PUERTO NATALES

10:05 PM, 10 Feb 08, MS Nordnorge, Puerto Natales, Chile

PUERTO NATALES

With posterior pain
And views through our window pane,
We made much travel
Over roads of gravel
To see the Towers of Paine.

The Horns of Paine
Are another attraction main.
We took many a photo,
Saw a lot of guanaco,
And ate all we could contain.

It was a grand day
To see Salto Grande,
A waterfall
Sure to enthrall
With snow white spray.

We had a very good day with very nice weather today which, we’re told, is a rare occurrence here. Cool to warm, started about 55 F, rose to about 65 F (my guesses). Partly cloudy. No rain.

Puerto Natales (meaning birth port) is a city of about 20,000 and the capital of its Magellan administrative district.

It is surrounded by fenced cattle ranches and, generally farther out, fenced sheep farms. A typical estancia (ranch) is about 10,000 acres. It is dry grass land, sometimes with sage brush, and with occasional scrub tree forests (called preAndean forests). It is hilly, and Andean mountains are usually in view.

Puerto Natales is the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park. “Paine” means “blue” in a native tongue, and the lakes and sometimes the ice are blue. Also, I think I recall reading that a Paine family was one of the donors of land to the park. The 242,000 hectare park contains a whole lot of beautiful mountain peaks (not just the towers and horns but several others too) plus several scenic lakes and rivers, and at least one beautiful waterfall. It is home to many species of wildlife including guanaco (llama-like critters), gray fox, puma, condors, eagles, and upland geese. It is a very nice park.

We set out at about 8 AM for the park. Leaving town we saw cormorants and swans on the Ultima Esperanza (meaning last hope) fjord where the MS Nordnorge is docked. We drove to the park, through the park, and back to town for a total of at least 300 KM (180 miles), most of it on gravel roads. We had a nice indoor barbecue lunch (choice of chicken, salmon, or steak) at noon and several sight-seeing stops along the way.

We saw a heck of a lot of guanaco, surely well over a hundred, in small groups and in large herds. We saw a couple of eagles, a few foxes, and some nandu (wild ostriches) outside the park. A couple of condors were seen, but I didn’t see them.

On the way back, we saw two horsemen and several dogs moving a large herd o sheep.

There were a lot of tourists in the park.

We got a lot of good information from our guide, Carolina, both spontaneously and by answers to our questions. Here is some of it:

Magellan’s visit to the region was in 1520.

Patagonia, which does not include Tierra del Fuego and the western islands, was named for the Patagon Indians. It’s where they lived. They are no more. They were named by Magellan. The name maybe meant “big foot.”

A giant sloth (the milodon) once lived in the region.

Most of the lakes are natural glacier lakes. Outside of the park, fish farming is done in these lakes. And also in the fjords.

This was a surprise to me. I thought the region must be very harshly cold in winter. Carolina said the winters are not all that different from the summers. Afternoon highs in winter run -4 C to + 2 C (25 F to 36 F). “Not many days are below freezing.”

Chilean independence is said to date from 1810. But this is when the first movement toward independence occurred. Real independence came after the war for independence ended some eight years later.

There has been no war over boundaries between Chile and Argentina. However, both countries originally claimed the southern end of the continent. Boundaries were finally settled peaceably by negotiation in 1881. Chile was successful in its insistence on claiming the Magellan Strait and the lands adjacent to it.

There are public, private, and Catholic schools. Catholic schools are segregated by gender. The other schools are coed.

There are public and private universities in Chile. The public universities are more expensive because they are considered to be of better quality. To attend a public law school costs $7,000 per year, which is considered expensive.

Rainfall in the area we visited is 600 to 1000 cm per year. (240 to 400 inches). (Sounds high to me.) In the pampas, dryer, 400 cm/year (160 inches).

Current value/cost/price of ranch land: I know an acre wouldn’t support much, but I was so astounded at this as to suspect a mistake. But this is what Caroline said: A 25,000 acre ranch would sell for less than a million dollars. I calculate just $40 per acre!

Puerto Williams, where we are headed (we set sail in the morning), has only about 1500 people.

Porvenir is a town of about 3500 people (not an island) on Tierra del Fuego directly across the Magellan Straight from Punta Arenas (meaning sand point)..

San Martin was the hero of Argentine independence.

Independence for Chile and Argentina from Spain came only a few years apart. Likewise for some of the other countries. Independence for Brazil (from Portugal) came later. Warfare was involved in all cases.

Bernardo O’Higgins, whose name I’ve seen on such places as street names, was “director of Chile” and “responsible for Chilean independence.”

We got back to the ship just in time for 6 PM buffet dinner on board. After dinner Helen, Leona, Aileen and I went souvenir shopping in the city. Then I walked two miles in the city for a total of three miles walking for the day (guestimated, of course). There was still a little twilight when I came back aboard about 9:45 PM.

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OLD TRAVELERS

Travel can be sublime,
And it’s not a crime.
But for trips you’ve desired,
You need to be retired
To have the time.

And the other factor involved
Is more likely by then resolved.
Of course there are a few,
Those folks very clever who
Have that matter earlier solved.

As we’ve found in the past, almost all the people on adventures such as this are older folks. Most are retired. A few are near retirement. A few rare exceptions are seen. There are just a handful or younger people among the 300 on our ship but none among the 146 in our Vantage group (who are among the 300 on the ship).

Some of our group are in their 80s and doing well. There is a remarkable lady, Leona from Florida, of 88 among us, traveling alone, doing very well.


Cheers!


Bernie