Patagonia 2017: A
Little Salto Grande on the Way to Punta Arenas - Día Trece – 2/20/17
Maximizing our commitment of money and time for traveling in
South America, and to ward off the post-trek blues after hiking the “W,” more adventures awaited our merry band.
Today was our last day as a foursome because Carol was heading off to
join her hubby for a fantastic two-week cruise from Buenos Aires to Santiago. Rick had plans for a ten-day excursion to
Antarctica (!) and we were all jealous of that. Prior to his departure, Rick
was sticking with Cathy and me for two days and nights in Punta Arenas. What’s there, you say? Wait and see!
But today was all about getting from Point A to Point D
via Points B & C. The first leg was the
morning ferry from Refugio Paine Grande to Pudeto.
Goodbye Los
Cuernos
With a couple of hours to kill at Pudeto before our bus
departure, we got a bite to eat and took the half-hour walk to see Lago Nordenskjöld's outfall to the Paine River and then to Lago Pehoé. The river is short but mighty as it narrows
to rapids and plunges over Salto Grande, an impressive waterfall. The noise, the volume, the spray, and the glacier blue
water made this an unexpected and delightful ending to our visit to Torres del
Paine National Park.
Los Cuernos as a backdrop, water flows from Lago Nordenskjöld...
...through Salto Grande...
...into Lago
Pehoé
...into Lago
Pehoé
The rest of the day was buses, retrieving our belongings
from the apartment building in Puerto Natales (yay, still on the high shelf in
the laundry room!), saying goodbye to Carol.
Next stop for Rick, Cathy and me was Punta Arenas, the largest city in
Patagonia. [Relatively speaking, it’s a
small city, and I wish we’d had an extra day to explore thoroughly, but we gave
it our best effort in our time there.]
Rick, Cathy and I arrived in Punta Arenas after dark, a
bit of a challenge finding Hostel Keoken.
We knocked on the locked front door until another guest let us in (the
owner was not to be found) and the housekeeper gave us our room key. Three beds with a bath – luxurious after the
refugio circuit – but little floor space for our exploding backpacks. Supper was just the second half of our lunch
sandwiches. Did we share an evening toast, maybe on the rooftop patio? After the long day, all we really cared about
was charging phones. And wifi. And
sleep.
Tomorrow – penguins!
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” ~Martin Buber
From Lago Nordenskjöld
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