Crossing into Chile, we found ourselves in the 12th region, the Magellan Region. This area is separated from the Aisen Region (where we started the trip) by a large ice field, which means that it has no land access from the rest of the country and you have to cross into Argentina to reach it. I had been in this region before, for one week last year, but my friends hadn't and this is one of the icons of the Chilean Patagonia. The capital is Punta Arenas, where we stopped for one night to see penguins. We took a 5-hour boat ride to Isla Magdalena, in the middle of the Magellan Strait, home of thousands of penguins that are used to human presence and let you get really close. It is always a stunning experience to suddenly see yourself surrounded by such charismatic animals.
On the next day, we departed to Puerto Natales, the closest town to Torres del Paine, the most famous Chilean National Park and the symbol of the Chilean Patagonia. We settled there, as accommodation inside the park is very expensive. Last year I was there to do the famous trek to the
Torres, so this year we split into two groups for the first day: my portuguese friends went to do it while me and my Chilean friend decided to do an historical route around the Eberhardt fiord, including kayaking and biking. Hidden behind the wildness of Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales also has its own history and was a port of extreme relevance until the Panama Channel was opened. All boats to South America would go through the Magellan Strait and would stop here for trading and food. The first settlers arrived here from Europe and established huge industries of meat and fish processing. During this trip we kayaked to an island in the middle of the fiord, where ancient graves could be found, though now it is occupied by many bird species who come here to nest. We then biked on one of the fiord shores, in a peaceful idyllic scenery.
The day after, me and my Portuguese friend were going for an epic journey to Torres del Paine, for an alternative trek to a glacier and a cascade, rated as an 18-hour walk there and back! We thought we could make it in 12 hours easy and decided to give it a try. However, our beloved car wanted some attention and surprises started again: a flat tire! Nobody had noticed it the day before so it must have been during the trip to Torres del Paine but losing air slowly during the night. We replaced the tire and searched for a garage to try to recover the tire. We were told that the tire was good and somehow it had deflated... Good, we replaced the tire again and moved on with our plans, three hours late. We started the trek at 12:15. According to our best estimates we wouldn't make it to the end, but we decided to do part of it anyway, until it was time to go back. We managed to do an epic trek, up to the end and back again, in 7.5 hours, heroic but that left us almost dead! We saw the beautiful waterfall, two glaciers and one lagoon. We didn't see more than 5 people along the way, which made it a peaceful and isolated trek to a rather unexplored part of the park. When we arrived back at Puerto Natales, the second surprise of the day: another flat tire! Not the same, another! This one had clearly got a puncture during the way back and we didn't notice it! The tire was completely wasted and we had to buy another one. Statistics so far: one accident, one wasted tire, one flat tire, five tire changes. We were getting experts on this...
Crossing into Chile, we found ourselves in the 12th region, the Magellan Region. This area is separated from the Aisen Region (where we started the trip) by a large ice field, which means that it has no land access from the rest of the country and you have to cross into Argentina to reach it. I had been in this region before, for one week last year, but my friends hadn't and this is one of the icons of the Chilean Patagonia. The capital is Punta Arenas, where we stopped for one night to see penguins. We took a 5-hour boat ride to Isla Magdalena, in the middle of the Magellan Strait, home of thousands of penguins that are used to human presence and let you get really close. It is always a stunning experience to suddenly see yourself surrounded by such charismatic animals.
On the next day, we departed to Puerto Natales, the closest town to Torres del Paine, the most famous Chilean National Park and the symbol of the Chilean Patagonia. We settled there, as accommodation inside the park is very expensive. Last year I was there to do the famous trek to the Torres, so this year we split into two groups for the first day: my portuguese friends went to do it while me and my Chilean friend decided to do an historical route around the Eberhardt fiord, including kayaking and biking. Hidden behind the wildness of Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales also has its own history and was a port of extreme relevance until the Panama Channel was opened. All boats to South America would go through the Magellan Strait and would stop here for trading and food. The first settlers arrived here from Europe and established huge industries of meat and fish processing. During this trip we kayaked to an island in the middle of the fiord, where ancient graves could be found, though now it is occupied by many bird species who come here to nest. We then biked on one of the fiord shores, in a peaceful idyllic scenery.
The day after, me and my Portuguese friend were going for an epic journey to Torres del Paine, for an alternative trek to a glacier and a cascade, rated as an 18-hour walk there and back! We thought we could make it in 12 hours easy and decided to give it a try. However, our beloved car wanted some attention and surprises started again: a flat tire! Nobody had noticed it the day before so it must have been during the trip to Torres del Paine but losing air slowly during the night. We replaced the tire and searched for a garage to try to recover the tire. We were told that the tire was good and somehow it had deflated... Good, we replaced the tire again and moved on with our plans, three hours late. We started the trek at 12:15. According to our best estimates we wouldn't make it to the end, but we decided to do part of it anyway, until it was time to go back. We managed to do an epic trek, up to the end and back again, in 7.5 hours, heroic but that left us almost dead! We saw the beautiful waterfall, two glaciers and one lagoon. We didn't see more than 5 people along the way, which made it a peaceful and isolated trek to a rather unexplored part of the park. When we arrived back at Puerto Natales, the second surprise of the day: another flat tire! Not the same, another! This one had clearly got a puncture during the way back and we didn't notice it! The tire was completely wasted and we had to buy another one. Statistics so far: one accident, one wasted tire, one flat tire, five tire changes. We were getting experts on this...
3 comments:
O que safou for haver oficinas à patada nessas paragens :p
Mto bom! Uma viagem de uma vida!
Para quando a próxima aventura? Será noutro país? :)
Reparações de pneus é O negócio nestas zonas. Até nas aldeias mais pequenas havia pelo menos alguém... Chulos!!
Pfff... so... I think i have to go there...
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