Puerto Natales, Chile

En la mañana we awoke early to buy our tickets for Puerto Natales and for the next 5.5hrs sat snuggled under my sleeping bag on what was essentially a freezing collectivo with reclining seats. We sat there bouncing down the dirt road and watched as kilometer after kilometer of wide open spaces passed us by. Once in town I led us directly to our hostel, which was closed for the winter - but the one next door was open and for 6,000 pesos each we received hot showers, breakfast, free internet, cable TV and a twin bed to share. For the middle of winter the hostel was quite full - of Chilean men, and we had no idea why. The rest of the day was productive and pleasant. Grateful to be out of the land of Jamon y Queso we had a satisfying Chilean meal, ran errands and bought our tickets for Torres Del Paine. On the way into town we saw Flamingos, yes Flamingos, on the lake and after our errands set out along the waterfront to find them once again but with no luck, but it was a beautiful walk. Though the town has a fancy path and a hotel under construction right on the waterfront it has somehow managed to avoid being touristy. There are no fancy shops, no overpriced restaurants and most houses retain their original architecture. Despite the fact that the town survives, exists even for tourism, I couldn´t tell and loved and appreciated it all the more. After another pleasant day on our southbound journey we returned to our room to fall asleep watching movies. We have watched more movies in the past 3 weeks than we´ve watched in the past 2 years.