Puerto Natales is a city of 20,000 people, and the capital of Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope) province but its best known as the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park.
Our campground in the middle of town conveniently located six blocks from a laundry that got decent reviews and did a poor job…and five blocks from a small local supermarket which we compared to Fausto’s in Key West. Supermercado Bulnes bigger and better supplied than it appears from the outside. The local box chain Unimarc was not well enough reviewed for Layne to check it out. That’s what you look for while overlanding. The landmarks come later.
Puerto Natales was founded in 1911 after many European settlers came down to the area attracted by cattle and sheep ranching possibilities and more land than they had around Puerto Montt. Chileans followed the migrants and the city followed.
Juan Ladrillero, 1490-1574, explored vast sections of the coast of South America but his fame today lies in his transit, the second by a European, of the Straits of Magellan from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back in the winter of 1558. Magellan transited in 1520 on his way around the world (a journey interrupted by his death) but Ladrillero took the time to explore the area.
He named Last Hope Bay as he figured it was his last chance to find a way through the channels to the Atlantic. That route didn’t work out but he made it in the end. He poked his nose into the Atlantic and quickly turned around and doubled back to the Pacific.
The Magellanic region of Chile is cut off from the rest of the country by land as the southern highway (Carretera Austral) ends well north of here. So you can get here by driving through Argentina, or shipping as we did or flying.
Chile and Argentina have fought over the boundaries in this region which is why it’s so ridiculously criss crossed by borders. Chile wanted access to the Atlantic and Argentina wanted access to southern Patagonia so if you’ve never looked at this country the borders will confuse you. We are driving from the blue dot to the red mark. The black lines are the border between the two countries. Ferries and not bridges cross bodies of water here.
The weather here is harsh most of the time. Summer is December through March and winters are snow filled winter wonderlands of weather that will kill the incautious. Sensible travelers stay away from April through October though some adventurers in four wheel drive vehicles like to impress on social media visiting when facilities are closed.
Chile encourages people to live here by giving tax breaks and praising residents as patriots flying the flag in inhospitable places. Tourism in summer is huge and this is a country where things work. Roads are good electricity is reliable and there are all kinds of tours and hikes and camping on offer in stunning countryside. Most assuredly you do not need to drive your own camper down here.
We got lucky on the weather the days after we arrived in Puerto Natales. Friday and Saturday were sunny and not too windy. There are lots of street dogs in Chile but they get kennels and food and water and they hang out in the sun looking fat and content surprisingly.
The winds here are legendary and when we were getting ready to get on the ferry in Puerto Montt an older guy strolled up to pet Rusty. We got to talking and he told me he’d lived in Punta Arenas for thirty years. Watch out for the winds he said, going on to tell me about the time he was driving an empty truck and it got flipped by the wind. Then he pulled out his phone and proceeded to show me a video sent to him by a friend. It was a banal video of people walking down a street in Punta Arenas until suddenly one of them just got flattened and fell to the ground pinned like a beetle on his back. It took six people to pull him out of the funnel of wind blowing down an alleyway so he could get up. The guy looked at me and said 85 mile an hour (140kph) winds last week in Punta Arenas. When Layne got back from the bank he showed her the video too. That was sobering. He wished us well as we took off for our rendezvous with the ferry.
And now here we are, in Patagonia and it’s quite overwhelming. We are less than 500 miles from our goal of Ushuaia but we have places to visit and things to do before we get there.
As intimidating as this region is there is lots to see here remembering national parks ban dogs. And we intend to see everything we can before we head north.
The thing that surprises me is how normal everything looks, Porto Natales is just another town with clean well built sidewalks, proper traffic signs and lots of stores and yet here we are in one of the harshest weather regions you can find. It’s pretty funny actually; we tip toe around feeling amazed we are here at all and school kids ride by on their bikes wearing back packs and headphones like kids anywhere. People go to work and shop just like they do anywhere and we feel like time travelers.
The tiny but well stocked Supermercado Bulnes on an avenue of the same name. Manuel Bulnes was a revolutionary general and then a president of Chile who encouraged immigration and opening up the south.
This place requires commitment to visit and enjoy, but the rewards are encouraging us to hope we are going to have a lot of fun driving around here.
