Puerto Natales
We left Puerto Varas at 9 am, were driven to the Puerto Montt airport, where we boarded our plane, right on time, for Punta Arenas. Our ticket information said in-flight snacks, so we were very surprised to get a noon meal — chicken salad, nice roll, and desert. We’d prepared our lunch to take with us, so we ended up eating it later in the day.
Llamas along the highway
Our driver was waiting at the airport, and we soon were on our way north almost 250 km to Puerto Natales. It was very nice to have a private driver, as he stopped along the way for us to take pictures of some Nancy (rhea), flamingos, and wild llamas.
The highway between the two cities is very good. The countryside reminded us a lot of the coulees you would find in southern Saskatchewan, or somewhat like the foothills of Alberta (though much flatter). It appears to be all ranching land as we passed several estancias, but I saw no planted crops.
Our driver spoke about as good English as we do Spanish, so we made out describing animals as well as we could. He was very interested in bears. We saw why as we entered the town of Puerto Natales, for there is a large statue of a Mylodon, a prehistoric animal which looks somewhat like a bear (but was apparently a herbivore).
Black-necked swans in Puerto Natales
Our driver delivered us to the Erratic Rock 2 hostel where we have a small, but clean, room. We walked to the shore of the Pacific Ocean, though it is in a large bay so the water is very placid, and saw many ducks and black-necked swans, as well as many cormorants.
We then stopped at the grocery store to get stocked up on lunch supplies for the next four days. We hoped we would get carrots, but there were none in the store. We did get a couple of potatoes which we cooked in the microwave of the hostel, and two frozen hamburger patties which we fried. After supper we packed all the food into our suitcases, trying to keep from squashing our bread.
Latitude sign in Puerto Natales
We are at a very similar latitude here to home in Prince Albert. The weather is a bit cooler than we would generally have in mid-July, but then the climate here is moderated by the ocean. Now is their summer of course, but it is much milder here in winter. However they get a great deal more snow, so that the nearby mountains are quite glaciated.