Three Days at Sea

Tuesday 2nd February

Checked out for the second time and took my bag up to the bus station where check-in was quick and simple; the receptionist attached a tag to my bag and gave me a combined baggage tag and boarding pass. "Come back at eight forty five this evening. Dinner tonight is not included". Walked down Avenida Espagna towards the Museum of Fauna shown on my map, with the hope that I might find a cafe on the way. But no cafe and no museum. It's definitely not where it is shown on the map. Went all around the block and all I could find was a church and a disused, red-painted building that showed no signs of ever having been a museum.  After giving up on the museum, headed down to the shore where I found a pleasant cafe where I could sit outside and get a great view of the shore, sea and backdrop of mountains. The scrambled eggs and bacon were good but served with four slices of lightly toasted but completely desiccated bread. But the view made up for it.

Walked back along the shore to a small harbour, full of fishing boats, where I saw the Eden, the ship I am joining this evening, coming in. Which suggests it has lost another 2-3 hours on its schedule. 

Navimag Ship coming into Port

Navimag Ship "Eden"

Headed back towards town and went into one of the many pharmacies to buy some mosquito repellent. So many people in Britain get sentimental and nostalgic for small independent shops in the high street, forgetting how inefficient they were. In Chile they still have them, the butcher, the baker and the pharmacies. Although, to be fair, the pharmacies mostly seem to be chains. I looked for mosquito repellent in the supermarket but couldn't find any. Looked on the open shelves in a few pharmacies and couldn't find any there either. Spanish is a friendly language and mosquito repellent translates as “repelente de mosquitos”. Waited behind a couple who seemed to be buying half the pharmacy and then when I got to the assistant she tells me I need a ticket from the machine. Yes it's quite visible when she points to it but it never dawned on me that there would be a ticket queuing system in a shop. So I get my ticket, No33, now noticing the display telling me she is serving ticket 30. Not too bad. But then the people in front of me decide they want to buy other things, or they want to compare prices, so it is a fair wait. When it gets to my turn I ask her for the “repelente de mosquitos” which, to my amazement, she understands, and she goes to a shelf and brings forth two options. Now it is my turn to read the labels to check if they contain DEET, since the travel doctor in Singapore warned me that DEET is the only effective repellent, and compare the prices and sizes of the two options. I have been waiting 20 minutes for my moment in the sun so I don't want to be rushed. Eventually I pay my money and get my spray but wouldn't it be so much easier and efficient if I could just find what I wanted on the shelves, compare prices and contents, choose what I wanted and take it to the cash desk?

The pharmacy is close to the town square which is nicely laid out with park benches where I feel like sitting down. Sometimes I wonder what qualifications you need to be an urban planner. The park benches are solidly built out of wood and concrete and probably cost a lot. But they are all in the sun! Can't imagine many people sit on them in the winter and I have already found out how easy it is to get burnt here. Obviously everyone else thinks the same since the benches are empty. Fortunately there are many trees in the square and under most of them are people sitting or lying on the grass. So I find an unpopulated tree and relax under it.

For dinner went to “Santolla Meson de Mar”, which I had noticed earlier and is built,mostly, out of shipping containers. Had an excellent conger eel steak with crisp mixed vegetables and glass of pinot noir, followed by a Chilean bread pudding which I was not so impressed by; prefer the English version. The interior design is studiedly casual and uses lots of low wattage, tungsten filament bulbs with free-standing filaments about 40 mm long. Looking at the bulb nearest to my table I noticed that the filaments seem to be dancing in tune with the music. And this was before drinking a drop of the wine!

Restaurant Built out of Containers

Returned to the bus station for the 8.45 rendezvous, chatting to J & V, originally from England but now retired and living on a boat in Greece. It was after 9.30 when the bus came, and then it wasn't big enough for everyone, but I managed to get on the first one, driving down past the hotel where I had been staying and onto the cargo deck of the ship. I was allocated my cabin, No 518, but the door wouldn't lock so I was moved to 525. It isn't luxurious but perfectly adequate, quite cosy in fact. Toilets and showers are along the corridor and again look OK. But big shock: no bar! First time I have been on a ship which has a no alcohol rule! I did read that we were not supposed to bring alcohol on board but I imagined that was so that they could maximise their bar sales. Naturally on reading the prohibition I decided to smuggle a small bottle of rum on board, and a bottle of coke.  According to Percy, the purser, the no alcohol rule was introduced after some passengers got drunk and set fire to a cabin. But I would have thought a bar would enable drinking to be controlled better than having people smuggling stuff in and drinking it in their cabins. Might have been more sensible to ban matches and lighters!

