The Story Of Us

The next morning we left El Calafate and made the two and a half hour drive to El Chalten. Here we were going to be spending the next two days and go on four hikes. We had booked ourselves a nice little house. With a growing family sometimes a small hotel room just doesn't cut it and if in the same price range we can get a little extra room to spread out I am all for it. We were there and ready to start hiking by noon. We picked up some wraps to take with us. The first hike started from right behind our hotel so that was perfect. HIKE ONE - Mirador del Torre - it is described as a relatively easy 4 mile hike. At the end you get to see panoramic views of Cerro Torre, the Adela range, and the Fitzroy River canyon.  The town behind us.  We spotted a Rufous-collared sparrow, known locally as chingolo. and a Chilean flicker, a type of woodpecker.. and that is all. When we got to the viewpoint there was no view. The clouds and mist had rolled in.. it even rained for a bit and...

Hopefully, leaving our misadventures behind  us in Punta Arena, we got in our rental car on the 26th of December and made the three hour drive to Puerto Natales.  Puerto Natales is a port city in Chilean Patagonia. The drive was uneventful. We saw many many sheep, some gaunico's and got pretty close to the Argentinian border. It was very very windy (something we were going to get very familiar with) so we didn't stop to take any pictures..  But the moment we got close enough to see the city.. it was pure jaw dropping magic and pictures do not do justice to the beauty.  Their city's mascot is a Mylodon, a prehistoric giant ground sloth that lived in Patagonia over 10,000 years ago.  We stayed in an Airbnb we could not find.. the GPS coordinates were way off and the host did not speak English and we felt our bad luck following us around.. but once we finally found it.. it was the prettiest place. The view.. horses grazing in the distance.. definition of idyll...