Puerto Natales, My Home in the Very Deep South, Chile

My driver from Compa picked me up today from the airport in Punta Arenas after my three hour flight from Santiago. We then had a three hour drive up Ruta 9 to Puerto Natales through the Chilean Patagonia, amazing stuff! The landscape is huge, massive and incredible. The light bounces from pampas to snowcapped peaks and even small puddles have white caps. We stopped half way to an outpost for coffee, the owners face totally English, no it was Welsh. The Welsh settled here many years ago to raise sheep; they did well by the huge herds I saw. Also we passed ostriches, cattle and birds of strange types. They had a signpost outside with kilometers to every city in the world it seemed, a lot I have been to.

With Jorge’s limited English and my remedial Spanish I decided to pull out a phrase book and play a word game. I looked up the least used words in both languages and soon we were giggling like hens. Tomorrow we will have an English guide with us; games begin with guide in the middle.

I was dropped of in Puerto Natales and immediately loved this port town, a hippy, dreadlock and Gore-Tex haven for outdoor people. The waterside and mountains fill the frame of my hotel window and music spills from restaurants and shops. The hostels proliferate like rabbits and I walk with a camera constantly, leaving it home tonight!