Puerto Natales

It was time to move on from El Calafate and the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Stunning as both southern and northern sectors of this location may be, the Argentinian side of the deep south of Patagonia has been a bit of a warm up for us. Right now we have just made it into Chile to embark on a lengthy trek around one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet. So please forgive the silence for the next few days, but the wait should be well worth it!
The bus journey south from Argentina into Chile was quite an event, with some dramatic views of our snow capped destination, the Torres del Paine. Here in Puerto Natales, there is very much the air of all towns which find themselves clinging on to the periphery. Just like our experiences in Greenland, the mood of the inhabitants, the dramatic scenery and the biting winds are all identical, including the utilitarian style of architecture which defines these settlement towns which have a continual battle with nature. As we rolled in to town, the Navimag ferry was in dock, and the whole scene could easily have been confused with that of coastal Norway.
But there is something different here, and perhaps it is all about the people. Chileans are most definately NOT like their Argentine neighbours. Oh, no! Or rather, a refreshing yes! For these quiet, gentle, welcoming people are miles apart from the frenetic and full on approach that could be found even in El Calafate. And that false, plastic, almost Disney~like mountain world conjured up in El Calafate, complete with the Swiss style log cabin way of building, along with the monster casino, is completely absent. Here in Puerto Natales, it is a real town, with real inhabitants going about their daily business, almost unaware or even blase about their proximity to the most beautiful national park in the world.
Jon managed to navigate us almost immediately to a fantastic hostel where we are paying just 6,000 Chilean Pesos each for a bunk. It is a family run affair here at the Hostel Nathaly, which presumably is a play on the name of our town rather than the charming mother of the house. They give us free reign in the kitchen, where, over a good few hours we cook up enough food to keep us going for the five days of the trek. Willy and Maria Louise, the landlords, offered us to keep our large backpacks at the hostel to save our shoulders during hard trekking, so we have taken only what we need in Simon's backpack (YES! we will take turns carrying the load!). Our intention was to be taking a light rucksack with us, but it has turned out to be heavy as we are taking five days worth of food! And that's including cooked rice and pasta that has soaked up all the water already! Extra grammes! One solution may be to eat as much food as soon as possible to lighten the load, but future starvation isn't really an option. We'll have to sleep on this one! But as for tomorrow, let the fun begin!