistoric people lived. On our way back we asked the rangers where we could cook us a lunch. It was dry and cooking was not permitted. But one of them said they are just preparing their own food, so why don´t we join them! They had spaghetti bolognese with soya meat. I hate soya meat, but this was delicious. We also found out a lot about the 2 rangers and the way they live in the park. One of them was an army veteran – a former fighter pilot!
