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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Dec 10, 2016 09:00 PM Domingo en Patagonia
Do you like Placido Domingo? He is my favorite opera singer!
But he did not come to Patagonia. Domingo in Spanish means Sunday. It is domingo today, in the morning streets were still empty when I walked to distant Plaza de Armas. The church was still closed. Why? Somebody told me that the Sunday service starts only at 11 am. I came again at 10.50. The church was open, but almost empty... More pople came in the last minute, but they filled only like 25% of capactity of the small church... They were sitting mostly in the back of the church... In Natales live around 18000 people...
The service was conducted by padre Bernardo (do you remember my easter on Easter Island? There was also other padre Bernardo!) I met him after the service (see the picture), he speaks some English. He was surprised that I came from Poland. I told him about my trip...
Coming back to the hostel I discovered in Puerto Natales Polish theme. One of the streets is named Domeyco street after Polish scientist, engineer and explorer working in Chile in 19th century - Ignacy Domeyko. It was nice that they remember him...
It is raining in the afternoon, but the forecast for tomorrow is much better. I believe that the ship will come tomorrow to pick me up...
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Dec 09, 2016 09:00 PM Puerto Natales - frontier town
For the first time I have been here some 30 years ago. I do not see many changes. They built new city hall, many old houses were restored and converted to the pensions - hostales. They also have now new Rodoviaria - bus terminal. Main destination is Punta Arenas with departures every 2 hours - the cost is 7000 pesos one way. But only 12000 if you buy Round trip. There is one company - Pacheco for 5000, but they have few departures.
I stay in the Paine Hostel - in fact regular private house without any sign outside, paying 20 $ per night for room with shared bath and breakfast. It is located rather far from the centre, near the Padre Rosas cemetery :). Just let you know that you can find much nicer places for the same price in the centre for the same price. Sample: Hospedaje Mary - just one block from Tourist information office phone +56 61 2412498. The problem is that they are bookable only by phone... In Spanish.
My hostel is not very clean, included breakfast is weak (rolls, palta or jam) but is was booked easy via booking.com. Temperature in the night is only 5 deg Celsius -even now - in the summer. They have gas heater in the room, but I am switching it off for the night - afraid that I will not wake up...
To keep yourself warm you can buy in the supermarket near the same cemetery a bootle of Chilean vino tinto (red) 1,5 l bottle costs only equivalent of 3 USD. Do not drink whole bootle in one evening! Good night!
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Dec 08, 2016 09:00 PM Angostura White
Big ships cannot sail to Puerto Natales bacause there are narrows (angosturas) on the route. Small ones has to make the choice of Angostura Kirke or Angostura White. Sailing back to Puerto Natales we went through the picturesque Ang, White, After passing the chain of little islands blocking the passage they put us to the explorers boats and we were sailing more then an hour in the strong wind along the coast - with dolphins, taking pictures of the seals and birds.
It is evening and I am back in windy Puerto Natales - sneezing a little bit, but happy to have such unique experience, few people saw this remote fjords and its fantastic scenery! Lucky me!
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Dec 07, 2016 09:00 PM In the Montanas Fjord...
Rough sea in the night. My water bottles felt down from the table in the middle of the night. Strong wind, also the rain from time to time. We are going through Montanas Fjord with 5 glaciers. After breakfast we are sailing in explorers to Alsina Glacier, hidden in the little bay below the huge, vertical mountain. Thanks God from time to time the sun appears giving us a chance for better pictures. After an hour we are again on the ship - wet & cold, but happy. Few hours later there is the landing at Bernal Glacier - narrow path is heading to the turquoise lagoon below the ice. This glacier is not so wide, but the scenery is still great. Seals and cormorants, small Patagonian dolphins very often appear near the boat, but it is very difficult to photograph them... Another great day in the area rarely visited by humans, I did not see any single house since two days!
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Dec 06, 2016 09:00 PM Glacier Amalia - Fjord Calvo
Captain Louis invited me to the captain's table. It is a honour, but telling the true I would like to sit with other fellows speaking English... But it is not important - I am here to enjoy the beauty of Chilean Patagonia. The ship was sailing all night and in the morning we found ourselves opposite huge Amalia Glacier. They took us ashore aboard big capacity zodiacs - they call them "explorers" . We landed on the moraine beach and took a walk to the little hills covered by colorful lichens - opposite the 1700m wide and 80m high face of the glacier. Great view, but against the sun... The glacier was calving every few minutes.
