We had breakfast once again next to a window with the stunning view of El Paine Grande, then checked out of the hotel and rode the bus about 45 minutes to a ranger station where there was an exhibit on the formation of the torres (towers).
Along the way, our driver made a quick stop! There was a Huemul deer grazing along the road. This is one of the "national animals" of Chile. It is even depicted on the country's national emblem. But most Chileans have never seen one! They are quite rare, and only found here in Patagonia. We were told over and over how fortunate we were to see it -- and it allowed us to get rather close as it posed for our photos.
Then it was on to a trailhead for a hike of about one hour through some grasslands near the edge of the park. There were many Guanacos grazing, and many birds, including several huge condors on the wing above us. Also in the grass were many dried white bones of Guanacos that had fallen prey to the Puma. The group walked in silence, hoping for a glimpse of the Puma, but the best we could do was to frighten a hare that ran across our path. Patagonian Hares are large, about 15 pounds for adults, so that was not an insignificant sight.
Back on the bus, we left the Torres del Paine National Park, and finally learned from our local guide that “paine” is an indiginous word for the color blue, so Torres del Paine means ”towers of blue.” They were, indeed, bluish when we saw them in clear, bright sunshine yesterday, but visitors coming to the park today would only see them shrouded in clouds. We have been unusually fortunate in terms of weather.
The local guide kept us entertained with background on the history of Puerto Natales as we ate our box lunches and continued down the highway. We arrived at Puerto Natales around 2:30 p.m. and the bus drove us through the town for a bit of orientation. Then we were dropped at a hotel near the waterfront. OAT uses this hotel for overnights on some other itineraries, so they were happy to allow us to lounge in their lobby and to use their Wi-Fi one last time.
Mary and I picked up a city map at the front desk and decided to do a walking tour of our own. The town is probably about the size of Decorah during the winter months, but doubles in size during the high tourist season. It’s a very touristy place. Another similarity to Decorah was the significant Scandinavian flavor. The architecture and the bright colors reminded us a lot of a seaside village in Denmark or Sweden.
Like El Calafate, Puerto Natales seems to have a dog problem. People just let their dogs run free during the day, and they either beg, bark, or form packs. As we were strangers in the neighborhood, we were barked at quite a bit and one mutt even nipped at my leg. But no damage was done aside from having to clean some dog slobber off my pant leg.
The bus returned to the hotel about 4 p.m. to take us the short distance to the peer where our boat, the Skorpios III, was waiting. Interestingly, the same company that operates these cruises also supports a very large Salmon farming operation offshore. So the peer was lined with hundreds of huge bags of fish food waiting to be loaded onto barges. Each bag sat on a pallet and probably stood 6 feet high.
We were welcomed aboard and shown to our state room. The rooms are quite a bit larger than on some other boats we’ve been on. We have two large windows and a full bathroom with large shower. There are four meals served each day, so we were served “Tea” just as the boat departed. A German immigrant was the wife of the company’s founder, so fancy German pastries are the centerpiece of tea time.
Also, there are two full bars — one fore and one aft — that are open bars from 10 a.m. until midnight. So there’s literally no limit on what we can drink! I’d say it was free booze, but we have certainly paid for it as part of our trip. I went to order a Scotch and was told they didn’t have that (even though I could see several bottles behind the bar). I then asked for whiskey, and was immediately offered my choice of four different Scotches. I’m in Chile. The problem is not their English, it is my limited Spanish. But it was kind of funny.
After tea we had a very poor orientation lecture by a crew member with very bad English, and demonstration of how to use a life jacket. Fortunately, this lecture was held in one of the bars, and the bartender was on duty throughout. We then had some conversation time before we were called to dinner in the dining room, which is served at 8:30 p.m. Dinner was enormous: A huge crab cake, squash soup, salad, steak with potatoes, and a mousse for dessert.
After dinner, the Captain gave a (too long) speech. He spoke entirely in Spanish, usually in long paragraphs, and a crew member would translate to English in a few sentences. It was clear that much was being lost in translation.
When that was finally completed, they insisted that we go around the room and introduce ourselves with name and where we are from. There are 80 passengers on this boat, and probably 50 of them don’t speak English. There is little chance we would remember any of the names, and we often didn’t understand the home towns. We did, however, learn that the passengers represent 11 different countries, including China, several countries in South America, and a handful of countries in Western Europe.
Some passengers stayed up to try to drain the bar, but we opted to call it a day and head to bed a bit past 10 p.m.
Back on the bus, we left the Torres del Paine National Park, and finally learned from our local guide that “paine” is an indiginous word for the color blue, so Torres del Paine means ”towers of blue.” They were, indeed, bluish when we saw them in clear, bright sunshine yesterday, but visitors coming to the park today would only see them shrouded in clouds. We have been unusually fortunate in terms of weather.
The local guide kept us entertained with background on the history of Puerto Natales as we ate our box lunches and continued down the highway. We arrived at Puerto Natales around 2:30 p.m. and the bus drove us through the town for a bit of orientation. Then we were dropped at a hotel near the waterfront. OAT uses this hotel for overnights on some other itineraries, so they were happy to allow us to lounge in their lobby and to use their Wi-Fi one last time.
Mary and I picked up a city map at the front desk and decided to do a walking tour of our own. The town is probably about the size of Decorah during the winter months, but doubles in size during the high tourist season. It’s a very touristy place. Another similarity to Decorah was the significant Scandinavian flavor. The architecture and the bright colors reminded us a lot of a seaside village in Denmark or Sweden.
Like El Calafate, Puerto Natales seems to have a dog problem. People just let their dogs run free during the day, and they either beg, bark, or form packs. As we were strangers in the neighborhood, we were barked at quite a bit and one mutt even nipped at my leg. But no damage was done aside from having to clean some dog slobber off my pant leg.
The bus returned to the hotel about 4 p.m. to take us the short distance to the peer where our boat, the Skorpios III, was waiting. Interestingly, the same company that operates these cruises also supports a very large Salmon farming operation offshore. So the peer was lined with hundreds of huge bags of fish food waiting to be loaded onto barges. Each bag sat on a pallet and probably stood 6 feet high.
Also, there are two full bars — one fore and one aft — that are open bars from 10 a.m. until midnight. So there’s literally no limit on what we can drink! I’d say it was free booze, but we have certainly paid for it as part of our trip. I went to order a Scotch and was told they didn’t have that (even though I could see several bottles behind the bar). I then asked for whiskey, and was immediately offered my choice of four different Scotches. I’m in Chile. The problem is not their English, it is my limited Spanish. But it was kind of funny.
After tea we had a very poor orientation lecture by a crew member with very bad English, and demonstration of how to use a life jacket. Fortunately, this lecture was held in one of the bars, and the bartender was on duty throughout. We then had some conversation time before we were called to dinner in the dining room, which is served at 8:30 p.m. Dinner was enormous: A huge crab cake, squash soup, salad, steak with potatoes, and a mousse for dessert.
After dinner, the Captain gave a (too long) speech. He spoke entirely in Spanish, usually in long paragraphs, and a crew member would translate to English in a few sentences. It was clear that much was being lost in translation.
When that was finally completed, they insisted that we go around the room and introduce ourselves with name and where we are from. There are 80 passengers on this boat, and probably 50 of them don’t speak English. There is little chance we would remember any of the names, and we often didn’t understand the home towns. We did, however, learn that the passengers represent 11 different countries, including China, several countries in South America, and a handful of countries in Western Europe.
Some passengers stayed up to try to drain the bar, but we opted to call it a day and head to bed a bit past 10 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment