Lucie & Rhys´s Honeymoon Adventure: Week 14 - Navimag, Puerto Montt, San Pedro (Chile)

I lost track of days and so this weeks entry covers 9 days and is abit longer than usual…

Christmas morning we were woken at 7am by the tannoy as the captain called us to deck to enjoy the scenery as the ferry passed through the narrowest part of our journey. It was a great way to start the day, the channel was only 60m wide at the thinnest point and the craggy snow-capped mountains loomed over the boat. After an hour or so the dining room opened for breakfast, the standard cheese, ham, rolls, yoghurts and cornflake buffet. We had a briefing on the journey ahead before me and Rhys headed back to our bunks to open our presents, we’d spent £5 each in Puerto Natales. I have some super sparkly earrings to show for it and Rhys has a bottle of Rhubarb liquor, a bag of chocolate Santas and an IOU for some dice.

The rest of the morning was spent out on deck enjoying the sun and the scenery. Our next tannoy announcement was to call us on deck while the ferry passed down a channel through icebergs to a glacier, after a quick visit to the Captain in the bridge we decided we’d seen enough glaciers and retired to the bar with Brad, Ty and Sarah and a pack of cards. Lunch was soup followed by a chicken and beef corn cake (no turkey or sprouts in sight and ever sadder, no crackers), to make it a bit festive we took our speakers and played our Christmas album and of course Rhys had his santa hat on. On Christmas afternoon Rhys watched a film in his bunk while I went to a lecture on ice, flora and fauna in Patagonia. That night they played Marching with Penguins in the restaurant.

On Boxing Day we saw our first whale, well, our first blow hole a couple of hundred metres from the boat. By lunch time the ferry had reached the Golfo de Penas (translates as the Golf of Pain) and the open sea. We were so lucky, the sea was calm and no sea sickness tablets were needed, even one of the waiters commented that it was the smoothest sea crossing they’d had. The weather turned and it was grey and drizzley but without anything to see other than the giant petrils swooping at the boat it didn’t matter and we stayed in the bar. That afternoon I went to a lecture on Chiloe and Puerto Montt while Rhys watched a film and after a couple of games of draughts we retired early with our books with the waves rocking us to sleep.

The third day on the boat we were back in the channels, the scenery had completely changed to the first day with rounded green mountains as far as the eye could see. The sun was blazing so we spent most of the day on deck chatting and on wildlife watch, we had a pod of dolphins another whale and a lone seal. That night a game of bingo had been organised in the bar – Ty’s dancing was epic, I will say no more. Just before midnight the boat pulled in to Puerto Montt and they started unloading the cargo. At 7am the tannoy woke us for our last breakfast before we disembarked and said our goodbyes to Ty and Brad. Sarah had booked into the same hostel as us.

We had 2 nights booked in Puerto Montt. The first day was a chill day and at around 5pm we headed out to Angelo with Sarah to browse the artisanal markets, the fish markets and to eat at a cheap fish restaurant in a wooden shed overlooking the waterfront.

Our second day in Puerto Montt we decided to try to get to the Alerce Andino Nacional Parque where the Alerce trees, the second largest tree in the world, cover 50% of the park and grow to 45m tall. After killing some time at the markets around the bus station we managed to get on a public bus to a little village where we’d read we could access the northern sector of the park. When we got there an hour later we found out from the ranger that the trees were in the southern sector of the park, a 2 day hike away, we only had 5 hours until the return bus. The ranger recommended a 1 hour loop through the forest on a trail that had been closed for maintenance. The forest was very peaceful and very much like forest walks at home. Afterwards we walked along a track to find the stump of a 1 million year old Alerce so atleast we came away from the park having some idea of the size they grow too. With no more trails from the northern gate we headed into the village and sat in a café playing dice until the bus came. Back at the hostel we packed for our flight, set the alarm and went to sleep.

Our alarm didn’t go off. We were awoken by the arrival of the taxi to take us to the airport, luckily we’d given ourselves plenty of time so the 10 minute delay while we threw on some clothes didn’t really matter. Our plane left Puerto Montt at 9am. We had a flight to Santiago where we changed for a second flight to Calama. The first flight made 2 stops so we took off and landed three times, the second flight made another stop over, we were hardly in the air before we started our descent each time. Best bit about Santiago airport, the massage chairs are only 60p for 5 mins, turns out Rhys doesn’t find them very relaxing and squealed every time it squeezed his legs, highly amusing for me. On arrival at Calama we caught a transfer bus to our hostel in San Pedro del Atacama in the desert, quite a change from the landscape of the south, mile after mile of sand dunes punctuated by the odd mountain or volcano.

We stayed at a lovely little mud brick hostel with the rooms spread around a shady courtyard. After we dropped off our bags we headed into the town to explore. The town has one main mud brick street and a sweet white washed plaza, every other building is a tour office, a restaurant or a souvenir shop. It is incredibly charming and laid back with a real hippy vibe. We stopped for dinner sitting by a fire pit before heading back to the hostel.

The next day we had a relaxed day. I walked in to town to book a trip, had the best ice then headed back to the hostel to find Rhys reading in the courtyard with a glass of wine. Matilda and Jose, the hostel owners had invited all the hostel guests to join their New Years Eve celebrations that night so we all put in some money for a big asado (BBQ) thinking we’d eat then head into town to party in the streets and maybe even head out into the desert to see sun rise. It didn’t happen. We stayed in the hostel drinking red wine and playing cards with the other guests. Matilda gave us masks and hats and we celebrated the new year with a glass of bubbles just as the asado was served.

On our last day in San Pedro and the first of 2013 we spent the morning at the meteorite museum, a small little tent in a field with a really good exhibition with lots of space facts, meteorites you could touch and bits of Vaca Muerta, a meteorite from the third largest asteroid currently orbiting somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. When I’m 50 Rhys is going to buy me a necklace with a bit of it in, no mere earthling diamonds for me. That afternoon we boarded a tour bus to Valle de la Muerte and Valle de la Luna. We drove out into the desert into the valleys, explored salt caves and climbed a sand dune to watch the sun set.