Trekking the “W”
Trekking the “W” in Torres del Paine – Los Cuernos del Paine, view from a boat on a trip to Pehoe, Torres del Paine National Park, South Chile
Torres del Paine is South America’s most visited National Park, with more than 200.000 visitors per year. It covers an area of 181.000 hectares and is on every tourist’s itinerary who is visiting Chile or southern Argentina. Continue Reading →
Palacio de la Moneda, Santiago de Chile
Our farewell to Argentina was appropriate, a spontaneous party with Argentineans at our hostel. We sampled the food and wine people had bought touring the bodegas that day and everybody shared whatever they had. We were particular proud to be able to follow the conversation in Spanish about any random topic. Continue Reading →
Trekking the “W” in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile – Sunset over Los Cuernos del Paine – Chile, Puerto Natales, Nationalpark Torres del Paine – Sonnenuntergang über Los Cuernos del Paine
We only covered the southern half of Chile: we started in Puerto Varas, then took the Navimag Cruise from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, where we went Trekking the “W” in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, and finally headed to Punta Arenas before moving to Ushuaia and Argentina on the Tierra del Fuego. Continue Reading →
Trekking the “W” in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile – Chile, Puerto Natales, Nationalpark Torres del Paine – La Valle de los Frances oder der Tal der Franzosen
Since we “only” spent 16 days in southern Chile, we do not want to do this country any injustice, but except the spectacular scenery in Torres del Paine and the fjords on the way to Puerto Natales, we have not many unforgettable memories. Continue Reading →
Apart from cozy rooms and WiFi, Hostal Casa Azul in Puerto Montt offers a little, but nice kitchen, where almost every guest would cook dinner, have a glass of wine and exchange travel story and cooking recipies …
Chile is definitely the most expensive country we have been in South America, by far! Of course, prices are lower than in Europe or in North America, but are much higher than Brazil or Argentina, not to talk about Venezuela, Peru and of course Bolivia. Continue Reading →
The Southernmost City On America’s Mainland
Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile – The more common sight here are houses made of wood with thin sheets of metals nailed onto them, then the building is painted in the wildest colour
We decided to break up the trip to Ushuaia and stopped in Punta Arenas for two days, discovering the southernmost city on America’s mainland. What we found was a rather rough place. The town is a wild mix of houses of all shapes and colours. In the very centre there are a few old mansions dating back to turn of the century when Punta Arena was the home of a number of “wool barons”. Continue Reading →
The Cruise
Cruise from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, Patagonia, Chile – In the evening we passed another glacier in the distance, as a consequence large junks of ice were drifting along the boat, giving us a really chilly artic feeling
The success of this cruise is very much dependent on the weather. We started from Puerto Montt around 04:00 pm in bright sunshine and no wind. We could hardly believe our luck, since fog, strong winds, rain or even snow and icy temperatures are the more likely weather conditions in the area. The surface of the ocean was completely smooth, more like a lake. We were travelling along Chiloe Island off the coast, but since its shores were far away, there was not much to see, so we wandered around the boat and met lots of people. Continue Reading →
Cruise from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, Patagonia, Chile – We started from Puerto Montt around 04:00 pm in bright sunshine and no wind. We could hardly believe our luck, since fog, strong winds, rain or even snow and icy temperatures are the more likely weather conditions in the area.
On Tuesday, December 11th, with almost 24 hours delay, we boarded the Evangelista, the 120 meter long Navimag ferry travelling between Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, winding its way through a maze of fjords along the Chilean Pacific coast. It is best described as an inside passage between the mainland and the many small island off the coast. Continue Reading →
Volcano Osorno, near Lago Todos Los Sanctos and the city of Petrohue, Puerto Montt
Heidi had stayed a few days longer in Argentina while Gilles moved on to rainy Chile. We met again in Puerto Varas to catch the Navimag ferry to Puerto Natales in southern Patagonia. This voyage will take us 1.460km through the fjords of southern Chile, a three day / three night trip. This boat leaves every Monday from Puerto Montt. But instead of spending the two days we had to wait in the rather unattractive Puerto Montt, we chose to stay at charming Puerto Varas, a mere 20 kilometers north. We ended up spending three days there because our boat was delayed one day due to rough sea and strong winds returning from Puerto Natales. Continue Reading →
The “Palafitos” are the trademark of Chiloe. Those wooden houses were built in the beginning of the 20th century. More than 1.000 of them could be found on the shores of Chiloe. Now only 120 remain…
Another crazy trip! The first bus ride took me from El Bolsón to San Carlos de Bariloche, in the Argentinean Lake District, 2 hours. One hour later, I took another bus from Bariloche to Puerto Montt in Chile, a 7 hour ride and almost immediately after I took the last bus to Castro, the main city of on the island of Chiloe, arriving there at 11:00 pm, after 13 hours on a bus and 15 hours traveling, exhausted and near starvation, since I had nothing all day to eat but two energy bars. There, it was foggy, rainy and bitterly cold, a quite depressing first impression of Chile! Continue Reading →
