Extra Day in Puerto Natales

Monday 1st February

Checked out of hotel at 10 and hoped to find a cosy little place for breakfast but no luck. Back to the Creperie for another crepe strudel and coffee.

Walked down to the Navimag office by the quay but was told I need to check in at the office at the bus station. Any questions? "Ask at the bus station". But I can see the ship isn't there so when I asked about schedule I was told “Twelve o’clock tomorrow”. So another trip to the bus station where the woman told me that the schedule was delayed by 24 hours and I would need to check in at the same time tomorrow. She assured me she had sent me an email Thursday but I have been checking emails regularly and it certainly didn't arrive. Also she told me my luggage has to be brought to the bus station before 1830 and I have to be at the bus station at 2045 to board the ship. No, I can't board the ship directly from the quay side! So my decision to choose a hotel near the quayside has backfired! Since I need to spend another night here I decided I might as well stay in the same place since now my bag is at the bottom of the hill it will need the same amount of work to take it to the top wherever I stay. Puerto Natales is a pleasant little town but I do feel I have explored most of what it has to offer.

Had dinner at the Bagueles bar, restaurant and microbrewery on the main square where I had a tasty hamburger and equally good rubio beer, 11550 including two beers and tip.  Obviously it is a beer lovers, backpackers and trekkers hang out since I could read well-thumbed back copies of “Draft:Life on Tap” for beer enthusiasts and watch videos of people climbing up sheer rock faces. Makes a change from Victoria’s Secret videos. The once-glossy copies of “Draft”, and possible association with Victoria’s Secret, put me in mind of the equally once-glossy copies of Penthouse and the like which could be found in a designated bottom drawer of a desk in every company department in the 1970’s. At GEC, the custodian of the dirty mags drawer was Ken, a respectable, middle aged, married man who was a councillor on, I think, Brent Council. Checking on the internet, I was amazed to find that Penthouse is still going; more than can be said for GEC! 

Great Place for a Beer and a Hamburger

Draft