Mythical in all possible ways, Patagonia denominates the southern tip of the south american continent, shared by Chile and Argentina. It is definitely one of the wildest areas on Earth, with large parks under governmental protection, barely untouched. You can see almost everything around here: whales and penguins, huge condors, high snowed mountains, impressive glaciars and lakes, endemic forest and prehistoric creatures' remains. Ok, it's true, Patagonia has a lot of tourists, so how can it be this virginal place? Tourism developed the region, created good accessibility to some places, a lot of organized tours and different leisure activities, but as soon as you move a little bit aside from the predetermined routes, you are all alone and you can feel the wildness around you. The weather helps a lot on that, always cold, rainy and windy, permanently changing between cloudy and sometimes misty and some glimpses of sun. Hard to describe...
We were a group of seven people: five portuguese, one italian and one scottish, willing to discover Patagonia in seven days. We flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas, the "capital" of the chilean Magellan region and started the adventure from there. It lies on the shore of the Strait of Magellan, first crossed by the portuguese Fernão de Magalhães in 1520, which marks the end of the south american continent (from there south, there are just islands). In the middle of the strait there is an island called Isla Magdalena, home of tens of thousands of penguins and, if you go to Patagonia, you have to see penguins. We took a ferry from Punta Arenas to the island and it was, indeed and literally, full of penguins. The island is protected as well, so visitors are only allowed to do a small track up to a lighthouse and back. But in fact it doesn't matter, because penguins cross the path in front of you and let you get quite close. They are everywhere and they are the cutest animals I've seen in Chile. They do walk funny like in the movies, they watch you with curiosity, they play, they run, they scream...
The next day, we left Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, a town three hours north, closer to some of the Patagonia main natural attractions. We took side roads along the way, stopping, enjoying the silence and the views, which made it a longer journey. We crossed a small town called Rio Verde, where we visited the nice and cosy city hall and talked a bit with the mayor about the region. Making contact with people is always the best way to learn about places. In Puerto Natales we stayed in a family place, the home of a friendly old couple, which was cheap and reasonable.
The third day was still relaxed, we took the cars and wandered around the area, to a prehistoric place called Cueva del Milodón. The Milodón was a prehistoric creature, similar to a bear, that lived in the area together with other well-known creatures like the sabertooth tiger. Some remains were found in this cave, which made it a natural monument and a place to visit. The cave is huge and impressive and above it there is a viewpoint, accessible by an easy half an hour walk, from which you get an endless view of the region. Close to the cave is Lake Sofia, where the famous andean condor can also be seen. We didn't see any, but the lake was worth it by itself. In the next posts, the real and impressive Patagonia will be shown, as the following days were the most exciting of them all.
Mythical in all possible ways, Patagonia denominates the southern tip of the south american continent, shared by Chile and Argentina. It is definitely one of the wildest areas on Earth, with large parks under governmental protection, barely untouched. You can see almost everything around here: whales and penguins, huge condors, high snowed mountains, impressive glaciars and lakes, endemic forest and prehistoric creatures' remains. Ok, it's true, Patagonia has a lot of tourists, so how can it be this virginal place? Tourism developed the region, created good accessibility to some places, a lot of organized tours and different leisure activities, but as soon as you move a little bit aside from the predetermined routes, you are all alone and you can feel the wildness around you. The weather helps a lot on that, always cold, rainy and windy, permanently changing between cloudy and sometimes misty and some glimpses of sun. Hard to describe...
We were a group of seven people: five portuguese, one italian and one scottish, willing to discover Patagonia in seven days. We flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas, the "capital" of the chilean Magellan region and started the adventure from there. It lies on the shore of the Strait of Magellan, first crossed by the portuguese Fernão de Magalhães in 1520, which marks the end of the south american continent (from there south, there are just islands). In the middle of the strait there is an island called Isla Magdalena, home of tens of thousands of penguins and, if you go to Patagonia, you have to see penguins. We took a ferry from Punta Arenas to the island and it was, indeed and literally, full of penguins. The island is protected as well, so visitors are only allowed to do a small track up to a lighthouse and back. But in fact it doesn't matter, because penguins cross the path in front of you and let you get quite close. They are everywhere and they are the cutest animals I've seen in Chile. They do walk funny like in the movies, they watch you with curiosity, they play, they run, they scream...
The next day, we left Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, a town three hours north, closer to some of the Patagonia main natural attractions. We took side roads along the way, stopping, enjoying the silence and the views, which made it a longer journey. We crossed a small town called Rio Verde, where we visited the nice and cosy city hall and talked a bit with the mayor about the region. Making contact with people is always the best way to learn about places. In Puerto Natales we stayed in a family place, the home of a friendly old couple, which was cheap and reasonable.
The third day was still relaxed, we took the cars and wandered around the area, to a prehistoric place called Cueva del Milodón. The Milodón was a prehistoric creature, similar to a bear, that lived in the area together with other well-known creatures like the sabertooth tiger. Some remains were found in this cave, which made it a natural monument and a place to visit. The cave is huge and impressive and above it there is a viewpoint, accessible by an easy half an hour walk, from which you get an endless view of the region. Close to the cave is Lake Sofia, where the famous andean condor can also be seen. We didn't see any, but the lake was worth it by itself. In the next posts, the real and impressive Patagonia will be shown, as the following days were the most exciting of them all.
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