Thanks Judy.
Our second to last stop on the Patagonian extension was a side trip back into Chile to the town of Puerto Natales. For the general world population (anyone non Chilean), Puerto Natales is in the south of Chile, 230kms north of the southern most town of Punta Arenas. For Chileans, Puerto Natales is in fact 265kms north of the geographic centre of Chile which extends from 19 degrees south at the northern border with Peru, all the way to the south pole in Antarctica. They have backed up this territorial claim by sending a Chilean woman to Antarctica to give birth (sending her their to conceive was considered too expensive) and by maintaining a monument, 265kms to the south, marking the geographic centre of the country.
Our intended accommodation in Puerto Natales had undergone a bit of a revamp since the Lonely Planet was printed, with the price of a room rising from US$23 to US$165 per night. A little short on cash, we by-passed and ended up staying at 'Hostel Lili' which was in fact a guy called Pedro's private house - he'd made a flyer using his new computer and pirate copy of Microsoft Works to pronounce his house a 'hostel', and apart from the flyer, there was no other suggestion that this run of the mill house was indeed a hostel. It was here we met Ewok, his pet dog that insisted on dry humping/red rocketing us (South park episode featuring dogs on heat - google it if you must...) whenever he saw us.
Our short stay in Puerto Natales was in order to visit the Torres del Paine national park, a beautiful national park dotted with glacial lakes and punctured by a dominating geologic intrusion producing some truly spectacular mountains. The drive into the park was worth the admission price itself as the Patagonian plateau was shrouded by mist as the sun rose following some fresh snow.
Yet another photo safari from the comfort of a tourist mini-bus was had as picture postcard vista after picture postcard vista unfolded in front of us within the national park. The mountains are much younger than the Andean range in which they sit, and rise upwards dramatically in near vertical blocks. Glacial melt pouring from the mountains create beautiful lakes, while ice bergs calve off regularly to complete the landscape that Craig Potton dreams of.
We were also fortunate along the way to encounter plenty of the native wildlife, with Condors, Grey Fox, Woodpeckers, Armadillos, Emo like things and wild Llamas making appearances, all on cue.
From this, our southern most point on our trails, we boosted north via yet another night bus to Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic Coast (rapidly closing in on 250 hours each on buses). Whales were on the menu here, metaphorically speaking, with Mat hopeful of a sighting. In fact, some particularly patchy facial growth depended on it - 'Whales or Wales' had been the call. A shave once we see Whales, or once we go to Wales for the rugby world cup quarter final. Wasn´t long till this was settled though as a walk down to the harbour to grab a feed revealed a half dozen whales sitting a few hundred metres off the beach.The afternoon was spent at a local Ecocentre which provided a fantastic overview of the marine environment and terrific viewing point for the sunset. It also delivered some fantastic public amenities which included the smallest toilet we´ve ever seen. Now gents will be used to seeing a smaller sized, scaled down urinal in a row of 6 at a public toilet, designed in smaller proportions to cater to the under 8 year old clientelle. Well, these guys took it a little further and also provided a scaled down toilet in proportion for the under 8´s, which came as a bit of a surprise for Mat who now understands what it must be like to be 8 foot 9 and using a standard sized toilet.
Another tour was booked, and we headed out to the Peninsula Valdes for whale watching and a general looksee. The first stop was a magical moment and a 'Top 10' highlight of the five months travelling to date. Seated on a steep profiled mixed gravel beach (GEOG311 - Coastal Processes), we were able to watch a couple dozen Southern Right Whales playing in the rising sun. A truly spectacular sight, highlighted by a mother nursing her calve no more than 50 metres from shore.
From this magic moment we lurched to another as we took to the sea to check out the action. It´s mating season at the moment and we soon found ourselves in the centre of whale orgy with three males red rocketing one female, all within a few metres of our boat. Extremely hard to describe in words the size of these animals ('16 metres in length' doesn´t really do them justice), other than to say we were mesmerised as they passed under the boat and surfaced only a few metres away. And for those wondering, the photo below has not been cropped!
And if Ewok and whales red rocketing wasn´t enough, Mat had a pleasant experience when after watching a couple of whales, he turned round to get a faceful of Spanish man crotch! One spectator had forgotten the important concept of ´personal space´ on the whale watching boat and had gotten so close to Mat (who was kneeling at the time) a face full of crotch was received when Mat turned to vacate his posi.The rest of the day took in the beautiful scenery of the peninsular and other wildlife, including Sealions, Elephant Seals and more Emu lke things. However, following the charismatic megafauna (whales) is a tough act and hardly worth a blog mention.
As our arrival in London draws increasingly close, we have had a few reminders in the last week of how fortunate we have been on our travels to date (touching all wood in proximity!). Was only 4 months ago that we were in Jamaica, the Yacatun and Belize which are currently being rampaged by Hurricane Dean, while news of the near total destruction of Pisco (Peru earthquake) where we were based only 8 weeks ago only confirms our good fortune.Octagon has re-posted and there is now a poll for voting on the chances of Tasman Mako success in 2007. Onwards to Beunos Aires where shopping and meat await. Back to you in the studio Judy...
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