Cosy Cabin

We had an introduction to the ship and our schedule; we are now due to sail at noon so that we can reach a particular narrow passage at 2pm when the current should be at a minimum. That was followed by a fairly perfunctory video safety briefing. Got chatting to four young women from Australia, Germany, Austria and Spain/Italy who are all following long adventurous journeys round the continent. About 11 everyone started dispersing to their cabins.

Wednesday 3^rd February

Slept well and was in the queue for breakfast on the dot at 8.30. Typical Chilean offering of bread, ham, cheese, and yoghurt. Percy gave us a briefing on the route we will be taking through narrow channels threading between the multitude of islands off the Chilean coast. Had a look round the ship and discovered that we have about 60 live cattle on board but happy to say we are not sharing sleeping or eating quarters. Cast off about 1230, heading south and we were soon in the narrow channels Percy had described. The scenery is wild, desolate and impressive, snow-capped mountains, rocky islets, water cascading down the hillsides. The weather is equally wild, patches of brilliant sunshine interspersed with black and grey clouds, occasional driving rain and always wind, ranging from normal stiff wind you might expect at sea and howling gales that threaten to blow your off your feet. Lunch reminded me of school dinners, hearty and filling would probably best describe it: vegetable soup, probably out of a catering pack, with lots of pearl barley, tinned sweetcorn and cabbage salad, pork and soggy mashed potatoes followed by jelly for desert.  Lots of interesting people on board. Found out that J&V made their money buying and doing up property in the UK, before retiring to live on a boat and travel the world. Met E from Minnesota who designs offices when he isn’t travelling and P from Poland who is on an extended holiday. I am amazed by how many people are able to indulge their desire to travel the world.

Bovine Companions

Casting Off

Goodbye Puerto Natales

Wild Landscape

Wild Landscape

Relaxing on the Sun Deck

Thursday 4^th February

What a difference a day makes! Brilliant sunshine and clear blue sky. The scenery as we pass through the narrow channels is beautiful. In the early morning we anchor off Puerto Eden a small community of about 80 people, according to Percy, whose only connection to the outside world is by sea. Lots of small boats come out to meet us to take on supplies for the settlement. At the same time a man is feeding the cows, which suggests that they have a future in their destination. Outside on the deck the main hazard today in sunburn! Started reading “Pocket Full of Rye” an Agatha Christie “whodunit”. In the afternoon we saw the spouts of some whales but nothing more exciting; no close encounters. Talking to D, a musician, artist, microlight pilot and instructor, who dresses like a pirate, originally from California but who bought a ranch and built a house in Oregon, who tells me how he and his “lady”, who teaches Zumba and gymnastics, have been begged by the people of Puerto Eden to stay for a while and pass on their expertise, but apparently Navimag want to charge them an additional full fare to stop off and re-join in a few weeks. They have been travelling for several months and are looking at the possibility of settling in Patagonia. He is a fascinating guy; am I the only person who finds his Jupiter sized ego hard to take? 

Puerto Eden

Boat coming to Pick up Supplies

Feeding Time

Mountains behind Puerto Eden

What a Difference a Day Makes

Wild Scenery but Pleasant Weather

One of the Narrow Channels

The “Capitán Leonidas”, ran aground in the 1960s
on the semi-sunken island of “Bajo Cotopaxi”.Story goes that it went aground on rocks in 1963, or possibly 1968,
when the captain tried to sink it to claim insurance. 

