12th Feb 2015
Odd little camp site – Only room for 3 cars, so everyone
very squished in –Mostly back packers though.
Apart from a Chilean family next to me from Santiago who were towing a
small caravan Dad Julio had made himself.
Had a chat to them, and Julio very kindly gave me a bottle of my
favourite local merlot – Gato Negro ! Very nice of them. They have driven down, but are going to take
a ferry back up through the islands from Punto Arenas to Puerto Montt – 3 days
on the ferry – Should be fun, and rather like the Alaskan Marine Highway, I
would think, travelling up through all the islands in SW Chile.
After packing up, I walked into town looking for the
Tourist Information centre, and I also needed some beer before I went off into
Torres del Paine NP where there are minimal supplies. The National Parks office was quite a hike
through town, and when I got there, all they could tell me was that when I got
to the NP they would have maps etc ! All
they could do was show me a map that was pinned to the wall. So that was a bit of a waste of time. I then picked up my beer from the
supermercado, got some cash out of the bank, and then headed back to the camp
site to get the car. Puerto Natales is a
funny little town, with a lot of simple corrugated iron or wooden buildings,
that used to be a sleepy fishing village until tourism arrived. Most of the old buildings are still there –
They just sell camping gear and tours instead of fishing gear !
On the way out of town, passing yet another German
Troopie, I stopped to take some pics of the mountains from the esplanade by the
harbour, and bumped into another German, Kai, who was in a California plated VW
kombi. He had bought it off an American
in Europe and then shipped it back here with Grimaldi to Montevideo, and was
exploring S America with his girlfriend, and wondering whether he should go up
through central America – Naturally I told him to go !! Then it was off around the shore of the Golfo
Almirante Montt (you can get out to the Pacific from here) on the road to T del
P.
Although the mountains are visible in the distance, its
over 100 kms to T del P, crossing more of the vast grassland, but hillier than
it has been for the last few days. I
stopped at a small lake for lunch – Lago Figueroa, before continuing on my
way. The wind was still blowing, but not
quite so fiercely as yesterday. At one stage there was a line of hills to my
right, and about 6 condors were just playing on the thermals above me – So nice
to see them in numbers at last. Also
increasing number of guanaco beside the road – One even standing on top of a
big pile of dirt like a sentry ! And I
love the name of this road – Ruta 9, Ruta del Fin del Mundo – Road to the end
of the earth !!
We then came to a funny little town called Cerro Castillo
– Odd little town with restaurants and bars – And an enormous statue of a horse
!! Turned left there – And it was back
onto the ripio – Dirt road. It surprised
me a little because this National Park is apparently the most visited park in
Chile, and it not just dirt, but really bad dirt with a lot of
corrugations. It is no wonder that even
new local cars are rattle traps – They drive on these roads at 100 kmh as if
they were in a desperate hurry to get there.
I have already got one new stone chip in my windscreen from people
speeding past, and I don’t need any more right now !! Anyway, the scenery was magnificent, and
slowly the Cerro Paine Grande and the Cuernos del Paine came closer and
closer. We came around Lago Amarga, with
guanaco all over the road grazing, and then to the official park entry. When I pulled
up the girl who came over to
tell me what I needed to do saw me on the RH side and absolutely cracked up –
She had obviously never seen a RH drive car before and she through it was the
funniest thing she had ever seen !! Ah
well……….. Eventually she was able to
speak and told me where to get my pass (18,000 pesos worth, some $30 US – For
dirt roads ???!). She gave me a map and showed
where I could camp and where I could go for day hikes etc. Tomorrow (Friday) is supposed to be a nice
day weather wise with reduced winds and about 17 deg C, so I am going to do a
4.5 hr hike (one way) to the base of Las Torres – supposed to be one of the
best views. So I am camping tonight in a
free NP site near the Hotel Las Torres, one of the private hotels on some
privately owned land within the park. Opposite me are two motorcycles with NSW
registration plates !! They owners must
be out hiking as I haven’t seen them yet, but they are the first Aussie
registered vehicles I have seen !!
So tonight I shall have an early night, then make some
sandwiches in the morning, take 2 ibuprofen, and set off on a hike to what is
one of the main targets of this adventure for me – Torres del Paine. I just hope the walk doesn’t cause me too
much paine !!! It is great to be here at
last…….
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