Monday 10th December.
Lots of places seem to vie for the dubious honour of being at the bottom of South America. To be fair there is still a slither of Chile and a chunk of Argentina to the south, but Punta Arenas does a good job of looking the part. You come in to land on a bleak, flat, treeless wasteland of scrub punctuated by lakes and ocean inlets, and from the ground it looks pretty much the same. Temperature is more like 10C in place of 25C in Santiago. Off the plane I meet the immediately likeable Sarah and Andy (it´s a select group of 3 plus guide Eduardo for the next week) and we drive for 2 hours north without seeing so much as a small hill - maybe I´m on the wrong trip?
Reach base at Puerto Natales and dinner overlooking lake and the mountains beyond that have now happily appeared - and as it stays light until 11pm this time of year this far south, we get to enjoy them throughout.
Key things to know about Patagonia - (1) it´s windy, (2) when it´s not windy it´s very windy. This is summer. Why am I here exactly? Not for the first time, I look at my kit and wonder if I´ve brought the right stuff. Also not for the first time, it´s a bit late to be wondering (though I do manage to get a hat with a strap before we head off into the wilds - this turns out to be an inspired purchase).
Lots of places seem to vie for the dubious honour of being at the bottom of South America. To be fair there is still a slither of Chile and a chunk of Argentina to the south, but Punta Arenas does a good job of looking the part. You come in to land on a bleak, flat, treeless wasteland of scrub punctuated by lakes and ocean inlets, and from the ground it looks pretty much the same. Temperature is more like 10C in place of 25C in Santiago. Off the plane I meet the immediately likeable Sarah and Andy (it´s a select group of 3 plus guide Eduardo for the next week) and we drive for 2 hours north without seeing so much as a small hill - maybe I´m on the wrong trip?
Reach base at Puerto Natales and dinner overlooking lake and the mountains beyond that have now happily appeared - and as it stays light until 11pm this time of year this far south, we get to enjoy them throughout.
Key things to know about Patagonia - (1) it´s windy, (2) when it´s not windy it´s very windy. This is summer. Why am I here exactly? Not for the first time, I look at my kit and wonder if I´ve brought the right stuff. Also not for the first time, it´s a bit late to be wondering (though I do manage to get a hat with a strap before we head off into the wilds - this turns out to be an inspired purchase).
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