 Mid-afternoon we head out into the open ocean where there is a distinct swell and attendance at dinner is noticeably reduced, not that it was a great culinary experience, “spag bol” (spaghetti bolognaise) at its most basic level. After dinner chatting to E and S, from Queensland, who seems to have been everywhere. Before retiring for the night I decided to get a coke from the “bar” which I could see the man wasn’t happy about. OK it was 10pm and he wanted to close but it was only when he opened the glass door of the fridge that I saw the problem. The lower third of the fridge was full of cans of soft drinks, which may once have been stacked neatly but, probably thanks to the swell,  were now in a disorganised heap, which collapsed as he opened the door just a few inches to reach in for my Coke. As cans fell into the gap between the door and the cabinet the door was impossible to close. Open it any wider and the cans would come tumbling out. Reaching in through a few inch wide gap he valiantly tried to push the cans away from the door, and as fast as he pushed them back they rolled forwards. E, S and I watched for ten minutes, trying to resist laughing, as he struggled. None of us spoke enough Spanish to suggest to him to let the cans fall out and dump them somewhere else until morning. Eventually he managed to close the door and I paid my 1000 pesos for the Coke and the entertainment.

Friday 4^th February

Just a month since I left England and I am about where I expected to be, give or take a day; first time I have checked. Beautiful hot sunny day today, wearing tee shirt and shorts. Passed several snow-capped volcanoes but still no wildlife.

Clear Blue Sky again

Volcano

And another

Red Sky at Night

Finished “Pocket Full of Rye” and started “Tales from the Sofa” by Frank Skinner. In the afternoon went to Percy’s talk about the arrangements for disembarkation tomorrow morning at 8.15 and what there is to see in, and around, Puerto Montt. I admire his ability to be so enthusiastic when he must have given this talk dozens of times. He was particularly effusive about Chiloe Island, which isn’t on my itinerary, but I can’t do everything. After dinner, decided it wasn’t tee shirt and shorts temperature any longer despite the bright sun and watched the sun go down over Chiloe Island. It’s definitely “red sky at night” so hope for good weather tomorrow.

Saturday 6th February

Early start, breakfast at 7.15. The ship was already being unloaded and reloaded. A major part of the cargo was big white bags of what I later learn was fish food for the salmon farms which are a huge industry here. I learnt more from this interesting article

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/04/chilean-fish-farms-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/#.VrbqX9IrLZs

Food for Fish Farms being Loaded

About 8.30 we got on the bus to take us from the port to the centre of Puerto Montt about a 20 minute journey. Found my way to Hotel Castellano but it looks like my reservation with booking.com failed to reach them. Eventually I got a room which is fine. As I was waiting for my room I saw that the two pretty French girls from the ship had arrived before me. 

Overall view of the journey

A memorable experience through the "fjords" of Patagonia, through a pristine wilderness. Thanks to the sunny, warm weather on two out of three days it was a brilliant journey. But Navimag fell below even modest expectations. I understand it's  a cargo ship and I didn't expect a luxury cruise but when a company charges sky high prices then I do expect a bit of effort. The meals were totally unimaginative, portions were generous but just two alternating varieties of salad, a bowl of catering pack soup and a chunk of  overcooked meat with mashed or boiled potatoes and a piece of fruit isn't appetising. Nor are toilets that don't work. The no alcohol rule and lack of a bar or suitable lounge to congregate didn't help people to get to know each other.

I hope some day another company offers a more passenger friendly service but I guess it comes down to hard economics.

PS Roger confirmed my suspicions about the French origins of the Eden.

   

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

El Calafate, El Chalten and back to Puerto Natales

Thursday 28th January.

Arranged to stay another two nights at Posada Larsen with the intention of doing a day trip to El Calten tomorrow or Saturday. Although the agency, EuroTour, advertised that they did it every day, it actually only operates on Thursdays and Saturdays so booked it for Saturday. Then to the bus station to get my ticket back to Puerto Natales on Sunday. There only seems to be one departure at 8.00 am. By then it was time for a coffee and a piece of calafate tart. 

Coffee and Calafate Tart

Went to the Laguna Nimez nature reserve, not expecting much but it was delightful. It's an area of wetland at the edge of the Argentino Lake and home to many bird species. Initially I didn't see many but then there were dozens of them. I don't usually get excited about birds but the combination of the beautiful weather, great scenery and a few feathery friends made for a great afternoon excursion. The birds I most wanted to see, the pink flamingos were rather shy and kept well away from the shore. 

