Hello all,
Guy and I have just landed in Puerto Montt. I should say that we have just arrived because we came by bus. It was an overnight trip on a “bed bus” with wide, reclining seats. We slept 10.5 of the 12 hours. I am just getting over a cold and really needed the sleep. While in Santiago, we stayed at the apartment of one of Guy´s friends, which was great, but did not allow me any time to rest or recuperate. We spent all of our time outside, wandering around the town, or inside with the hosts while they entertained friends. As you can imagine, with my cold, I felt and looked like complete crap. Whenever I would walk up a few stairs, I would become exhausted. If we were at home, I never would have left my bed, except to lay on the couch to watch movies and fall asleep during the first few minutes. This is one of the little sacrifices made while traveling.
As I said, we are now in Puerto Montt, but just for a few hours before we board the M/N Magallanes, a refurbished cargo ship, and cruise through the Chilean fjords to Puerto Natales. Gorgeous scenery is almost guaranteed.
This “cruise” will be 4 nights, 3 days and will end in the southern Patagonia region of Chile, close to Tierra del Fuego – a place I want to visit just because I think the name is cool.
We will probably spend two nights in Puerto Natales, to prepare for our trek through Torres del Paine area/park, we will stay at one of the many low-priced, backpacker-type hotels/hostels. Here is a quote taken directly from a website of one of the hotels. The poorly translated English will give you an idea of the fun that we have ahead of us:
“If you want to be part of this adventure unite you to the best equipment and you are not going away to regret.”
And, 99% of the time, we don´t even get this much translation.
While in Argentina, we had done a fairly good job of learning to understand and speak Spanish, but the Spanish in Chile is very, very different and difficult for anyone but Chileans to comprehend. We´ve been told that they use a lot of slang and abbreviate most regular words. So, after our two weeks of intensive classroom study and real-life language practice in Mendoza, we are now reduced to communicating through hand signals and facial expressions.
I have to quickly send this message before I would like because I feel the telltale signs of diarrhea. I am obviously in an Internet cafe and it was only out of courtesy for the people sitting next to the toilet that I did not use the bathroom sooner. And now, I have almost no choice. As they say, “you only rent empanadas”.
more later, probably from Puerto Natales, on Thursday
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