Puerto Natales, Chile - Last Stop in Chile

"When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in…"  - D. H. Lawrence

Puerto Natales, Chile Slide Show

I am not sure if the above quote was talking about the bone quivering cold of Chile's Patagonia, but the quote seems appropriate since our final days in Chile were spent shivering with cold and being frightful of the intense winds.  Fortunately for us, the scenery made it all worthwhile. After our boat ride on the Navimag, we stayed 3 nights in Puerto Natales, a city that is the stopping off point to visit Torres del Paines (Towers of Pain) National Park.
The park is best known for it's spectacular granite pillar mountains and extensive hiking trails and camping. We were not equipped to stay overnight in the park, so we rented a car and toured the park in one day. I know it was cheating, but considering the conditions and our lack of proper equipment it worked out quite well. It felt good to drive a car since it was the first time that we rented a car on this trip and the fact that I don't even own a car right now. Anyway, as I stated, the scenery in the park is incredible. We visited waterfalls, lakes, rivers, mountains, and a lake that had floating glacier chunks from the Glacier Grey. At one point, the winds were so intense that we had to all get down on the ground for fear of being blown over. We later found out that there were up to 70 mph wind gusts in the area.
We also visited Cueva (cave) del Milodon. The cave gets it's name from a Milodon, whose remains were found in the cave. The slow moving, herbivorous Milodon, which stood about 12 feet tall, ate the leaves of small trees, but they were hunted to extinction by humans. To the left is a life size replica "hugging" Noah. The cave was interesting and thankfully, the wind died down inside the cave.
Other than going to the National Park and the cave, a lot of time was spent hanging out in the marginal lodging that we had in Puerto Natales listening to the sleet and snow attack our already cracked window. This once again provided a nice chance for Noah to get some schoolwork done. Our residencial had CNN, which allowed us to watch the Vice Presidential debate on TV. Who are you voting for?

  *** Final Thoughts and Observations About Chile ***
As we sat inside listening to the nasty weather outside, we put together the following thoughts on Chile.

• Chile is a country of extreme geographical diversity. If you travel there, you will find deserts, vineyards, beaches, lakes, volcanoes, forests, fjords, granite peaks, a large city (Santiago) and glaciers.
• The extreme geographical diversity comes from the fact that Chile is extremely long and skinny. In fact, much to my dismay, we never found a map of Chile that showed the entire country on one page. It's shape is not conducive to normal paper. A long skinny scroll would work better.
• Chile is a safe country with a modern tourist industry and an economy that is considered one of the strongest in South America. The capital, Santiago, is a dynamic city where one third of the nation's population resides. Chile's main exports are copper, fruit, seafood, and wine.
• The prosperity and infrastructure of Chile makes you feel like you are in the United States or Europe, other than the fact that I swear that they speak Chilean and not Spanish. I got along okay with my Spanish in Peru since they talk slower and don't use as much slang as Chile.
• Unfortunately, the humble, service oriented nature of Peruvians is not found in Chile. People seem to be more uptight and reserved. The fact of the matter is that they do not need you from a tourist perspective as much as Peru does. Just a thought, but maybe the prosperity and wealth does not lead to happiness. We missed the smiles on the faces of Peruvians.
• The exchange rate of 541 Chilean Pesos to 1 dollar lead to a perpetual math lesson as we relied on Noah to give us the US dollar equivalent.
• Patagonia is a wonderfully deserted, cold, windy, beautiful place for the "End of the Americas". The next stop is Antarctica - maybe we will go to Antarctica someday, but we were not dressed for it. Patagonia was rugged enough for the limited resources contained in our backpacks.
• We have never had such good wine for $3 a bottle.
• The bright colors used on Chilean houses are a distinct contrast to the lack of color in their clothing. Most people live in brightly colored houses, but leave them each day wearing dark earth tones.
• Traveling around the world has turned Noah into a question machine. Leaving the comforts of home where he had nothing in particular to inquire about beyond "can I order a pay per view movie on our HDTV?" has lead to prolonged discussions about the world economy, inflation, why the glaciers are blue, why the wind blows more in certain areas, what is socialism and does it work, unemployment, supply and demand, the industrial revolution, what is the difference between a lamb and a sheep, trade deficits, unemployment, why does everyone else speak at least 3 languages but us, and do I have to pay for the Skittles out of my allowance. If any of you have answers to any of his questions, feel free to comment.
• Traveling is a good thing . . . more on this later.

To view a slide show of Puerto Natales, Chile, click on the following link ==> Puerto Natales, Chile Slide Show