Patagonia - Torres del Paine & Puerto Natales, Chile
Dec 17 - 20
Days 47 - 50
From San Pedro de Atacama, I take a transfer to Calama airport and board a flight to Santiago. Next up, Patagonia.
I’ve dreamed of going to Patagonia since high school when I watched the documentary 180º South. It seems a mythical place, this rugged land at the end of the Earth. The region is the beneficiary of historic land preservation efforts made possible by North Face and Patagonia, companies that have defined conscious capitalism and a triple bottom line. It is a place for wild adventure, as brutal as it is beautiful.
My mom will join me for Patagonia. We decided it back in New York. We sat together on the sofa in the living room researching how best to spend our time, and how much time we would need. We consulted books, blogs, and Youtube, hoping to be as informed as possible on this vast, far away part of the world. The biggest obstacle we faced was time, or lack there of, as it was already October 2022 and we were booking for high season. Group treks, camper vans, and expedition hotels were booked up and already taking inquires for the following year. Not only that, the area is massive, spanning the bottom of Chile and Argentina in an endless expanse of highways, towns, fjords, and mountains. We made the decision, based on availability, price, and advice, to spend four days in Puerto Natales, the town closest to Torres del Paine then cross the boarder to Argentina for fours days in El Chalten and finally, three days in El Calafate.
Now, I’m flying to Santiago. Mum and I are supposed to meet here but her flight was canceled and her new flight gets her in later, after the original flight to Puerto Natales leaves. Mum was fuming when she got the cancelation email but I understood. Perhaps that’s a difference of coming from home versus continuing on a trip. Perhaps also I am getting less disappointed when things don’t go as planned, a sign of trusting in the way things go.
I check in at the airport hotel, shower, and fall asleep under a plush duvet. The next morning, I board a flight to Puerto Natales. When I arrive, I take a collectivo to Kua Lodge. I immediately fall in love with the vast, wild landscape. Long daylight hours pour over expansive mountains and lakes. Birds and wild flowers are everywhere, moving in the pervasive winds. From my room, I see the harbor and watch boats coming in and out.
Puerto Natales is a town with wide streets and stores catering primarily to tourists. It’s the closest town to Torres del Paine National Park - one of the main attractions in Chilean Patagonia. The town feels a little spooky: stores closed, buildings abandoned, few people on the street. The lodge is a ten minute walk to the town center. There are many restaurants for burgers, Italian, and Chilean cuisine.
Mum calls to tell me she had missed her flight from Santiago and is now arriving the following day. With another day alone, I decide to rent a car now so that, when she arrives, we can head straight to the park. I put into Google Maps “rental car” and walk to the pinned locations. The first location is closed. The second location does not exist. The third location has a sign on a window, the office is under renovations. I call the number listed and ask, in Spanish, if he had a car available for rent starting tomorrow. He said yes and he’ll bring the car now. Bueno. I head to the bank to get some money and then wait on a bench near the “office”.
David pulls up in a red Duster, probably 2012 or earlier. We chat briefly and I hand over the equivalent of $90 USD in Chilean Pesos and my CC for the deposit. He shows me the basics of the car, takes pictures of the exterior, and asks if I have any questions. I know I should have questions but I can’t think of any, let alone how to ask them in Spanish. We shake hands, smile, and he walks away. I get in the car, put in the keys, and realize I don’t know how to reverse a manual car. Fuck.
I try a few times and stall before even moving an inch. I text Dad for help; then my phone dies. There’s an electronics store on the other street, I could buy a car charger and then call Dad and figure it all out. But David happens to be standing in front of the store and asks me if everything is okay. He’s probably been watching me stall, unable to get out of the perpendicular parking spot. “I don’t know how to reverse,” I admit. David smiles understandingly and tells me he had automatic cars if he had known he would have brought one! Aye, too late now. He offers to show me and I accept.
Eventually I get out of the spot. Then I stall at a light - thankfully no one honks at me. I make it back to the lodge and end up parking on a hill. Jesus, this is a problem for after lunch.
The world cup final is just starting, Argentina vs. France, so I walk back into town to watch the game and have lunch. Apparently Chileans don’t like Argentina so the game was somewhat a non-event and the woman I was sitting with was rooting for France. The game ends with an epic win for Argentina and barely a Chilean cheer. Now I have to face my fears of getting out of the uphill parking spot so I can go to Torres del Paine.
With help from a passerby named Carlos, I get out of the spot, make it up the hill, and am on my way Torres del Paine. The landscape is magnificent, zooming past me in my red car, sun still high in the sky. At 4PM, I pull into a small town, which is really just five buildings on the road, and ask if there is any gas as I’m under half a tank and worried I wont make it all the way to park and back. They sold their last gallon earlier that morning, so there’s no gas. I turn around and drive 45 minutes back to PN and fill the tank.
Mum arrives today at noon and I pick her up at the airport in the red Duster. We hug and it’s wonderful - her smell intoxicating in that way only your mother’s can be. We head straight for Torres del Paine, and although it’s only meant to take an hour to the park entrance, it takes us longer because the road is under construction.
We had underestimated the size of the park. It’s massive. We could drive all day and still not see the whole thing. After checking in at the welcome center and reviewing the map with a ranger, we head to get a quick lunch at the cafeteria. There are no gluten free options so we settle on empanadas and a sandwich. It the best we can do.
After lunch, we start driving through the park. We pick up two hitchhikers who had just hiked the W-trek. On our drive, we see landscapes of incomprehensible beauty. The three grey pillars of the Torres del Paine shoot powerfully into the blue sky.
We drive for the remainder of the day, passing brilliant turquoise lakes bordered by black sand beaches, guanaco feeding on endless grasses, mosses, and flowers blowing in the wind, all under this expansive, blue sky, clouds high in the stratosphere, sun refusing to move from its throne. Every curve of the road reveals a new wondrous vista. Onwards we go, pulling over for photos, to put our hands in the water, and to pee into the wind.
It seems like the day will never end, but it eventually does. We rest and reset, happy to be together. Next up: El Chaltén, Argentina!