The Net House Cibercafe, Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales is a little windy town, where the houses are made of wood and covered by tin sheets. People drive Dodge and Chevrolet pick up trucks. All the modern facilities (ATM, WiFi, supermarket, good pavement) are here because travellers from all around the world start their multi-day hikes to the Torres del Paine national park from here.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon after 4-days/3-nights of sailing through the desolate Patagonian landscapes: there was cell phone signal for only 15 minutes close to S45.2 / W73.7. Otherwise the only human presence that we encountered was in Puerto Eden (200 inhabitants): the only place in Chile where one can buy handicraft made of sea lions. Because of bad weather (rain and wind) however, the
crew did not let us off shore to visit the village. The nature was a bit monotone and less impressive that I hoped for (Kaarel says that, Csilla was very much impressed): forest covered islands and peninsulas, kind of like in Finland, but with snowy mountains in the background. What was big and impressive however was the intense blue Pio XI glacier (the boat made a detour into the Fjord Eyre to visit it), part of which cracked and splashed into the water in front of our eyes. In terms of animals we saw sea lions, dolphins, even a killer whale (very rare!, spotted by Csilla), cormorants (who look like penguins), and penguins (who were maybe actually cormorants, Csilla: no they were not, they were penguins!!!).

The ferry provided more than just transportation from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales: there were a few lectures on fauna and glaciers (also in English), movies, a salsa party and we could also visit the bridge to see the radars and GPSs. Food was good on the ferry and we had a 4-person cabin only for ourselves, as the other 2 passengers did not show up. Most of the people on the boat were non-Chileans: a large group of German students and a few French, Dutch and Americans. (The Germans completely ruled the Bingo competition on the last night.)

Today we will go on a (probably) 5-day hike in the Torres del Paine, to do the so called W-track there. So won't be online before Sunday.