Southern Chile

On my birthday, Jason and I flew to Dallas, a 3-hour flight, and from there took the 8 1/2-hour flight to Santiago. All flights there are red-eyes. Jason did such a good job covering all our bases. From getting foot hammocks so we could elevate our legs slightly, to pillows that connect with eye masks, to compression socks so our legs could feel more comfortable. He even got me face wash wipes so I could easily wash my face. Our shampoo and conditioner were bars, and we had the cutest travel toothbrushes. I could go on and on... all the cuteness made for a happy birthday, despite traveling a red-eye. 

Somehow, I did sleep a little on the way there. When we landed in Santiago, we had to get pesos and water. There are no drinking fountains in the airport. That's when we learned about agua con gas and sin gas. Though Jason remembered from his mission that he didn't like agua con gas.

We had a connecting flight to Punta Arenas, which is at one of the most southern parts of Chile. So after getting some lunch, we boarded another plane for an over 4-hour flight to a tiny airport in an extremely windy area just off the Straits of Magellan. We rented a car and drove to our hostel about 20 minutes away. At the hostel, they recommended a cute restaurant where we got empanadas and a shrimp salad. It was a 20-minute brisk walk in high winds and a drizzle. Uphill, going there was a nice little challenge as the wind was pushing against us. Going back was a snap because the wind pushed us all the way back down.

View of the Straits of Magellan.

Autumn was just beginning, so you can see the leaves changing here.

Our hostel breakfast. A lot of the places we stayed at put out little cookies and cold cuts with breakfast

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The next day, we went to Lider, the Latino Walmart, literally! We got all we would need for the next two days of hiking. We also had to drive up about 5 hours to Patagonia, where the big hikes are. We stopped after a few hours in Puerto Natales, which is the "biggest" town closest to Patagonia, where a lot of tourists leave from en route to Patagonia, as it's only 1 1/2 - 2 hours away. There are no roads going through from the north to these places, which is why we went from the south. 

The bread in Chile is the best! It's so fresh! This is why: it's not packaged like in the States.

Even the hot dog and hamburger buns are fresh!

Along the drive to Puerto Natales, we noticed it looked lot like Wyoming.

Guanacas, they're like llamas.

As we got closer to Patagonia, it reminded us more of Idaho.

Upon arrival we hiked a nice easy walk to see Salto Grande (big waterfall) and then a little longer to see Mirador los Cuernos (view of the horns). On our hour-long dirt road drive to our adorable Hotel de Paine, we took note of Lago Nordenskjold. Yes, a Norwegian named lake.

Lago Nordenskjold

Our hotel was set in the most beautiful little valley on a lake. It was so serene! They offered complimentary dinner and breakfast. Think, cruise style!

The dining area is in a separate building.

The above 2 pictures are of our breakfast "to go" the morning of our hike. 

The desserts were almost gone when I took this.

We took our breakfast early so we could drive another 2 hours on the dirt roads with low visibility through the streaky windshield, going into the rising sun. It was quite the adventure. The 8-hour hike to Miraador Base Las Torres (towers) did not disappoint, though. It was definitely strenuous both ways; it was beautiful, chilly, warm, windy, and so much fun! It's part of the "W" hike in Patagonia for all the worldwide hikers and backpackers. We only did that one leg of the "W". We encountered many people from countries around the world. We heard lots of Japanese, Portuguese, German, French, and obviously Spanish. Not too much English, though at this point in our trip, most services knew English because we were in the tourist area. 

All the people!

When we returned from our hike, we were beat! Jason had a bit of a cough, so he was extra beat, but a nice cruise-style dinner with plenty of protein and carbs to help us replenish did wonders!

Luckily, the next morning we didn't have to leave as early for our 4-hour hike. It was a much less traveled hike called Mirador Ferrier. It oversees all the mountains and even the glaciers. It's a steep climb, though, and we had to use some climbing skills to get up some of the really steep parts, but it was totally worth it, even after an 8-hour hike the day before!

It was very narrow at the beginning. 

This part was so peaceful and serene. There was not a sound here. 

The glacier.

Bits of the glacier broke off.

The glacier zoomed in.

We got some lunch before leaving on our 5-hour drive back down to Punta Arenas, where we stayed at an adorable bed and breakfast called Tribal House so we could catch an early flight the next morning. The Tribal House gave us our first real conversation in Spanish with the hostess there, Melita. She served us "Once" after we settled in, which means 11, as in 11:00. It's the late-night snack the Chileans eat, though I don't think it's as common as it used to be when Jason was there before. She had all the fixings for coffee, tea, even mint leaves, so we could have herbal tea. She also served us cake. Since we had to leave very early the next morning, she woke up super early to give us breakfast. I really loved talking with her over our little meals! If you go to Punta Arenas, stay at the Tribal House!

On the drives, we also noticed that the trees are permanently bent one way from all the wind. It wasn't windy in these pics, it's just the way the trees stand now. 

Our cute breakfast set up by Melita.

The sweetest woman!

We caught our flight to go back to Santiago in order to take another flight halfway back down Chile to Coyhaique. 

You may think all the flying sounds awful, but it really wasn't. It seemed the planes flew lower there because I could always see the landscape the entire way. Since the mountains are so high, I felt like we were on a helicopter ride. I thoroughly enjoyed the flights. We always had a window seat!

To be continued....