We had our own quiet, little, private room for the first night in Puerto Natales. A handy shared bathroom was right next to us. At 5:30 AM the quiet went away and the bathroom became pee central. A constant flow of echoing urine invaded our silence. The sounds from the endless stream bounced off our thin bedroom walls for almost an hour. Behind the doors of the rooms that are outside our hallway hide a warren of dormitory beds. We´re not there any more.

   
  "Come alive for a dollar-five," was the jingle used to describe the cheapest of cheap wines when I was a young. At a tad more than double the Canadian rot-gut of thirty-five years ago Chile´s Santa Carolina winery serves up a nice palatable Cab for what amounts to $2.16.     


    Yesterday we hiked, a little, in Torres del Paine National Park. Several years ago, an American travel company took photos of the granite mountains of Torres del Paine and inserted them into an Alaskan travel brochure. When they were found out, people flocked, not to Alaska, but to Chile´s mountain jewel - Torres del Paine.


     I´ve quickly learned that showering isn´t necessary in southern Patagonia. By simply walking in the wind for up to fifteen minutes you can blow clean away all your dirt and bad smells.