Puerto Natales
Paid $35.00 for the bikes this time and opted for keeping the panniers as separate items for a quick getaway at the P. Natales. Sat at the back next to the toilets again and had to explain to each toilet visiting passenger that the door was not locked you just had to yank it hard with both hands….I had to go up to the driver and ask whether it was open half way through the journey and he showed me the special charades action ( which I then repeated for everyone else) by taking both hands off the wheel to demonstrate the force required! Left at 8.30 and arrived at the Argentinian checkpoint at 12.30 for a passport stamp. Queued for ½ hour then queued for ¾ hour at the Chile checkpoint where we had to collect all our separate bags (not so clever now!) from the hold and put them through an x-ray machine. Thankfully, as we were at the back of the bus, we were last off and last to be seen by the customs men so the driver was helping to move things along and we didn’t have to unpack any bags. Got into P. Natales 1 hour late and met the usual queue of people trying to flog rooms as you stepped off the bus. For the first time we had actually pre-booked a hostel (Eratic Rock 2) and cycled straight to it in 2 minutes. It was a beautiful day with hardly a breath of wind which was unusual. Walked into town, which was a bit more how we imagined and hoped Patagonian towns would look like. It still had a lot of the original multi-coloured low rise timber buildings and had so far escaped the anonymous gentrification imposed on many towns catering for tourists. Bought a trekking map and had a coffee in the only vegetarian café we had come across so far. Tried to develop a plan of action for the next week which would involve mostly day walks and a cycle back out.
