South America, PART 1: From Santiago to Patagonia!

Day 1 in Chile! Baños Morales

Glacial Lake = REST STOP!

Penguins in Ancud, Chiloé

Kindle action aboard the ferry

FERRY!

Sunset in Patagonia

CAPTAINS SEAT!!

After 6 world-spanning months of separation, Megan and I eagerly reunited in Santiago, Chile, ready for another three months of AWESOME adventure! True to our Pacific NW backgrounds, we began our journey with a day trip outside of the capital to hike to a glacier from the small town of Baños Morales. Besides the hours of outdoor exhilaration and blue skies, the day was filled with navigating public transportation, thoroughly burning our exposed skin in the Andean altitude, and sharing tales of three continents. The following day we made our way to the Museo Nacional, where we walked through pre-Columbian pottery and revved up our Spanish by reading the history-filled information boards. By day three, our jet lag was battled and we were ready head out of the city. Boarding a (14 hour!) southbound bus to Puerto Montt, we began the 3,000 km journey south towards our final destination of Puerto Natales—the launching pad for Torres del Paine National Park. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with the idea. Upon our arrival in Puerto Montt, we found the buses booked solid for the next 2+ weeks. So, we purchased ferry tickets instead. We had a week to explore the area before our ferry embarked, so we found our way to Chiloé, the peaceful island turned picturesque Chilean getaway.  We spent the week walking down long clouded beaches, visiting Humboldt and Magellan penguin colonies, making friends with motherly hospedaje (hostel) owners, and exploring the sleepy neighboring island Isla Lamuey. On March 1^st, 8 days into our South American travels, we boarded the ferry to Puerto Natales with about 200 other backpacking Chileans and foreigners. The four days were long on the small boat, filled with lots of reading, cafeteria-style meals, and bouts of nausea. However, slight discomforts and monotony were compensated with starlit nights, glacier sightings, ocean sunsets, sea bird watching, many a bobbing sea lion head, chats with the crew and captain, and animated conversations with other enthused Patagonian travelers. On day 4, we arrived in the mountain-rimmed Puerto Natales, where we used the remaining four hours of sunlight and our considerably built-up excitement and energy to purchase camping food (AKA oatmeal.. and more oatmeal!), rent gear, catch up with family, plan our trekking route, purchase bus tickets to the National Park, and pack. After which we COLLAPSED for a few hours of sleep before embarking at dawn on our longest solo backpacking trip to date in the epic wilderness of... TORRES DEL PAINE.
More to come! Jihelah and Megan