From El Calafate to Puerto Natales in Chile.

1st December

We are on track again! This morning we started early, leaving El Calafate at 6.30. The bus ride to Puerto Natales in Chili is 350 km and takes about 6 hours. Thus we had some time to write the next blog on board the bus. 
 

We went by public transportation to Chili. The bus picked us up at our hotel. Some passengers were already on board. This morning it was cloudy and some raindrops fell, but the weather improved after an hour or so. Later in the day we had really pleasant weather.

It is  still steppe landscape. Nothing to be seen. After one and a half our the landscape changed a little bit. Sometimes beautiful red low bushes showed up. They are called guanaco bushes and here we saw our first guanacos. They are in the same family as the lama and are about 1.20 at shoulder height.

We had the  straight road ahead of us and may be 5 cars were passing by before we reached our first stop at La Esperanza after 2 hours. Not much more than a few houses, a petrol station and a souvenir-shop. After about another 3 hours we reached the border at Don Guillermo. Again a very small place with 3 houses. It went quite smooth. A few kilometres further on we came to the Chilean border control. This took some more time. They checked all the luggage, specially for fruits, vegetables and milk products.

The landscape changed quite a lot before the border. More hilly and greener. The distance from the border to Puerto Natales is 65 km and we soon reached The Street of Magallanes. A lot of seafarers were looking for this passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan managed this while in service for the Spanish king. He was also the first one to sail all around the world. We stay for 2 nights in a very colourful hotel and tomorrow we shall visit Chile's most famous national park, the Torres del Paine.