Trip to Chile Part 1, Patagonia

Pat at Condor Lookout

Patagonia is one of those dream hiking destinations for hikers. We signed up for a one-week trip to Patagonia with Amazonia Expeditions. We decided to extend the trip an extra week to the Lakes District of Chile on our own.

Magellanic Penguins (photo: A. Kramer)

We departed during the government shutdown, so flight delays and cancellations were more likely to occur. Fortunately, our flights departed mostly on time. We flew American Airlines from BWI to DFW and Santiago Chile. From here we flew to Punta Arenas. We arrived 31 hours after the start of the trip. 

Elephant Seal  (photo: A. Kramer)

On our first full day we took a very rough boat ride out to Los Pinguinos NM, an island in the Strait of Magellan. The winds were blowing about 95 kph, and many passengers got sick. For the rest of us it was a great roller coaster ride. There are 60,000 breeding pairs of penguins on this Island, but they had more sense than the visitors and almost all of the penguins were keeping warm in their underground burrows. With the wind so strong, it was difficult to walk around the island. We completed the circuit hike, but we were glad to return to the boat. Since the boat had extra barf bags, the captain continued the journey to another island where we could see sea lions and an elephant seal enjoying a wet, windy and cold beach day. 

Near Puerto Natales

Group hike from a lookout (photo: A Kramer)

                                        

Salto Grande Waterfall

Cordillera del Paine

Apes ruled the world and this was their Mt Rushmore

Vega Castillo Wetlands

We left Punta Arenas and travelled to Puerto Natales. On the way we spotted many flamingos in the distance and a few rheas roadside. The next morning, we entered Torres Del Paine NP and did a series of day hikes over the next several days. We also took a cruise out to Grey Glacier to see the blue ice. On our return from the boat trip, we saw 7 guanacos feeding in a field. We also took a hike around a wetland full of birds - many of these species are only found in South America. 

View from our room

Torres del Paine

Guanacos

                            

                                                                Enjoying Life

Puma finally gets up (photo: A. Kramer)

The guides didn’t want us to go home without seeing a puma (lion). Fortunately, they knew where to look, and they found one lying on the side of a hill. We waited a long time for the puma to get up so we could get a decent picture, but puma like to rest after eating. Just as almost everyone put their tripods, cameras and binoculars away and reboarded the bus, the puma rose, walked around a bit and settled into a new bed of grass. I bet he was smiling thinking he outsmarted us.

Our tour ended the next morning. Everyone headed home except for us - we flew two hours north to the Lake District of Chile. 

                    The elusive Condor captured on film (photo: A. Kramer)