We took the bus from Puerto Natales, Chile, to El Calafate, Argentina. The border crossing was not complicated. Everyone got off the bus and lined up for an exit stamp at the Chilean border. Then, a few minutes later, we did the same for entering Argentina. After that, rest of the 4 hour bus ride was quiet. We had snacks, took naps etc.
We saw some snow on the ground mid way through the drive, which surprised us since it was supposed to be summer time in South America.
But the temperature rose as we got closer to El Calafate(population: 6,100.) We rented a car in town. El Calafate had the vibe of a ski town in the U.S. It basically has one main street where eateries, ski & sporting goods shops and gift shops are lined up.
We had a late lunch at this restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host. Great food. Friendly service.
Just keep driving on the main street will eventually take you to the destination where everybody is in this town for: Perito Moreno Glacier. I was under the impression that the national park where this glacier is located is open till late, and it would be smart to go there later in the day to beat the crowd. So we drove out after our meal.
Gorgeous scenery all around. El Calafate is on the shores of the biggest lake in Argentina, Lago Argentino. And there are mountains close and far. Unspoiled nature.
We got to the park entrance in 45 minutes and discovered that Glacier National Park closed at 6 PM everyday. Oh, well. We were not sorry we made that trip, though. It was just so beautiful.
Our Airbnb house was in a newly developed area about 10 minutes out of the way from the center of town. We went to a market close by and picked up some groceries to make dinner with & ate dinner at home. We were too tired to go out and party.
We successfully entered the park next morning. That story will be in another blog post. After we came back from the park, we found our lunch at this place. We deserve some high-calorie unhealthy food, we decided.
If we had another day, we could have driven to El Chalten, another part of Glacier National Park 125 miles north. I did not include this area in our itinerary because El Chalten seemed to be mostly for hikers. But the scenery is supposed to be stunning, and we could have just enjoyed seeing that.
For a lot of people, Patagonia means Torres del Paine National Park. Many calendars show pictures like the one above, and people may know it’s taken in Patagonia somewhere even if they don’t know exactly where. Torres del Paine means towers of blue, the three granite peaks you see in the picture right to the white snow covered mountain.
here’s the map of the Park & our tour route is shown in the map below
We decided to join a smaller group(up to 20 people) day tour ($55) from Puerto Natales. There were tons of big and small tour companies offering similar trips online, but we picked this one because we try to support local companies if possible, and this outfit seemed to have a fair price and good reviews. I will quote their description of the trip & follow the route & show how they did.
“We will start our full day at Torres del Paine at 07:30 am. picking up travelers at their respective hotels and hostels in Puerto Natales, starting the trip to Torres del Paine at approximately 08:00 hrs. With first stop in Cerro Castillo, where we can use sanitary services or buy in the cafeteria in the cafeteria that is in place.”
We got picked up around 8 AM, and the mini bus was filled up with about 20 people. The English speaking guide knew what he was talking about.
Cerro Castillo stop. There was a little cafe in this gift shop from where one could picked up a to go lunch.
“We continue our tour to Torres del Paine National Park, making a stop at the Sarmiento Lake Viewpoint. From there you have the first panoramic view of the Paine Range, travelers can take pictures or videos.”
We could not believe we got this kind of view & we were not even in the park yet.
from Sarmiento Lake viewpoint
“We continue the trip to the Torres del Paine National Park, until we reach the Laguna Amarga sector, where you can see the imposing granite formations known as the Torres del Paine, from a privileged view of the Amarga Lagoon and then go to the sector called Cascada Paine where we will stop so that our passengers can take photographs of the sector from their viewpoint.”
Everyone took a million photos. It was impossible to take a bad photo in the whole park.
“After entering the National Park by Laguna Amarga Porter and on the way to the administrative headquarters, a stop is made at the Mirador del Nordenskjöld, from where the immensity of the Paine Range, especially the Cuernos del Paine formations, can be seen imposingly, Monte Almirante Nieto, and Paine Grande.”
At the park administration, each person bought an entrance ticket(about $25).
“We continue the trip along the shore of Lake Pehoé from where it is possible to see the Salto Grande. Where passengers can take a walk to the viewpoint sector with the Cuernos del Paine behind them, if the weather conditions do not allow it due to high winds, a stop will be made from the Mirador that exists on the road.”
