Day 213: Mint Car

Puerto Natales, Chile

Southern Chile is indeed a beautiful place. It’s not just the nature, the town is also amazing. The houses are colorful. It felt to me as though I was in some Scandinavian coastal town (not that I have been in Scandinavia). A bunch of the houses are quite rugged. They made excellent photographic scenes.

I had to move to another hostel today so this was my task for the morning. Walking around town checking out different hostels made me realize that all of the hostels in Puerto Natales are all very well run. Some look like mountain lodges, others like cozy family homes. I moved into a family run hostel called Tin House that has the nicest kitchen and best breakfast I’ve ever encountered since my backpacking trip. The owners, Laura and David, live next door to the hostel and pretty much leave the visitors do as they like in the cozy hostel. Totally recommend this place.

Besides local, the town were filled with backpacker rushing around shopping for food and camping gear. Basically, almost everybody comes to Puerto Natales to get ready to conquer the world famous Torres del Paine trekking routes. The complete “O” route requires 8-9 days while the most popular “W” route is for about 5-6 days. During these treks, most backpackers carry with them full camping gear plus cooking utensils and food supplies for the entire duration.

At the Erratic Rock hostel’s bar called Basecamp, everyday at 3pm, there’s a talk explaining to newbies the nature and logistics of the treks. This is super informative and essential since the guys there speak from experience.

By the end of the day, I decided to do only 2 days of Torres del Paine, to not camp, and to stay in a “Refugio.¨ Two reasons: I didn’t have enough time and I´ve never camped before in my life.

My gameplan was to take the day bus tour to cover the important scenic parts of the W trek. However, instead of going back with the bus to Puerto Natales, I’d hop off by the entrance of the park and head to the Refugio. Next day early morning, I’d do the 9-hour “Las Torres” (The Tower) trek to the main mirador (viewpoint).

I was slightly disappointed at my tight schedule that prevented me from doing the W trek. However, I’d later discovered that this was actually a blessing in disguise.