Upland Goose

Harrier

Forgot to check what these were

But they can fly

The nearest I got to the Flamingos

 Continued to walk round the lake and eventually back into the town. Along the main street found the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares which doesn't seem to be very focused on glaciers but is a pleasant park with examples of native and introduced plants and trees along with information on various explorers and scientists; Darwin gets pride of place. And then there are exhibits of various bits of industrial equipment; seems a strange mixture.

Tractor used for Road Construction.
Vintage 1951, Like to think I have aged a bit better!

One of the American guys I met on the Spanish course was very negative about El Calafate on the grounds that it is just a tourist town, which is true, but I quite like its relaxed ambience. Perhaps I have been seduced by the blue sky, warm weather and lack of gale force winds. Tried to get money out of a couple of ATMs but they didn't want to give me any, on any of the cards I tried. Had lamb for dinner again but the portion was just as huge as last time, maybe it's intended to be shared?    

Pedestrian Crossing. Did they run out of paint?

Friday 29th January

Another fairly relaxed day. After failing miserably to find an ATM that would give me any money last night, I tried the same "Link" machine this morning with identical results. Luckily Banco Patagonia uses a different network which was happy to give me my money so now I don’t need to be counting my pesos quite so carefully. Went to the museum close to the nature reserve which cost me 120 pesos and had a strange layout. It is housed in what looks like two galvanised, corrugated iron sheds with no windows so it is very dark inside. The first shed deals with the dinosaurs of Patagonia and has several large reconstructed skeletons and a lot of information on the walls in Spanish. The woman in charge gave me a translation in English but it was difficult to read in the darkness. The next part of the exhibition dealt with the arrival and subsequent extinction of megafauna, such as sabre toothed tigers and giant sloths, coupled with and possibly caused by the arrival of Homo sapiens. The museum improved greatly as it progressed to the indigenous inhabitants, their culture and their demise at the hands of the European colonisers. Its treatment of 20th century history was surprisingly partisan accusing the Argentine state of massacres of indigenous people and workers who joined trade unions.  So it was an interesting but unusual museum which I think was trying to create a unifying theme all the way from the dinosaurs to the present day. Interesting that it claims to very green, generating its own electricity. Can't help feeling that a few windows or skylights would have been even greener and much more user friendly.

Museum in a Tin Shed

Good for Scaring the Kids

Interesting that despite the high winds that seem part of the Patagonian climate, I have seen virtually no wind turbines, no sign of serious insulation either, no double glazing. Given the huge expanse of Patagonia, the almost constant high winds and the sparsity of people to object I would have thought wind farms would have been remarkably effective. 

After a coffee and a brownie went for a walk along the lakeside, almost getting blown away in the process. Lots of expensive looking houses along the lake front but I think the constant wind would send me crazy.

In the evening went out for dinner at the place closest to the hotel and had an excellent traditional stew of butter beans, sausage, pork etc. And a half bottle of Malbec; one of the best meals I’ve had.

Saturday 30th January

Pick up for tour about 7.20 this morning and then drove round picking up groups from various other hotels. I found myself sitting with a group of mainly retired people from Portland Oregon. They are on a tour which included a cruise on a Norwegian ship to Antarctic, which they all seemed very enthusiastic about. Drove through the outskirts of Calafate where they have built suburban dual carriageways complete with street lighting across the empty steppe and suburban style houses are beginning to fill in the spaces, Milton Keynes in Patagonia?

Creating Suburbia on the Steppe

Little House on the Prairie

Most of the drive to El Chalten was through the empty Patagonian steppe with a brief stop at a hotel at a river crossing. Only as we got close to El Chalten did the scenery improve with fantastic views of the mountains of which the most prominent is Mt Fitzroy, 8400m according to our guide. Named after the captain of the Beagle who explored the area in 1833? 

Mount Fitzroy

The weather makes a huge difference; today there is clear blue sky with only a few tiny white fluffy clouds.  The town of El Chalten was only established in the 1980's to thwart any possibility of Chilean expansion. From El Chalten we transferred to a smaller minibus to drive up a gravel road through stunning scenery along the De Las Vueltes river to FitzRoy Eco Lodge where we were served a "light lunch" of sirloin steak and potatoes. OK, the steak was a bit well done for my taste but it was a very generous portion. Also met my first Llamas at close quarters; I can't help thinking they just ambled out of a children's story book. 

