26 Feb: Puerto Natales
We departed Rio Serrano at 9am after a decision to make it an 8:45 departure the night before. One thing this group cannot do is depart at the appointed time - it is always about 15-20 minutes after that. Since the group decided not to do a 3.5 hour hike today, I was feeling good and rested for the day.
We stopped several times for photos as we made our way to the Milodon Cave, which was cool to see. After that, we stopped at La Sila de Diablo (The Devil's Chair), a rock formation that looked a lot like a chair that the devil apparently spent a good amount of time sitting on back in the day.
We got to the town of our final stop (Puerto Natales) on this portion of the tour early due to the lack of hike. We all walked along the waterfront and took in the amazing views on a windy day. It was crystal clear which was spectacular.
The timing of getting cell phone service back worked out as it was Harv's birthday and we were able to call him to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was good to chat with him and give him some chuckles from far away.
As we ate lunch at the hotel, the group voted no less than 3 times on either seeing penguins the next day on the way to the airport OR hitting the city of the airport (Punta Arenas) for a walk around the town. On one of the votes, I voted twice just to see if Muti, our guide, was paying attention and he caught me. We finally decided to follow the agenda and go see the penguin sanctuary.
After lunch, Jill and I walked up into town only to discover that if it was not a restaurant, it was not likely open. So a 'locals town' rather than a 'tourist town'. It was a nice change of pace to stroll around anyway. We then headed back to the hotel to rearrange the bags for our 3 days in Mendoza and let the town eat lunch at 2pm or take their siestas.
After packing and a shower, we headed out once again. Now stuff was open and I needed to at least go to the chocolate shop. It appears that I've started to collect a Chocolate Harem (Southern Hemisphere Edition) and we needed to buy some good chocolate as a parting gift on the final night of the dinner. Fortunately, the place was open and the chocolate looked really good. We got some and walked around some more before returning to the hotel for a pre-dinner drink with the gang and just hanging out.
Dinner was good and I busted out the chocolate after the dessert course (which of course included chocolate or vanilla gelato and brownies). A nice way to end the final full day with the group.
We stopped several times for photos as we made our way to the Milodon Cave, which was cool to see. After that, we stopped at La Sila de Diablo (The Devil's Chair), a rock formation that looked a lot like a chair that the devil apparently spent a good amount of time sitting on back in the day.
We got to the town of our final stop (Puerto Natales) on this portion of the tour early due to the lack of hike. We all walked along the waterfront and took in the amazing views on a windy day. It was crystal clear which was spectacular.
As we ate lunch at the hotel, the group voted no less than 3 times on either seeing penguins the next day on the way to the airport OR hitting the city of the airport (Punta Arenas) for a walk around the town. On one of the votes, I voted twice just to see if Muti, our guide, was paying attention and he caught me. We finally decided to follow the agenda and go see the penguin sanctuary.
After packing and a shower, we headed out once again. Now stuff was open and I needed to at least go to the chocolate shop. It appears that I've started to collect a Chocolate Harem (Southern Hemisphere Edition) and we needed to buy some good chocolate as a parting gift on the final night of the dinner. Fortunately, the place was open and the chocolate looked really good. We got some and walked around some more before returning to the hotel for a pre-dinner drink with the gang and just hanging out.