In the afternoon the ship was sailing through the labirynth of channels to Calvo Fjord with some 15 different glaciers - can you imagine that during 2 days I did not see any other ship? At the end of Calvo they put us on theit little "icebreaker" and we sailed beetween the icebergs to the picturesque waterfall, enjoying great scenery - just see the pictures...
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Dec 05, 2016 09:00 PM Bingo! I am sailing to the glaciers!
Can you imagine the captain who doesn't speak ANY English? This was a case... But he was very nice to me. When I explained that I - the journalist - want to sail with him just today he contacted the head office of the shipping company in Santiago and I got a substantial discount. It is worth to write for the press even if they do not pay much...
It is the expedition ship for less then 100 passengers. I do not kwow why but they will have only 40 pax on this sailing - perhaps because they are unknown outside Chile. We are going for 4 days to the Chilean fiords and glaciers, landings are also expected... No internet onboard, so the next message will be on Friday evening. I am boarding the ship today in the afternoon, expecting the big adventure. Just keep the fingers crossed for the clear weather - Patagonia is unpredictable!
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Dec 04, 2016 09:00 PM Bye-bye Torres!
It was yesterday evening when at 7.30 pm I said bye to my Polish fellows (few of them were still on the fighting with the trail) and went by public bus to Puerto Natales. There is a hefty priced (3000 CLP) shuttle bus from Torres Hotel to Laguna Amarga park gate. It is walking distance but they know, that people coming down from the trail are very tired so why don't make a money? From the Amarga gate there are public buses to Puerto Natales via Cerro Castillo (1,5 h - 8000 CLP).
Days are long here and I enjoyed wonderful Patagonian sunset going to my hostal Vaiora. It is cozy place with tiny doors so it is worth to bring earplugs for the night. They charge 20 USD for the room with shared bath and good breakfast. After sweaty treks I make a big laundry today. Important decisions will be taken tomorrow...
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Dec 03, 2016 09:00 PM Hard hike to the base of Torres
They were checking again our tickets when we wera passing national Park gate. We were lycky to have sunny day for the most demanding trek to the base of Torres. They write it is 4,5 hours from the Torres hotel to Torres Lake at the bottom of the Torres. We parked the car at official "estacionamento" which is additional 1 km from the hotel. I tried to start the hike early - at 10 am. At the beginning there was steep access. Short caravans of the horses with a supply for the hut were passing along. Trail goes up into the long valley well above mountain river, and descend to the hut Refugio Chileno. It is worth to use the toilets here since up from this place you will find nothing... Path is crossing the river several times. But on this part no views - it goes through dense forest. The final 1-hour climb is a nightmare - very steep, going through the big stones, badly maintained. I reached the end of the trail at 1.30 pm. View from the mirador de base de las Torres is breathtaking. On the other side of the lake you will see vertical wall with there towers on the top. It is one of the icons of Patagonia. When I reached the lookout there were already some clouds, but I managed to take good photos. 40 min later thd towers were covered. I come here early, if you can... The return part of the trail was like a knee-breaker. I was at the hotel at 5.15 after sweaty 7 hours on the trail. But is was worth!
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Dec 02, 2016 09:00 PM Salto Grande, Cascadas de Paine
Can you imagine? On the bus crossing the border I met a little group of Poles! They booked also the accommodation in the little pension Hospedaje Mate Amargo just near the Chilean immigration post. They are photographers, some of them know me and my output and they invited me to the rented car going into the national park. It is very important because Torres Del Paine is very wide and we stay 45 minutes drive from the park gate, because accommodation in the park is very expensive. I wanted to use local bus and hitchhiking to move around... Lucky me...
The entry fee to the park is 21000 Chilean pesos. The park pass is valid for three days. Today we drove to some interesting miradores (viewpoints). You know that I like waterfalls. First we saw cascadas (rapids) on Paine River, then Salto Grande - the big and powerful waterfall.
We walked to the Mirador Cuernos - one hour each way. Many great views... Great day!
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Dec 01, 2016 09:00 PM I am going back to Chile...
El Calafate is Argentina - see picture taken from the hill. But according to my plan I should now go back to Chile. Cheilean Terres del Paine NPark is close, but no roads and no cheap transport... I found the bus of ZAAHJ company, but they do not operate every day. Some days of the week departing in the morning, the other days, like Friday - at 4.30 in the afternoon. the ticket to Puerto Natales cost 500 ARS or 20000 CLP.
I spent the morning in Calafate. It is worth to see here the headquarters of the National Park - to see Mr Moreno with his horse in front of the building and to watch an interesting, short movie showing the glaciers from the air.
In the evening I should cross the border to Chile and soon disembark the bus in Cerro Castillo - for nearby Torres del Paine Park.
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