Part 2 - South Sea Tales

What a very nice title I "stole" from an author you might have heard about if you have checked this blog before... Jack London ! "South Sea Tales" is a gathering of shorts stories where the writter explains his experience of the problems between settlers and aboriginals in Pacific Islands...

I must here confess that sometimes I might not be as placid as I would like to be. So ,when it comes to travelling alone in the South of Chile, and when your Credit Card doesn't work anymore, one may start to become anxious. Because I had no money and I didn't knew if I was going to be able to have some in Patagonia, I remembered a part of the trip to Greece I made with my family some years ago... The same situation happened there and we were lucky to find a man that helped us through it ! ("the Holy Man" he was called by my brother).

So... not knowing if I would have money, I ate at the airport and took the plane anyway. But on the plane I was totally unable to decide if it was a good idea to go further without money. My considerations was not going really optimistic, maybe because flying south the visibility was falling... I appreciated when we landed in a smog after having gone up and down for a while... Anyway : a wasted time of reflection because I was able to get 80 000 Pesos (120€).

At the airport, it was raining, and I didn't saw the bus that was supposed to get me to Punta Arenas, and judging by the fact that a group of french people was taking a taxi, I tried to ask a girl to drive me in town... But I didn't actually ask her because she overtook me.

- Holà...

- Holà, do you want us (her mother NLDR) to drive you downtown ?
- Yes please it would be very nice.

And that the story of how I met Paulina. And I must say that all the Chilean people I met during this trip have been particularly nice to me !

Paulina was born in Punta Arenas, but she studies international hostelerie in Viña del Mar. Of course I advised her to make Erasmus in Europe, but it's not possible in her cursus. She was so nice that after having dropped me in front of the bus station to Puerto Natales, she asked me if I needed any thing more and was going to give me her number in case anything went wrong. But knowing that Hernan's phone did not work here, I refused (yes I make mistakes too...).

Waiting for the bus, with the typical colored buildings of Chile

Even the church is colored

Anyway, I was on the bus one hour and a half after the planed time, which allowed me to buy some food and make some photos of Punta Arenas, before having a 3-hours trip through the Pampa !

Pampa...

More Pampa...

More bus !

Arrived at Puerto Natales after nightfall (which was not so easy to do because in summer days are long in the South...), I found my hostel easily and bought my bus ticket to the park. In the hostel, I slept in a room with 3 other persons (Israeli) that told me they just went back from the park. It looked cold !

So, one night rest that gave me an evening I used to take some pictures of the city (sponsorized by trecking equipment companies...). I also met a man that wanted to sell me a night in a hotel in Punta Arenas for when I would have gone back, and also told me that the ticket I had bought was round-trip (thanks to him...).

The church of Puerto Natales which is surprisingly not as much flashy as the one of Punta Arenas

I was lucky, because the bread that was given in the hostel was made with pig oil, so it was not possible for the Israelis to eat it, and I made some stocks for the treck. I new I was not well-prepared, but I had no time to stay in Punta Arenas and pack more carefully. I took the food and the bus.

Leaving Puerto Natales

During the two-hours drive through the Pampa, I met Paul, a french student making his "Erasmus" in Chile, apparently way best prepared than me...

But finally we arrived at the entrance of the park, where I saw some Lamas and some birds I didn't recognized. I used a mini-bus to make the last 7km of usable road, and it was it. There was me, my backpack and a huge park.