De Las Vueltes River

FitzRoy Eco Lodge

Shaggy Llama

Friendly Llama

After lunch we returned to El Chalten to join a catamaran on the Viedma Lake to go to the Viedma glacier sailing past the icebergs and into an incredible head wind roaring down the glacier and onto the lake. 

Watch Out for Icebergs!

Viedma Glacier

Weird Cloud

The scenery is incredible although disappointed not to see Mt Fitzroy again. It has been the most fantastic trip, far better than I expected. Certainly makes Geology come alive with valleys carved by glaciers and hillsides showing their twisted strata. Totally brilliant day. Another long journey back across the steppe to Calafate where we arrived just before 9pm. Dropped some postcards in the British looking red pillar box outside the Correos, got some cash out of the Bank Patagonica, the only one that likes any of my cards and then relaxed on the terrace of Borges y Alvarez Libro Bar with an Otro Mundo Golden Ale. On the plus side it came with a basket of popcorn. Down side, the chicken quesadilla was horrible.

Borges y Alvarez Libro Bar

In case you don't know how to pour beer.
Only in English

Sunday 21 st January

Dropped of my keys at reception and made my way to the bus station, pulling my case along. As I came out of Posada Larsen was amused to see two guys from the hotel across the road doing exactly the same. I followed one of them all the way to the bus station where I arrived about 0730. Bus started loading up at 0740 and was full except for four seats at the back. At almost exactly 0800, four trekkers arrived and started repacking their rucksacks before getting on the bus so it was 0810 when we pulled out of the bus station. Back along 200 plus km of RN40 until we pulled off onto the gravel road and reached the Argentine border post at 1120. Another big bus had just pulled in from the Chile side and the border post was overwhelmed by the numbers. There were long queues for both “in” and “out”. Two counters, two guys, two computers checking everybody in and out and stamping passports. It was 1253 when we finally left and drove a few km to the Chile border post where we had to go through the same process this time taking all our luggage with us for “inspection”. I can see why bureaucrats want to know who is in the country but if I were a criminal trying to get in or out I just wouldn't bother to wait in line for the stamp and get back on the bus. Yes, I would have entered or left the country illegally but if I were a serious criminal how much would that bother me?

Cars queuing to enter Argentina

Argentine Border Post.
Queuing to leave Argentina on the left and to enter on the right.
Must be miserable if it's raining

But Chilean immigration was much slicker; for a start they have a passport scanner so the guy doesn't need to type all the passport details manually. All the bags went through an X-ray machine although I am not sure what they hoped to find; no one was asked to open their bags. The main concern in Chile seems to be agricultural produce but I wouldn't have expected that to show up on X-ray. There was a dog wandering around and for a while I thought he might be a customs dog but came to the conclusion he was just an opportunist stray hoping to find something tasty that had been dumped. Finally at 1338 we are on our way and only 58 km to Puerto Natales where we arrived just after 1415. Made my way to the Hotel Saltos del Paine not far from the Aquaterra where I stayed before. Advantage of this one is that it is a bit cheaper and also closer to the Navimag ship embarkation pier. After checking in headed up the road to the Creperie but found it closed,as are many places, it being Sunday. Went to one of the cafes on the corner of the main square where I had the "Pastel de Choclo" literally sweetcorn cake. It was quite good and very filling, comprising a mush of sweetcorn in a deep, thick earthenware bowl with olives, onion, hard-boiled egg, pieces of lamb and chicken mixed in. It was very hot and thanks to the thick bowl it stayed that way. I needed a Coke to cool down. Went for a walk along the seafront; it feels really warm now with bright sun and little wind. There are even people paddling in the sea! 

Good View from my Window

Fishing from the Pier

Later in the evening looked for somewhere I could get a light bite but the options were fairly limited so went to Don Jorge in the main square where I shocked the waiter by ordering only an avocado salad and an Austal Calafate beer.  Must admit I had expected the salad to be more than juts two avocados with a slice of lettuce but the bread and tomato salsa made up for it. Total came to 8250 Chilean pesos (1000 = £1)

Off on my mini cruise tomorrow so probably internet and no blog for next few days.