We were lucky to have nice weather, and the 30 minute walk to the viewpoint was very pleasant although the path was just a dirt road.
this is what you see when you get to the viewpoint
“The trip continues to the Pehoé Lake viewpoint. Here it is possible to see the Island where Hosteria Pehoé is located, and the imposing Paine mountain range with a spectacular view of the Cuernos del Paine. We will continue the trip to the Pehoé campsite where we will stop for approximately 40 min. for lunch. Passengers can bring all kinds of food from Puerto Natales for the trip.”
Instead of having lunch here, we continued to Gray Lake and had lunch there.
“From here the trip continues along the banks of the Paine River, until we cross it by the bridge over the Weber River, and from there we go to the Gray Lake sector. Along the way it is possible the sighting of flora and fauna in the sector.-
From the parking place, you can take a walk that will lead us to the Gray Lake sector where you can see different icebergs that move from the Gray glacier and reach the shore of the beach. This hike has a duration of 1 hour in total.”
There was a nice cafeteria and washroom facilities at the parking lot. We brought our own lunch, thus, we kept walking looking for a picnic spot.
we ended up eating sitting on the exposed riverbed(lakebed?)the blue-ish sculptures on the right are, actually, icebergs
“After visiting Gray Lake, you will return to the Administrative Headquarters sector of the National Park and from there take the new road towards Puerto Natales. A stop is taken to take pictures at the Lago del Toro viewpoint, where you can see the Gray glacier, the Paine mountain range and the Lake del Toro from a great distance.”
“After visiting the viewpoints, we make a break at the Milodon Cave Natural Monument where it will be possible to visit the audiovisual room and the large cave where the Milodon replica is located.”
It would’ve been interesting enough if we had come here directly just to see this, but, after the glorious day at Torres del Paines, we were spoiled & tired. A 20-25 minute walk to enter the cave felt long. Sorry, Milodon Cave! We humans are fickle.
“From there you arrive at Puerto Natales, at approximately 7:30 p.m. leaving passengers in their respective places of accommodation.”
We got back around 7PM, and they delivered everything as promised. We were fully satisfied: to be honest, we were a bit overwhelmed by the natural beauty and wonder we had experienced that day. What an exceptionally special treat that was!
Now that we’ve done it, I can say we could have done it on our own by renting a car and driving there taking time as we pleased. But, for a first time visitor, the tour we took was just right. There are lots of other tour options offered by local operators, too. Many people choose to do a multiple day trekking.
Some people start this tour from Punta Arenas, and that will add at least 3 hours each way. To me, that is a bit much driving in a day. We were happy that we chose to start from Puerto Natales.
That gave us a convenient connection to our next destination, too.
Puerto Natales is not really a destination. It is more of a jumping ground to other natural attractions around it. We went there in order to go to Torres del Paine National Park, one of the highlights of Patagonia. The flight from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas was two hours. This time, I did not get a window seat, thus, I don’t know what the view was like on the way. What made a great impression was the wind speed that clocked in at 50 miles/hour & so strong that they could not open the door to the cargo bay. We had to wait over an hour to get our bags.
We were nervous because we were supposed to get on the bus($12) for a 3.5 hour trip to Puerto Natales. Luckily, the bus stop was right out the door at the small airport terminal. There were many buses coming and going, mostly to and from Punta Arenas downtown. Our bus showed “Natales” as destination when it finally arrived 20 minutes after the designated time. The bus was comfortable, and we ate our homemade sandwiches with much appreciation since there was no other way of finding lunch on the way. There are flights that go directly to Puerto Natales(population: 18,500) from Santiago, but it would have required us to fly first north to Santiago, then transfer to Natales. That would’ve been a much more time consuming and expensive way of getting there. The scenery we saw through the window on the bus was quite pleasant.
Puerto Natales was a laid-back, more of an old time backpacker friendly town than a flash touristy depot.
The bus terminal, which was bigger than most other buildings in town, was the orange dot on the map above. We took a cab to our Airbnb apartment 5 minutes away. We could have walked in 15 minutes, but we had bags.
Our 3 bedroom apartment was the corner unit in this building.
Two old churches stand next to each other by the central square, Plaza de Armas.
It was raining off and on, but but we did manage to walk around to get the feel of the town. We just prayed it would be sunny the next day for our Torres del Paines visit.
Amor al Viento (Love of the Wind), a sculpture on the waterfront
There were some artsy shops, but the predominant vibe was backpacking adventurers heaven.
Our prayers were answered, and the sun came out the next morning. We had a grand tour of Torres del Paine without a hitch. After that, our dinner was at a restaurant near our apartment that was filled with locals. Their food was not anything exceptional, but the service was great. Townspeople were all very nice in general.
The whole town seemed to be on fire when the sun was setting that evening.
Small Wide World 