Tuesday, November 3 – Our day started over breakfast at the hostel with Geoff and Alex, our new friends from Scotland, and Nini as our hostess. Nini shared with us that her family had been in Punta Arenas for five generations. She and her sister learned English from a European woman that ran their first school. It was so nice getting to know the sisters that owned the hostel that I regretted not spending more time there, but our next destination was Puerto Natales, about three hours away and near the entrance of Torres del Paine national park.

After breakfast we hopped in the car with Geoff and Alex. On the way to Puerto Natales we saw a lot of wildlife along the isolated road (condors, rheas, guanacos and flamingos) as well as a lot of livestock (mostly sheep, with some cows and horses occasionally).

One of the things I love about traveling is meeting new people along the way. This is why I still prefer the backpacker style of traveling – staying in hostels, avoiding tours, traveling by local transportation when possible. One of the highlights of this trip was getting to know Geoff and Alex. They have traveled to around 65 countries around the world. They love the outdoors and often travel to climb mountains, go diving or ride bikes across Europe. We also had some fun comparing pronunciations (highland cows would be “heeland coos” in Scottish) and different words for common things (they refer to a windshield as a windscreen).

After arriving in Puerto Natales, we went to our respective hostels but agreed to meet for dinner later that night. We checked into the Amerindia Hostal. It was a cute place with  quaint cafe, but it lacked the warmth of our last hostel and the room was lacking (especially the bathroom).

Travel tip: Always bring flip flops to wear in the shower, especially when staying in hostels.

After exploring the town for a while, confirming our kayaking trip for the next day, and sending some postcards (which have yet to arrive 3 weeks later) we met up with Geoff and Alex at Pizzeria Mesita Grande, a nice brick oven pizza joint right off of the town square.

After dinner, we returned to the hostel to attempt to get a good night’s rest prior to our early morning start of kayaking the next day. Unfortunately there were a few distractions before that finally occurred. I mentioned the bathroom earlier in the post – well the shower head was cracked and sprayed all over the bathroom when in use, which made it look like a “war zone” in David’s words. Then the sink wouldn’t stop dripping and there was a dog fight outside of our window that night. Despite all of this, I finally managed to get some sleep before our big day tomorrow.

The adventure began about a week before leaving. My good friend and travel partner David discovered his passport had expired just last month. Our first reaction was to panic, but he quickly calmed down and put together a plan to get in touch with a congressman from his state….which worked!!! He was able to get the contact information of a staff member of the congressman on a Friday night, which lead to David getting a new passport by the following Thursday morning! I wouldn’t recommend anyone waiting until the last minute to get a new passport like this, but if you ever find yourself in the situation start with reaching out to your congressman. 

 
Sunday, November 1 – I started my long journey to Punta Arenas, Chile in Phoenix and met up with David in Atlanta. Although it had been 2 1/2 years since seeing each other it felt like just yesterday, as it does with old friends. The plane ride to Santiago was pretty uneventful, aside from the unpleasant odor coming from my gassy neighbor during the first part of the flight. 

Monday, November 2 – After landing in Santiago on Monday morning, we had to go through customs and catch our connecting flight to Punta Arenas via Puerto Montt. Luckily I had a window seat because the view from the plane was amazing. The snowcapped mountains and lakes were visible the entire flight. We flew over an active volcano with smoke spewing out of the top, which the flight attendant said was called Villarrica. We also had a nice view of the Paine Towers, one of the main attractions of Tierra del Paine.

  

 
After finally making it to our destination of Punta Arenas, the next step was to catch a cab to our hostal. Unfortunately there were no money exchange houses in the airport, so in order to get some local currency to pay a cab, I decided to use the ATM to pull our some cash. I thought that worked out well until a Chilean woman next to me at the ATM starts trying to tell me something about the ATM. At first I thought she was asking me how to use the ATM – then I realized she was telling me that the machine took my card! I was so focused on getting my cash and receipt that I didn’t grab my card out of the machine. After so long, the machine took my card and there was no way to get it back. Not the best way to start the trip. After my brief moment of panic, we caught a cab to our hostal in Punta Arenas, the Innata Casa Hostal.

  

  

 
At the Innata Casa Hostal we met the owners, sisters Marisel and Nini. This is one of the best hostals I have ever stayed in mostly thanks to the amazing owners. Marisel made us tea and toast when we arrived and told us about the other guests staying there. They just opened the hostel in August of this year but the building was previously their father’s office. 

The city cemetery is quite famous so we decided to check that out before heading to dinner. It was snowing and very cold, so we only walked around a little at the cemetery, but were able to take some fun photos among the topiary cyprus trees throughout. You can read more about our visit to the cemetery on David’s blog, http://www.ancestorsleuthhound.com.

 

  

 
We had dinner at Fusiones Gastrobar. The food was mediocre and I had to start using my rusty Spanish to communicate with the staff, but we made the most of it as usual.

Back at the hostel, I fell asleep early while David went to the community room and met Geoff and Alex, our new Scottish friends who offered us a ride to Puerto Natales the next day.