Thursday, August 25, 2011

Patagonia: Puerto Natales

At 8:20 I stepped out into the chilly Patagonian air. It's now all-to-clear how far south I am. My breath tastes like frost and the day bites like a Michigan autumn. I clambered aboard the Puerto Natales bus and slumped into my chair, almost falling asleep right then and there. I phased in and out of consciousness as the bus began its three hour trip. Occasionally I glimpsed scenes of the beautiful new landscape. The sun rising over the Straits of Magellan. Snow covered plains, the whole works. Winter has not yet left this place. 



Normally Puerto Natales is packed with tourists. Fortunately for me, though, it's the off-season right now. I get an entire dormroom in the hostel to myself and the tours are hella cheap. I spend a couple of hours wandering through the town. Right now it's slumbering and San Pedro is alive. Yet the two cities don't even compare. Natales has a vitality that Pedro never will. It has reasons to be aside from tourism. The thing that drives it home are the toy stores. There is one every few blocks. These aren't the penguin and glacier (now with real melting action!) souvenir shops masquerading as toy stores. No, they sell board games and toy guns and Digimon plushies. Puerto Natales doesn't dance to the whims of its tourists. It merely tolerates them.

They say the only reason to go here is as a stopping point for Torres del Paine. I disagree. It's also worth it for the views. The mountains are wholly different here from those in Atacama and Santiago. Those were backdrops far away, big enough to see but not relevant to your life. The ones here look like they'd crush the city if an avalanche happened. They're also colder, more crystal clear in the chilly air. Contrasted with that are the ramshackle ruins of the shoreline. I thought waiting in an empty airport was surreal. The abandoned stretches of the seaport put it shame. I walked along the coast and started taking pictures.













Eventually I came across three wrecked boats. None of them will be seaworthy ever again. It's easy to clamber aboard the smaller read one. From there I managed to crazy jump onto the blue one. I had to scramble madly and almost fell, but eventually pulled myself on.


Getting down was a problem. I couldn't jump in reverse, and it's high enough that I'd have to freefall my way down. If I was Tito or Brian this would be a cinch. But I'm not Tito or Brian, I'm "worst fear is falling" Hillel. I tried a few safer ways to get back to the smaller boat. I tried to build a bridge with the detritus. I tried to make a ladder. I even dropped below deck and tried to tear a hole in the structure. After a futile half hour I tied one of the ropes around my waist and half-climbed, half-rappelled down. it was terrifying. I'm never crazy climbing landlocked boats again.


I have no idea who this guy is, but from what I could make out he's either talking about the education riots or the Bolivian slapfight over Atacama.

One thing that really irritated me with the Atacama trip was how miserly we were with food. People preferred to eat peanuts, plain oatmeal and pasta rather than explore the local cuisine. I can totally understand why people would do that; food money could be used for other things. But now I'm here alone and I'm planning on eating every lunch and dinner out. Yeah, it's take some money out of my pocket, but 1) I've been working nonstop for two years and can afford the tiny cost, and 2) This is gonna be my last chance to eat more Chilean food. The food is damn good for the price; this lunch I had the best fish in my life for $10. Plus with nobody else around I can lightning-fast service. I've been making sure to leave good tips.

Overall I'm glad I opted to spend a day in Puerto Natales. But I should head to bed now. We'll be spending 10 hours tomorrow in Torres del Paine, and I need to catch up on the sleep I lost in the redeye flight.

3 comments:

  1. Awesome, awesome, awesome pictures. How big is Natales?

    These pictures remind me of parts of British Columbia that I've been to, but the mountains are much more..."crushing," if you will. This also means that you've put me on a massive nostalgia trip.

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  2. Your third from last picture is frame-worthy! Can't wait to hear lots more stories...

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  3. This place looks so stark and awesome, and I'm glad you decided to go even though it was winter. Also, the pictures you took are great, esp. of the landlocked boats. Sometimes decay can be so moving.

    You're coming back soon! Woot!

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