Now with a lot of money on hand (we were prepared to pay the exorbitant entrance and ferry fees for the park), we moved down south to see the penguins on Isla Magdalena near Punta Arenas. There, we were able to get up close thousands of juvenile Magellanic penguins – the parents had already left for the season. Having seen flamingos off the side of the road just a few hours previously, we marveled at the juxtapositions of the southern most area of South America. That night, we treated ourselves to some local sea food after a day full of surprises.
The next day, we will be decided to head back north and check out the Pali Aike National Park just before the Argentinian border. Just before we reached the park, we happened upon an vast sheep farm that had been vacant for decades. A near by shipwreck also added to this place’s creepy appearance. The Pali Aike park was full of strange basalt formations and craters from volcanos occurring between 10000 and 1 million years ago- making our way through some of the lava fields really felt as though we were on a different planet.
Just before crossing the Argentinian border, Cédric and I also attempted to rid ourselves of the extra Chilean pesos by buying as many food supplies as possible (as with most everything, food was significantly cheaper in Chile). The border town was unfortunately too small for our big budget and we only managed to spend a third of the money.
Thankfully, it worked. With the help of our GPS, we can found the stationed Argentinian border crossing 20 km down an unmarked and unpaved road, with the Chilean crossing 5km further down the road. That night, we arrived in Puerto Natales just before the rain.
The next day in torrents of rain, Cédric and I wandered through Puerto Natales in hopes to gather enough money, food, and information for our stay in the Torres del Paine National Park. Gathering information was no easy feat, since it seemed that there was a lack of communication between multiple entities for this highly regulated park. One could not simply camp in a designated camping area as in other places where we had been… we found out that booking (and paying for) a spot needed to take place weeks/months in advance, which sometimes included an overpriced full board. Pity for those who were unlucky with weather.
Since we had a car and were more mobile than most visitors who took busses into the park, Cédric and I opted to camp off the trail and drive to trail heads every morning. Although it wasn’t the hike that we were hoping for, we were making due. After a hearty Chilean stew at a local restaurant, Cédric and I drove to a campsite just in front of the rangers’ office to get an early start for hiking. By this time the rain had not let up and we were the only people at the site, so Cédric had the brilliant idea of sleeping in the bathroom. For those also camping in similar conditions (a cold downpour), this option comes highly recommended. The next day, we woke up dry and made our way to the rangers’ office only to find out that the trails leading up to the main view points were closed. And had been closed the day before as well.
