Puerto Natales, Chile. All photos by Yours Truly.

Patagonia!

We made it! It took 11 hours from Santiago that involved a public bus, a subway ride, a private bus (with air conditioning!), a plane, and a shared van that dropped us at Hotel Isla Rey Jorge in Punta Arenas at 2:40 am on Saturday.

After toast, Nescafé, shopping for some camping necessities, an Irish Coffee, and a brisk walk along the water, we caught a three-hour bus to Puerto Natales, our base for hiking Torres del Paine.

Our bus was named Amy.

View from the bus ride. We also saw emu, guanacos, sheep, cows, lakes, and roadside chapels.

Puerto Natales is a sleepy tourist town where you hear just as much English spoken as Spanish by the backpackers who flood this place in the summer. But we’re still getting plenty of Spanish practice in with our very sweet Airbnb hosts, Osmar & Margarita.

This is our sweet luxury shack, just behind the main house (also made of corrugated tin, like most houses here.) They grow medicinal and culinary herbs in their garden under the plum tree. They brought us a Valentine’s Day bowl of chocolates.

Our two days here have consisted of listening to the rain beat down on our roof, talking walks during the sun breaks, admiring the adorable dogs, and trying out some of the local watering holes.

This little guy had his very own peep hole cut into his fence!

The garbage cans here are shaped like backpackers, coal miners, etc.

We’ve also spent a good deal of time here gathering tips from locals and fellow tourists about the best ways to approach our six-day trek in Torres del Paine National Park. This is THE tourist trek here, so we decided to take the road less traveled and hike the back side of the park, starting with a 7:30 am bus ride in tomorrow.

There will be glaciers. There will be catamaran rides. There will be back-road bars and restocking stations. There will be all types of weather. We’ll be offline for the next week, but stay tuned for more details and photos when we get back.

I think this Pegasus truck sums up this country pretty well.