Puerto Natales is not really a town that has anything particularly special about it, although it is surrounded by quite a scenic port. The main reason for visiting this town was because it was the main access point to Torres Del Paine and also the Patagonian ferry, Navimag. The only slightly interesting point worth noting upon entering this town was alot of the houses where made out Tin! Corrugated Tin Walls and Tin roofs and each one was unique, none looked the same. They all looked like they could easily fall down! We had booked into Hostel Melinda (luckily a wooden house) for the first night with the view to going trekking the day after; however as we got too Natales late, as the Chile customs took ages, we delayed the trek by a day as we wouldn't have had time to prepare. 'Manky' Melindas definitely had character. Run by an odd eccentric old Chilean couple, tidiness was not something they took interest in! The house looked rundown and the inside reflected the outside! However the beds where clean and comfy and with a Tv in our room we found it wasn't so bad as long as you didn't stray from the room. The day after we decided Melindas had been quite an experience and booked into a much nicer hostel, Yagan house. However due to us coming back a day early from Torres Del Paine we were faced with no accommodation in this very busy town. We tried a few hostels but they was all full. Knowing no one in there right mind would go to Melindas we decided to cut our losses and try there again. Manky Melindas to the rescue, of course had space and luckily we ended up in a better room than last time! The only good thing about this hostel where the power showers; Excellent after the trek as we hadn't showered for three days! We booked into Yagan house again the day after and excitedly waited for our ferry trip.
Navimag ferry was a 4 day trip from Puerto Natales, up the Chile Fjords, touching into the Pacific and then back into the Fjords towards Puerto Montt. We was looking forward to this as it was adequate time for rest and relaxation after our trekking expedition. Also it was nice to not have to think about budgeting, hostels and what to eat for a few days as everything was planned. The first day on the boat took us up some beautiful Fjords stopping at another Glacier SKUA. A very beautiful glacier, not as big as the last Moreno glacier but still very impressive and it was nice seeing it from the sea looking in. The captain of the boat liked to inform you when something interesting is about, so bright and early just before 7am (not a great time to wake after a 1.5 litres of wine) I stumbled onto the deck to take in the beautiful sunrise and the English Bajo Cotopaxi shipwreck. Apparently an insurance scandal that went wrong in 1889; whereas the captain tried to sink the boat but failed and got it stuck on a rock instead. There was also a few groups of seals frolicking here and there which was lovely to see. I went to breakfast and listened to the morning briefing to find out we had a possibility of seeing some Whales as we was going out to sea. Jonathan finally surfaced, rough as a monkey to a bobbing ocean so he felt abit green all day! Finally around three in the afternoon we was greeted by dolphins and then soon after the captain announced the Whale sighting. The beautiful Whale swimming about 50 metres from the ferry, squirting water and then finally turned it's tail up in the air and was gone! Fabulous to watch and definitely feels extra special seeing it's tail! Woooowww! Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the dolphins as they where only here for a few seconds but I did get a photo of the Whale. The sunsets are also one of the best parts of the trip and every evening the sky lights up in all sorts of colours! Also, generally the weather has been great but sometimes the odd rain shower mixing with the sun has also created some lovely rainbows. The following day brought two more whale sightings and another beautiful sunset; this was topped of nicely by bingo on the boat and a disco where all the passengers could strut their stuff to some very odd Spanish disco music!
We landed in Puerto Montt at 8am and then arrived at family run hostel Carina. Puerto Montt is an interesting ramshackle little town with a more commercial port. It has a hustling promenade, of which, if desired you can rent a large stuffed horse on wheels to ride up and down on, and also has many arcades which look like the arcade games are about 50 years out of date! The town is littered with street stalls and very cheeky beggars (one man yelled 'I want your money' to us as we walked past him). We also walked past another man with a long haired llama on a lead walking down the street then stopping so that the Llama could eat out of the trash bin; It Looked very out of place! The nice thing about this town is there are dolphins and seals swimming in the harbour. Again lovely to watch and due to this it puts a tick in my box! It definitely is a town with character and has made a pleasant stopping point. We also ventured to upper Market Puerto Varas which is a short bus ride away. This little town really reminds me of our lake district; Centred around a large lake and the town is filled with little gift and craft shops. Not masses to do here but had a nice walk about in the town and around the lake. We are hoping that we can visit a big fish Market today but as it's Sunday we are unsure if it will be open, we think not. However, another wander around Puerto Montt before a bus journey to Santiago tonight. Bye Hayls and Jonathan x