PATAGONIA: The 3 Day Tour!

¡Hola!

So I apologize for the ridicuously long delay. This is now the third time in the past few weeks I have tried uploading this post. The reason's why I've been unsuccessful thus far include both unreliable wifi and the plethora of pictures I am ATTEMPTING to share from our amazing trip to Patagonia but it seems to wreck havoc on the already precarious internet connection.  So let's hope this works, third try is a charm, ya?

Deirdre and I arrived in Punta Arenas just after midnight, and thankfully were able to take a shuttle from the airport that took us straight to our hostel. Deirdre did an AMAZING job planning everything literally in one day while I was in class. We tiptoed in our room that was supposed to be a 5 person room, but much to our delight, it was empty! A whole room to ourselves?! With a clean bathroom?! We were in heaven, but resisted the urge to jump up and down on the beds and went right to sleep.

We woke up around 9 to get breakfast and see if the hostel had any tours going. The hostel was very homey but small, so they didn’t have anything specific arranged. However, they helped us book our taxi for the trip we had later to Isla Magdalena to see the penguins. Breakfast was simple but very welcomed after all our travels yesterday. Basically just bread and an assortment of butter, jam, and cheese. We explored the town on our own, taking pictures by the water and enjoying the cooler weather. We had a delicious lunch at La Marmita of salmon and stuffed zucchini.

 After a diet mainly of bread, fruit, and pasta, it was heaven. Our good mood quickly deflated though, when we tried to find an ATM to take out money for the night’s excursion and the following days trip to Torres del Paine. Apparently every bank that day decided to have a breakdown. Finally I found one, and took out as much as I could for the day. The tension rose further though, when our taxi was a half hour late! The other ladies in our hostel were perfectly relaxed while they waited, but we were far more agitated- we only had 3 days in Patagonia-  every minute had to count!

Finally the hostel owner came down and confirmed where our taxi was, and we made it on the boat in plenty of time.  

It was slightly bad timing, as I was reading Life of Pi, which, if you didn’t already know, centers around a ship sinking. It was a long ride, but very beautiful and relaxing. We even saw dolphins swimming literally beside the boat!

It was incredible to see all the penguins inhabited on the island. It was also mating season, so there was some interesting noises as well! My camera unfortunately died within about 10 minutes of being there, but we only had an hour there anyway. Deirdre got some great pictures though, and we were able to get pretty up close and personal with the penguins. 

We went to bed early that night and dragged ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am the next day for our Torres del Paine tour. We managed to get dressed and eat breakfast by 5:15 or so, but once again our ride, a tour bus this time, was nearly an hour later than they said they’d be. We were a little surprised to see it was a small van instead of an actual tour or “coach” bus, but at least we were on our way. In between cat naps I caught a beautiful picture of the sunrise. 

We stopped for gas and coffee before we headed to the actual park. When we arrived at the outskirts you could see the mountains in the distance, and we knew all the travel was forth it. The views were incredible, and we knew as we got closer it’d only get better.

 

We spent the remainder of the day driving through the park, stopping several times at various lakes to take pictures of the mountains up close

 

and catching some great shots of native animals. We had a few more surprises in store as the day was winding down. We saw a gorgeous waterfall near the end of the park

and glaciers!

and even a cave!

We also stumbled upon a museum we didn’t notice when we arrived, and when the guy working the front desk wasn’t able to break the $10,000 peso bill I had tucked away (the equivalent of $20 USD) as I had used up my smaller bills and change on souvenirs, he let us in for the only change I had- $300 pesos, the equivalent of about 60 cents! So nice! They had some really cool artifacts and we read a little about some ceremonies and rituals that took place in the local area long ago. And of course took more silly pictures!

We arrived back to our home away from home in Santiago at about 3 am, but thankfully we had no classes to teach Monday (our admin team is still working on finishing our schedules) so we were able to finally sleep in! It was nice to have a weekend trip, but I found myself actually missing Santiago quite a lot- the warm weather here and the friends we’ve made at the hostel. It was good to be back.

Lots more pictures are on Facebook so check them out!

Since Patagonia, I have taken another weekend trip to Valparaíso and nearby Viña del Mar, and I am planning a trip to Púcon next weekend. Also, I will be officially and finally moved in to my apartment on April 15 and wifi will no longer be an issue! So get ready for blog posts and skype dates galore!!

¡Hasta Luego!