In Patgonia

To get down to Patagonia I flew down to Punta Arenas in the south. It is the most southerly outpost in Chile and apparently it is a bit of a windswept and bleak place but I wouldn't know as I was escorted north from the airport to Puerto Natales - the gateway to the Torres Del Paine National Park - my destination.

This province of Chile has been given the name Ultima Esperanza - Last Hope - I wonder what they were thinking when they named it that.

The countryside here is sparsely populated but there were few interesting things to see on the way into the park. We stopped to visit the Milodon Cave - a Milodon is a, now extinct, prehistoric sloth which used to inhabit the cave. A useless piece of trivia about the Milodon Cave is that it was a piece of skin from a mummified Milodon found in the cave that inspired Bruce Chatwin to go to Patagonia and write his classic travel book - In Patagonia. I have always liked Bruce Chatwin's writing and it was that book that inspired me to go to Patagonia - except it took me a long time to get there - I read it when I was in my 20's.

On the drive north there was some new and interesting wildlife (for me anyway). Below are the Guanaco and the Rhea.




And then finally as we approached the park the first glimpses of the Torres - very dramatic indeed. The Torres Del Paine - (The Towers of Blue from the name of the granite spires that dominate the area and the blue glacial lakes that are around them) are the classic mountains of Patagonia - they are the granite spires you see on the classic images of the area and they are spectacular.


On arriving in the park I met up with my fellow travelers. We were a group of 10 Australians, 1 Dutchman, myself and our two Chilean guides. By the end of the trip we were all the best of friends.