Stef n' Kev Travel: Hanging out in Puerto Natales 1/21-1/23

1/21/17

We slept well at the quasi hostel/ bed & breakfast - We are Patagonia. The private room was cute and they had quite the spread for breakfast.

Kevin enjoying his breakfast

In front of the hotel

We left our bags at the hotel then went downtown to explore. Observations: clean, not too busy but a good amount of people walking about and only a few cars, lots of stay but friendly dogs, all mom and pop stores and no chains in sight, prices as bit crazy given all of the tourists, and strong wind blowing almost constantly.

View from dock near City centre.

Panorama of the same spot

After walking around all morning and then seeing the lovely and windy view of the water, we sat down for some lunch and coffee at a place called Nando's next to the square. It was a tourist shop, excursion desk, supply shop, restaurant, bar, and cafe all in one.

Relaxing with a coffee after walking all morning.

After that we went back to the hotel to grab our things from storage and make our way to the next hotel. It was an odd setup given the fact that we had to ask for the owner at his restaurant and there was no front desk... But the room was pretty sweet despite the hardship.

Finally we went and got some local food for dinner and at had no idea what anything meant on the menu. I guess you don't learn much about local Chilean dishes in Spanish class. Luckily we chose well...

Mixed grill plate on hot coals. Kind of like fondue for meat and only $24 USD total.

1/22/16

The following day we woke up early and discovered that nearly everything is closed on Sunday. Every single grocery store was closed, but we managed to find one pastry shop with okay food. Then, we made our way to our tour of the Mylodon Caves that we had arranged the prior day.

The caves were a 15 minute drive from Puerto Natales and there were only 4 other people on the tour. First we went up the "Devil's Seat" and got a nice view of the park.

Up close view of the Devil's Seat

Standing on the Devil's Seat

After that we were on our own without the guide. This would involve a ~2.5 mile hike between a small cave, medium cave, and then the large cave.

Kevin exploring the back of the small cave

What an explorer

Cool rock formations on our right for the entirety of the hike

Going through the "tunnel"

Gnarly trees and cute little bridge on the way to the medium cave

Finally at the medium cave!

Yep definitely bigger than the other one

After this, we had the opportunity to do a side hike up to a viewpoint that was essentially on top of the large cave. It took us about 30-40 extra minutes in total to do it, with a break, but it was certainly worth it.

Resting at the first viewpont (halfway up)

Vista straight ahead from first viewpoint (halfway up)

Vista to the left from first viewpoint (halfway up). You can see Devil's Seat from far away.

Panoramic view from the very top (final viewpoint)

Finally we made our way to the Large cave. All of the caves were created by glaciers that existed about 18,000 years ago, which then turned into a lake around 14,500 years ago, which created the formations. The cave is famous for finding of ancient animal remains from these times and in particular it named after the Mylodon... which was basically a giant ground sloth. Think sloth + bear = Mylodon.

At the large cave entrance. See people behind for scale.

What it looks like inside.

The opening to the cave reminds me of an eye from that angle. Mountains in background.

Pretty vegetation on the way back to the visitors center.

We then took the bus back to town, during which Kevin pointed out to Stef that there was a bee/wasp/evil-bug-thing next to her. She proceeded to jump into his lap, then jump to another seat (and bang herself up pretty good), then had the flee in terror to yet another seat on the bus. It's unclear what the other members of the bus were thinking at this point, but Stef lived through it. The bee/wasp/evil-bug-thing is still on the run.

We had lunch after. CocaCola light is branded like full sugar coke! Weird!

After that we relaxed, went for a run, then went to dinner at the restaurant of the owner of the hotel we are staying at. It's called "El Asador" and specialized in grilled lamb (roasted over a fire) and had yummy house wine for only $3.50 USD.

Yummy dinner

Restaurant. It was FULL when we walked in and they had to keep turning people away.

1/23/17

We woke up this morning and were actually able to get breakfast at this place called Kau Lodge next to the water. After that we went grocery shopping and bought fuel for the "W Trek".

Now all that remains is to pack, relax, and get lunch and dinner. Wish us luck on the trek! Our bus leaves tomorrow at 7:30am. We will be back and online on 1/28/17.