Tomorrow morning I head out via Sur Bus to Punta Arenas. In the last two days I have spent time reviewing this part of the trip and getting many of my photos to my website uploaded.
I have had a lot of time to contemplate what I would do differently if I should come back to this area. For anyone visiting the area, this is what I suggest. I would stay 2 nights in Puerto Natales, get a vehicle for 3 days and drive towards Torres del Paine [I would make certain that I have prebooked three campsites] and do the following in the sequence shown:
Stop at Laguna Verde for any photo ops
Stop at Laguna Azul for photo ops
Enter the park and pay for the 3 days
Camp at the entrance area of Torres del Paine
Pack gear and spend night at Torres del Paine base camp
Hike in morning up to Torres del Paine lake
Head back to campsite and pick up gear and head back to vehicle.
Drive through park and stop at any photo ops
Possibly do small hike passed the waterfall to end of path [approximately 1 hour one way]
Camp at Grey Glacier area and do 1 hour hike to see glacier and iceburgs.
Drive to Cueva de Miledon and stop along way for any photo ops.
At Cueva de Miledon hike to small cave and arch.
Head back to Puerto Natales
Stay 2 nights in Puerto Natales – return car first morning back and urban hike around town.
The following day take bus El Calafate, or if plan trip right, take “ferry”ship to Puerto Montt. This ship only leaves Puerto Natales once per week. I talked to two ladies from France who went on this ... it is a 4 day trip that is about $400.00 and includes bed and meals. My understanding is you can see anabandoned town and beautiful scenery as this boat travels between the islands. The boat you would travel on is in pic below.
I would also consider doing this section in reverse as well.
Being my last full day in Puerto Natales, I did one last urban hike. I took some photo's of the homes and businesses and was surprised at how many had metal fences and gates in the front of their homes-businesses and tall walls around the rest of their establishment.
Some of my favorite places in Puerto Natales to eat: Pizzas Sandwich Masay ... Wow! The cheese they put on their pizza! Their prices were very reasonable and close to being the cheapest in town.
Another great restaurant was "Wild". Their menu was on wine bottles and had two main dishes: chicken quasedilla and hamburger. They were the cheapest place in town where you get a burger with a beer for 7,000.00 pesos (Approx. $14.00 CDN).
Also, walked passed a prison, that I did not see in my earlier travels. A guard, you can see, was on top with a gun.
The fire department doors were open. I was amazed at their vehicles ... talk about heavy duty.
Dogs can be found everywhere, most of them are sleeping just about anywhere during the day and get quite active at night - a lot of barking. LOL
