Puerto Natales as a town is a small, relatively out of the way kind of place. There's not a whole lot going on there, and it's not the sort of place you'd visit for the town alone. People come to Puerto Natales for Torres del Paine National Park. It's undoubtedly the most popular hike inPatagonia. There are two options for hiking, the 4-5 day 'W' circuit or the 8-9 day full circuit. Since we were on to the third hike in 3 weeks we opted [...]
This blog post is dedicated to the original Doughnut. You and your pink sun visor would have made this ride that little bit more special. Route 40, Patagonia, Argentina. The long and winding road... very long and very winding. Route 40 stretches south from Bariloche, hugging the Chilean border. Its a long stretch of winding road through flat desert, most of the road is dirt track. I'd been warned about Route 40, everything from it being the slowest and most boring bus ride known to [...]
"A bit of snow maybe, but you should be fine if you've got some hiking experience", was the information from the guy at Club Andino Bariloche, the local hiking association. A great resource and the place to visit before hiking in the local area. He also gave us a map, a route, and gave me a concerned look…. "ah, you hike before?"…. "Not much…. well actually I have zero hiking experience…. but my friend here, he is the most experienced hiker I have ever met, I'm [...]
There's one way into Argentina by road from Pucon in Chile. And it consists of a 4 hour bus ride south to a town called Osorno, a 3 hour wait, then a 5 hour bus ride to Bariloche and one border crossing. Being so use to travelling by night, I initially wasn't too keen on having to do it all during the day, but I hadn't taken into account the the views. The drive from the Chilean border through to Bariloche was absolutely stunning. Snow capped mountains, [...]
Heading out of Santiago we ventured south towards Patagonia, stopping at Pucon in Chile along the way. Leaving the sunshine and in-pool bar of La Casa Roja in Santiago was difficult. It would be the perfect place to get stuck for a while, but the mountains were beckoning me. Our plan in Patagonia was to do a few hikes, and I was lucky that my travel buddy was a hiking superstar. So with zero hiking gear on us, we had the brilliant idea of purchasing gear in Santiago [...]
