Another day, another country and yet another stamp or two in the passport! Welcome to my blog from Chile!

As is often the case on these long bus rides I ended up making friends with the guy sitting next to me, a fun Dutchy called Ruud. After checking into our cozy hostel Patagonia Aventura (about 12 blankets on the beds!) we got some lunch at a rustic Chilean eatery, chatting to the other tourists (from Valparadiso, Chile) at the adjoining table. As we are now on the coast there was noticably a lot more fish on the menu which was nice for a change!

Puerto Natales is the capital of an area of Chile called Utlima Esperanza, which translates as Last Hope. Rather bleak name, for a very extreme part of the world. The westerly wind blowing in across the Sound was biting, I am beginning to think that there are not enough layers in the world! Ruud and I after a very blustery walk spotted a building on the edge of the Sound that looked like it may be a hotel where we could get a warming cup of coffee. We bowled on in and were greeted by an army captain... we had just walked into an army barracks and asked for a cup of coffee. They were very obliging though and invited us in for a drink and to watch Colo Colo playing football! Rather random, but still nice to meet some locals! Later on we did discover Patagonia Dulce - the best hot chocolate yet and a whole menu of different types to choose from!

On Monday I took a day trip into the Torres del Paine National Park. It's a shame that (a) it's not summer; and (b) I haven't got more time here as I met a load of people who had done the "W" or the full curcuit hiking around the Torres. As it was the day trip was nice, especially the incredible waterfall and the stunningly turquoise glacial meltwater lakes, but a close up of the towers at sunrise would have been really special... another time! The wildlife was good, lots of guanacos (small llamas), rheas (a bit like ostrichs) and lots of birds including more flamingos. Although I was keeping my fingers crossed, unfortunately we didn't spy a puma. They think that there are around 80 pumas in the park, but then it's a BIG park. The journey back was another random experience. As most people on the tour were going back to El Chalten not Puerto Natales I ended up getting a ride with the guide and a border control guy in the border control guy's jeep!

Tuesday morning I went horse riding out to an estancia about 20km from town. The estancia was owned by an English lady and her Chilean husband and was in a gorgeous location on the edge of a fjord. The horses themselves were fabulous and Gustavo and I had a great ride through the spectacular scenery to the estancia. There were 2 yachts moored near the estancia, aparently a German couple and a French couple who were both on round the world sailing trips. I wondered if they had made it round Cape Horn or whether they were now wintering down in Chile to round in the Spring.

After the ride I met a few people who were also boarding the Navimag ferry up to Puerto Montt, so we spent the afternoon stocking up on supplies and eating before boarding the boat, my home for the next few days, around 9pm.